Forum Index


Board index » All Posts (Lil2606)

BottomBottom



Lil2606 Lil2606
  • Not too shy to talk
  • Not too shy to talk
  • Posted on: 12/2/2021 19:40
Esha 2000 with Bristlenose Pleco in the tank #1
Hi all,

Anyone used Esha 2000 with a Bristlenose Pleco in the tank? The Esha 2000 says there is copper sulphate in it and to remove ornamental snails, but doesn't say anything about scaleless fish.

Cheers


Lil2606 Lil2606
  • Not too shy to talk
  • Not too shy to talk
  • Posted on: 12/2/2021 19:37
Re: Very high Nitrite (2-5ppm) and Nitrate (Above 80-160ppm), 0.5 Ammonia - Fish in the tank #2
Update on this.

Rosy-s are safely in the big tank, water quality is excellent all the way. They eat, they swim, but they are still a bit skittish, no where near the same behaviour as before. I think group size will help with that. Which is what I'm working on.

Little tank's been left to cycle but I moved the mature sponge (I used to colonise the big tank) back into it last week, and water quality was perfect this morning, so I bought some new fishy in lunch time, and they are now in this tank quarantining.

The 2 Rosys in the big tank were treated with a triple combo of Esha meds. 2000, Exit, and Gdex. They seem well, except......... The boy has ragged fins, which looks like fin-rot to me, which is strange that he is getting it DURING / AFTER he had treatment against it, so I'm thinking its stress induced. The girl still has the 5 spots, they did not go away no matter what, but they are also not spreading. Says me but actually I do see 1 spot on the boy as well now. 1! for days. Not growing, not spreading. Further research points to Epistylis, which is an organism that feeds and lives on bacteria and just opportunistically live on the fish. Problem is that it makes them more prone to bacterial infections, on which bacteria (spreading on the fish) the epistylis 'feeds on' so research says, salt baths or antibacterial food. Looking into the second option, and in the mean time they are getting a bit of additional Esha 2000, they are looking well, and eating well, in fact I'm quite sure my boy has grown a lot. So I am not awfully concerned (yet) just aware of the issue and looking into resolving it.


Lil2606 Lil2606
  • Not too shy to talk
  • Not too shy to talk
  • Posted on: 2/2/2021 12:35
Re: Very high Nitrite (2-5ppm) and Nitrate (Above 80-160ppm), 0.5 Ammonia - Fish in the tank #3
Thank you. Yeah you can see they are stressed out, the black dot by their tail completely disappears when they are freaked out.
On this last picture, can you see the gills of the boy are quite red... and on the first picture the tiny white(ish) spots on the girl's tail fin? They are the same as when she arrived no new ones and not going away... what could it be, if not ich? And on the second picture the white(ish) patch on the girl's stomach.. It looks like she lost some scales from there...

They are in the little tank with the carbon filter back in it, I did a temp check as well, and its around 22Celsius, which is actually warmer than I thought... and I realize I'm being stupid, instead of trying to up the temps in both tanks with 1 heater, I can transfer them over with both tanks being on room temp and then just slowly raise the temp in the big tank.

Big tank now shows 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites, so its ready, I thought it would take a couple more days.. I'll add some fish food in it today, hopefully it will be enough to feed the bacteria until Tomorrow afternoon, and I can move them over then. They are in the carbon filtered water since yesterday evening so that's 24 hours today evening, and nearly 48 tomorrow afternoon / evening (after work) I'll leave them to settle in, and then I'll start medicating them again on the weekend, when I can keep a closer look on them. I hope the Esha Meds will make them feel better, whatever it is that's making them poorly at the moment...


Lil2606 Lil2606
  • Not too shy to talk
  • Not too shy to talk
  • Posted on: 1/2/2021 19:48
Re: Very high Nitrite (2-5ppm) and Nitrate (Above 80-160ppm), 0.5 Ammonia - Fish in the tank #4
Here they are both

Attach file:



jpg  23581_60185aebccfb4.jpg (3,470.60 KB)
23581_60185aebccfb4.jpg 4032X3024 px


Lil2606 Lil2606
  • Not too shy to talk
  • Not too shy to talk
  • Posted on: 1/2/2021 19:46
Re: Very high Nitrite (2-5ppm) and Nitrate (Above 80-160ppm), 0.5 Ammonia - Fish in the tank #5
Hard to see but its on her tail fin at the bottom.

