Tank Crash Disaster - Trying to salvage what I can

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BioHazard

Here and There
Mar 15, 2009
2,414
2
0
PA
Well, after dealing with the whole neon issue, it appears that my worries have not yet ended.
I must have pissed off the universe somehow.
So, I'll start at the beginning. I got 2 new peacock gudgeons for xmas from a friend, who brought them up from TN. They were doing just dandy. I put them in the 10 gallon tank, with the other 3 gudgeons. Everything's fine. Next day, can't find one of them. I took all the decorations out, and nothing. No body. No gudgeon. I figure he either died and was eaten really really fast, or somehow jumped out of the 2 inch by 1 inch food port on the hood, and I'll find his crispy body in week or so. Okay, I can deal with that. A couple of days pass. I wake up this morning, I'm getting around for work at 6 am. I check in the tank real quick, and am horrified. The baby guppies are all at the bottom of the tank, obviously distressed, some dead. The gudgeons are at the top, not normal. And one gudgeon suddenly drifts out from behind the heater.... the fifth gudgeon. COVERED in columnaris. I almost threw up. He was still alive. At some point, the filter must have gotten overloaded, and either nitrite or ammo had spiked. I look at the other fish, and realize half the babies have pop eye or columnaris. The other gudgeons also have smaller amount of columnaris.
I have 15 minutes. Not enough time to do a WC. I pour Prime into the tank. I still have the 5 gal set up I had been treating the neons in, and I praise my laziness. I pour Prime into it, throw the sponge filter and bubbler back in and get the heater going. I pour hot water in to bring it up to temp. I throw the worst gudgeon in, holding back the bile in my throat. The water is still full of erythro, so I'm hoping that will help.
Now I have to go to work. Till 3. All I can think is that I'm definitely coming home to a tank of dead fish.
And, I realize I've forgotten to take my medication, which I need.
I wait till 10, then call the house, and finally get a hold of my bro, who brings my meds to me, and I explain to him how to do a WC. I tell him to take out anything dead, throw away all the plants, remove all the decorations, take out as much water as possible, dechlor and refill.
I have the best bro ever.
He does that, despite spilling a good amount of water and dead baby fish on the floor (which he left for me to clean up). He also got the erythro into both tanks.
So, I come home, and clean up dead baby fish. I also did another WC on both tanks, and added salt. The gudgeon I put in the smaller tank who was the worst this morning is actually much better. I put him back in the 10. One of the gudgeons in the 10 has gotten worse, so I put him in the 5 gal, along with another baby. I never counted how many babies I had, probably around 15 originally. I now have 4. No dead gudgeons yet, but the one looks pretty bad. All cherry shrimp are dead.

I am including photos of the gudgeon who is still very bad. Any help would be much appreciated.













I feel like a very bad aquarium owner right now.
 

Sounguru

Guru at being an expert
Yikes I hope you get it kicked .....
 

NorthcoastGirl

Proud Fish Geek
Oct 28, 2009
138
0
0
The Rust Belt
Awww... I'm sorry you have to go through all that. But don't beat yourself up over it- I recently had a series of tank disasters, dominoe-style! Ended up losing my peppered cories and a few of my beloved red phantom tetras to columnaris as well. My Amazon swords are still recovering from a salt treatment. I think that we can read and read and research fishkeeping until the proverbial cows come home, but it's still mostly trial and error. If we think about it- the fact that we can keep delicate underwater ecosystems with any success at all is still pretty amazing!

Good luck with your pretty gudgeons, I really hope they recover quickly! Maracyn Two did wonders for my columnaris attack, but I've seen mixed opinions on that stuff. Hang in there!
 

Reframer

AC Members
Feb 22, 2009
1,023
0
36
Minnesota
You definitely need macryn 2 in there. most flexibacter is gram negative and macryn 1 won't help.
What are all those spots on the fins, air bubbles? I couldn't tell from the pic, am assuming it's not velvet or ich.
Kanamycin would be the best though. Lower temp to 74 or below for columnaris treatment and use lots of air stones.
 

Bubbles2112

Is someone behind me???
Jun 22, 2008
1,702
0
36
North Carolina, USA
Real Name
Barbara
Definitely a very rough patch. You are doing everything that you can do--hope it clears up for you and if you'd like some baby guppies when this gets cleared just PM me--they are mostly black Purple Moscows.
 

jaysen

i eat rats like you for breakfast!
Oct 10, 2007
1,679
0
36
long island, NY
www.myspace.com
you are doing everything right. keep it up and hope for the best. my heart goes out to you. if i can raise the baby peacocks i have you will be first on my list at a severely reduced cost lol.
 

mel_20_20

AC Members
Sep 1, 2008
3,300
1
38
Deep in the heart of texas
Erythro won't work on Columnaris... You have got to get either Maracyn II or Kanamycin/Furan 2. I would go with the latter combo if at all possible.

Bring the salinity up slowly to 3% in the tanks. This has been found to overall reduce mortality and helps stop the spread of it to uninfected fish, and is believed to slow it down in fish already infected.

Drop temperature to 75 or 76 as soon as you safely can.
 

mel_20_20

AC Members
Sep 1, 2008
3,300
1
38
Deep in the heart of texas
Bless your heart, Bio. We can turn this around, hang on.
 

mel_20_20

AC Members
Sep 1, 2008
3,300
1
38
Deep in the heart of texas
I agree 74 would be even better, but must not have tank at 77F or higher. Airstone aids in the comfort of the fish, but doesn't combat the bacteria, but it will help the fish feel better. Keep lights as low as possible and the room quiet.

Especially salt, but also the lower temperature, will be very important and can buy you some time to get the right meds.
 
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