flash_oesc Posted February 26, 2013 Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 (edited) I've attached some pictures from my 29G tank. We've had no deaths, everyone is fine and acting normal, and have been for quite some time. We had an issue months ago, where a white skirt tetra had a cloudy popped out eye. We treated with Melafix, with no fix, then did agressive water changes, and it cleared up...mostly. Everything was fine until recently, when an indian glass fish got a blotch on his tail and what looks like slime on his side? He's acting fine, and everything seems normal. I started treating Melafix a week ago, and no change in this fish, or the original white skirt. I do a regular routine of water changes weekly. Anybody know what this is? Advice to fix it? You can see the stocking list in my signature for this tank. thank you, Eric Can see a blotch on his tail. Tail Blotch (left fish) Rear fin and pectoral fin Colombian with small white mark on eye (on both eyes) Tail, and 'forehead' "Healed" eye I posted 13 'problem' pictures in an album, if you want to have a peek. I'm not sure if some fish just have marks, or if this is three fish with issues. No marks or anything on anyone else. http://s1343.beta.photobucket.com/user/flash_oesc/library/29G Edited March 19, 2013 by flash_oesc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyfisher Posted February 26, 2013 Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 I had something similar show up on some new Mollys while in QT it looked like damage but refused to heal.I just stayed with 25% WC every day and treated with Seachem Paraguard every day finally after eight days I'm noticing some improvement.Glad I noticed in my 10G QT tank would have cost a fortune to treat large tank this long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cullymoto Posted February 26, 2013 Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 Pima / melafix do nothing. Its tea tree oil, an unproven holistic medicine that is toxic, and fatal at high concentrations. Throw that junk away. 95% of fish problems are caused by a water quality issue. That should be your first step, improve the water quality. If you feel that some kind of "med" is needed than aquarium salt is a great and safe place to start. In severe cases one can perform salt dips. Create a small volume of tank water, at tank temperature. Saturate this water with aquarium salt and let it dissolve. This water should have an air stone to maintain aeration. The fish is moved into this water, the salt environment kills off anything on the fish exterior. When the fish begins to "roll over" or breathing becomes slow or 5 minutes passes the fish is removed and placed back into clean tank water. This can be done once a day. I have salt dipped an extremely sick discus with good results. Tink of this like putting iodine on a cut. Stings a little, but it keeps your wound clean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flash_oesc Posted February 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 I've read so much contradicting information on Pima / Melafix, I figured I'd give it a try. I think that I might be in the other 5% of problems with this one. I do regular water changes weekly, sometimes twice a week. I take a minimum 10 gallons a week out, I always treat with Prime. I have a fluval c3 and a fluval 205 both heavily loaded with bio media. My test results are always 0-0-5ish. I haven't lost a fish in that tank (I did lose a crayfish) in over a year (that wasn't eaten by said crayfish). I introduced some kuhli loaches back awhile ago, and the lobster ate all 4 of them, and then he died shortly after that. I'm not sure if they were sick and that caused issues or not. I essentially want to make sure that nothing in this tank is contagious or fatal. I'll keep up on my changes, and tomorrow is the last day of the recommended dosage, so I might as well finish the snake oil treatment anyways before swapping out 25% of the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flash_oesc Posted February 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 Also, this seems a little weird, but his gills seem to be black? http://s1343.photobucket.com/albums/o786/flash_oesc/?action=view¤t=-2147482104_zps2ff78b72.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperGuppyGirl Posted February 26, 2013 Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 I have found melafix/pimafix to act like a de-stresser but really no medical use. I hate to say it but having had a similar incident, I have to say the photo looks like ammonia burns/nitrite poisoning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crystal Posted February 26, 2013 Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 I have seen on and off with various fish in QT. I up my water changes (since I am often a bit lax in that area), I add aquarium salt (about 1 tsp per 5g) and ensure the heater is at least 22C usually within 2-3 weeks it all clears up. After 4 weeks, I start lowering the salt levels by not adding salt to my water changes. - I assume you know not to let untreated water touch your biomedia, correct? Including when you dump it in your tank, dump it away from your water intake... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flash_oesc Posted February 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 I have seen on and off with various fish in QT. I up my water changes (since I am often a bit lax in that area), I add aquarium salt (about 1 tsp per 5g) and ensure the heater is at least 22C usually within 2-3 weeks it all clears up. After 4 weeks, I start lowering the salt levels by not adding salt to my water changes. - I assume you know not to let untreated water touch your biomedia, correct? Including when you dump it in your tank, dump it away from your water intake... I have the heat at 25.5C (78F). I've used aquarium salt before (sadly with no sucess). I have some nerite snails, will that hurt them? Again, so much conflicting information on the interwebz. Until recently, I always added the prime to water in buckets before adding to the tank. I also added it to the tank with the filters off. Recently, I've started using a homemade python, so I'm dosing with prime for the volume of the tank, as I add. Again, I add with the filters off, and it has a relatively high pressure, so it mixes in the tank quite well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flash_oesc Posted February 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 I have found melafix/pimafix to act like a de-stresser but really no medical use. I hate to say it but having had a similar incident, I have to say the photo looks like ammonia burns/nitrite poisoning. I don't think it can be ammonia or nitrite. This tank was started with an established filter, and a lower bioload on that filter then the previous tank it came from. This tank has never seen a spike in any reading other than NO3, which I believe was a faulty test kit, not a high NO3 count, but I'll never know for sure. (I created a topic on API vs Nutrafin tests as one of my first posts on this forum). Constant water changes, frequent monitoring. I perform the same routine on all my tanks, and this is the only one having issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cullymoto Posted February 26, 2013 Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 (edited) An earlier post mentioned amonia/ nitrite poisoning. this may be it actually. We're experiencing a snow melt right now. Meaning that ALL municipal water treatment people go nuts on chlorimine addition to the city water to account for the high levels of ammonia / nitrate entering the system during a melt. with more chlorine/chlorimine in the water the bacteria that keeps fish alive cant live in the municipal system. (those same bacteria make people sick.) if your not overdosing your de-chlore during a melt or immediately after a heavy rain, expect to see some problems. Salt dipping your snails will kill them, adding salt at as high as 1 tablespoon per 5 gal wont harm them. May stop them from breeding but they'll live just fine. ... wish I could get rid of my nuisance snails actually.... ive added a lot of salt to the tank hoping to kill them.... little buggers are still thriving. Edited February 26, 2013 by cullymoto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crystal Posted February 26, 2013 Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 Theoretically your fish should be fine... You take better care of that tank than I take care of mine. How much salt were you adding? I had to add up to 1tsp per 5g to get any recovery. Nerites have no problem with salt, they breed in brackish water and can easily be converted to saltwater setups. Try sitting and watching the tank from a 10 foot distance for 10min - is there a lot of chasing, or stess, happening? Can you please post a picture of the full tank setup? I always add some plants to my tank as it seems to help - even just a crypt or some java fern. One last question - can you tell us the ph from the tap vs ph of the tank? All I can think of is a ph swing stressing the fish (although I never had a problem with that even when my tap was 7.5 and tank was 6.1, and I had fairly sensitive fish). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flash_oesc Posted March 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 Sorry, I've been so busy at work. I've been meaning to get back to you. I've posted the picture of the full setup below. I still haven't checked the PH, but realistically, I have several tanks, including a fry tank, so I don't think my PH is changing, or the other tanks might have issues as well. I sat back and watched, and have done it a few different times on different days. I have no chasing or anything happening in the tank. Everyone just hangs out where they normally do. Nobody chases or nips at anyone. Nobody has any torn or ripped fins either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flash_oesc Posted March 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 Also, plants are harder to come by then you'd think up here. We have one LFS, and all they have are some sick looking potted plants. I'm also nervous about what might come with those plants. We have fake in all of our tanks, not that they are as nice as real, but they do the trick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DivineHammer Posted March 9, 2013 Report Share Posted March 9, 2013 (edited) I use Epson salt 1 teaspoon for every 5G turn the heat up to 82-86F, I do this for 1 week adding the Epson salt everyday do a 30% waterchange every second day, after a week if not fully cured continue for a few more days once no signs of sickness are showing do a 70% water change, and slowly lower the temp back to normal temp, I only turn the filters off to service them otherwise I leave them on as long as I can. hopefuly everything will be ok. Edited March 9, 2013 by DivineHammer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flash_oesc Posted March 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2013 Ok, so I'm going to start treating with salt today. I've been doing water changes to try and get all the medication out of the tank before moving on. I was going to start another topic thread, but figured I'd ask here: After treating with salt (lets assume for a week)...how long after that should I wait before adding new fish, as to not shock them with the salt, or does it matter? We're thinking of adding a couple GBR to the community. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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