Attach file:



jpg  23581_60185a96890a8.jpg (2,523.89 KB)
23581_60185a96890a8.jpg 4032X3024 px


Lil2606 Lil2606
  • Not too shy to talk
  • Not too shy to talk
  • Posted on: 1/2/2021 19:45
Re: Very high Nitrite (2-5ppm) and Nitrate (Above 80-160ppm), 0.5 Ammonia - Fish in the tank #6
Here is the lady with the few tiny spots.

Attach file:



jpg  23581_60185a40e083b.jpg (2,701.14 KB)
23581_60185a40e083b.jpg 4032X3024 px


Lil2606 Lil2606
  • Not too shy to talk
  • Not too shy to talk
  • Posted on: 1/2/2021 16:54
Re: Very high Nitrite (2-5ppm) and Nitrate (Above 80-160ppm), 0.5 Ammonia - Fish in the tank #7
Another interesting point is that I still only have the 5 tiny dots on the girl and none on the boy.. so at this point I really doubt it is really ich.


Lil2606 Lil2606
  • Not too shy to talk
  • Not too shy to talk
  • Posted on: 1/2/2021 11:32
Re: Very high Nitrite (2-5ppm) and Nitrate (Above 80-160ppm), 0.5 Ammonia - Fish in the tank #8
Big Tank - that's good news, I will do some water changes to reduce nitrates which will reduce nitrites and ammonia further, and keep monitoring for a few more days. I added the Fish food in, last Wednesday, and then some more on Saturday and now this morning... so I'd hope that by now at least the food from Wednesday decayed enough to produce ammonia...
I only have the 2 sickly fish so I could move them back in, and start them on the new meds in the big tank see if their condition improves and if it does then use the little tank to get some new fish and quarantine them.
The poorly fish in the little tank are in cold water (room temp, no heater) at the minute, they are temperate fish, the heater is in my big tank, so that could have slowed the ich down, but yeah I am concerned that this medication is not good enough to help them. Especially now with the stringy poo, and I noticed some holes in the fins of the girl. No spots just holes, so I think I need to up the game here.

So plan is...
Little tank:
Later today, big water change, and add the carbon back in the filter.
Leave til Thursday.
Thursday morning, move the heater into this tank, and let it slowly come up to temp, not shocking the fish. Once the temps match, leave them for a couple of hours, then move them to the big tank.

Big tank:
Today, remove carbon filters, do a small (20%) water change (I want to leave the decaying fish food until I put the fish back in),
Tomorrow: check water quality, do a small (20%) water change,
same on Wednesday morning, Wednesday evening, do a water change, remove the water that gravel hoovering removes, get rid of the decaying fish food as well.
Thursday, move the fish back in, and in the evening start them on the Esha meds.

I can do a heat rejection test today, if I just turn off my heater in the big tank now, and check how quickly the temp drops away, then come Thursday I can do better in matching temps between 2 tanks with the 1 heater I have.


Lil2606 Lil2606
  • Not too shy to talk
  • Not too shy to talk
  • Posted on: 1/2/2021 10:16
Re: Very high Nitrite (2-5ppm) and Nitrate (Above 80-160ppm), 0.5 Ammonia - Fish in the tank #9
Okay, so Big Tank had taken a big step forward this week in water quality, Ammonia down to 0.25ppm and nitrites down to 0.5ppm, I have seen the warning with the API test kit that the nitrites could be much higher and the test is confused, so I made a 50% diluted sample and I do get the 0.25ppm with the diluted one, and I also don't see the drops turning purple then back to blue, so all seems in order.
I have put LOADS of fish food in the tank, way more than 2 or even 5 fish would need, added a little verbal confirmation: 'Oops' to accurately simulate the shaky hand / child trusted with the fish food container scenario.
I think I successfully colonised my filter from the older sponge that was from my previous tank, they just needed to grow in their numbers and I have now removed the old sponge, and the values hold, so I am pleased with that progress, but I am suspicious because it was literally 1 week.. Any thoughts on that?

White Spot is not clearing. This is what the box says:
"White Spot (Ich) Life Cycle:
1: Immature "tomites" grow into adult "trophonts" under the fish's skin, The fish then produces mucus to heal the wound, and the white spots appear.
2: The tophonts leave the fish and form a free living cyst within the aquarium. Inside each cyst the tophont devides into 100s of tomites.
3: The cyst bursts open releasing tomites into the aquarium which swim freely through the water
4: Tomites find other fish to host them and burrow into their skin, the cycle starts over again.

White spot is only vulnerable to treatment in its free-swimming tomite stage, so treatment will need to be carried out for 14 days to cover the entire lifecycle."

So I am 1 week into the treatment (where I need to add 1ml / 9l every 48 hrs), I see no improvement. Time to change meds? Also how does Esha Exit make it go away in 3 days if the lifecycle of the parasite is 14 days.... Or do you add the Esha stuff for 3 days and then just leave the fish in that water for 14 days?

-----

Update on that.... I also see a white stringy poo situation now... what meds do I change to? Will the Esha 2000 help with that?


Lil2606 Lil2606
  • Not too shy to talk
  • Not too shy to talk
  • Posted on: 1/2/2021 8:05
Medicating Fish do-s and don'ts #10
Hi all,

I have recently came accross my first ever cases of white spot and swim bladder problems, and now I have questions about medicating fish in general.

If one fish has it, is it best to treat all of them?
For parasites the answer I believe is yes, and they can stay in the tank, so we need to treat the whole tank all at once, but what about a swim bladder or other bacterial infections, logic dictates that the poorly fish could give the bacteria to the other fish in the tank doesn't it? Fungal infections, fin rot? Water is a very easy media to transmit diseases, generally, when is it recommended to isolate the poorly fish and when is it recommended to treat the whole tank?

What if your diagnosis was incorrect?
I have a case of whitespot which doesn't want to go away, either because the medication I'm using is not good, or perhaps its not whitespot, but velvet? What if its a combination of things, and my fish's immune system is so bad the medication is not enough to help? How long to wait before abandoning 1 medication to use another? How to change the fish's medication and avoid mixing the unknown chemicals in their water?
Can we just go straight in with the next meds or should we just leave the fish for a couple of days before putting them through the next set of treatment?

What about the filter bacteria and the carbon filters?
When medicating, we are to remove the carbon filters, but if good bacteria lives in the filters, won't removing some of the filter media crash your cycle? Should you keep your removed carbon filters in aquarium water that you aerate, and add some ammonia so your bacteria can eat? For BIORB tanks, the carbon is like little pellets, if 2 or 3 little carbon pellets stay in, does it matter? Which medications generally don't harm bacteria? - I'd have to assume, antibacterial medications such as swim bladder treatments, would harm the filters, in which case how do you keep your fish's water well, if you can't do water changes because of the meds. Just dose with Prime? Or is it better to do partial water changes and just re-medicate the fresh water you are adding? Both?

Can you use things like API stress coat to help reduce the stress in the fish while they are being medicated?
Or will that defeat the purpose in some cases as it coats their body and the meds now can't get in? My fish seem to have some sort of parasites and I am worried they will harm themselves - trying to rub against things, dashing around hitting tank walls, is there a way to reduce their stress or make them a little dopey?
Can you really be sure that adding anything else in their water while its medicated, (like stress coat or a second type of meds) will not cause unexpected chemical reactions, either making the medication less effective or straight up harmful?

To feed or not to feed?
Researching meds for my fish, most med suppliers say keep feeding them just smaller amounts, but usually the advice I get here, is to stop feeding them completely. How long can they go without food? Treatment of ick is 2 weeks. I believe this is most important in cases where the tank is not cycled or its an antibacterial treatment and hence the fish is in a tank with no biological filtration, so feeding the fish will cause water quality problems as well. What if you take the fish out, while you feed it? Doing partial water changes and re-medicating or dosing with prime would reduce the harmful substances in the water anyway, why not feed them a little? Of course don't feed if the meds say don't feed, for example with dropsy... Feeding garlic for example seems to be a bit of an old wives tale about parasites, and feeding peas helps constipation during swim bladder problems.. (the peas worked for my fish, so I believe in it)

Salts? Temperatures?

Lots of questions hopefully there will be lots of answers, I think it would be good to pin this or have 'Rules and Recommendations for Medicating Fish' article on this site.

Thank you!



TopTop
(1) 2 3 »