Sick shell dweller

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spottea

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Dec 16, 2007
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California
I have a pair of female blue ocellatus in a 10 gallon tank with an albino ancistrus. I've had them for quite a while,,and got rid of the males because there were too many offspring! Anyway, we had a long powercut a week ago,,and ever since then one of the shellies has been breathing harder, and just sitting up on the heater. I don't know what's wrong with her, unless she got a bacterial infection from the powercut. I did do a water change after the event,,but not soon enough as I was working,and cleaned the filter. (It's one of those horrible Tetra over the tank jobbies). She and her sister do bicker a lot normally,,but I don't see a mark on her. The other two seem fine, eating normally, reaaranging the furniture etc.
I checked the water parameters, and the water is hard, nitrates medium. I don't know if this is normal for this tank or not as I stopped checking water ages ago. My bad.
Should I get antibiotics for her? Should I take her out and treat her in another tank? I hate seeing her like this.
Suggestions anyone?
 

axelrod12

AC Members
Jan 10, 2011
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Connecticut
Real Name
Greg
I wouldn't treat until you know what the issue is, if you treat for the wrong thing it could potentially make her worse. How long was the power out for? Did you do a test for ph, ammonia, and nitrites as well as nitrate? During the big blizzard we had this past winter, I lost power for 24 hours. My big concerns, not knowing how long it would be out for, were temperature, oxygen, and losing my nitrifying bacteria. Changing or cleaning filter media could also cause a mini cycle sometimes. Posting some actual values from your test results may help to get a better idea of what could be going on.

Also what are you using for a test kit and how old is it?
 

spottea

AC Members
Dec 16, 2007
69
0
6
California
Thanks for replying. The power was out for 18 hours! Everytime the road gets dug up, some dolt hits something he shouldn't and then it takes Edison forever to fix. Anyway, temeprature was OK as I live in L.A.area. I also hooked both of my tanks up to a battery bubbler. Not much else I could do but wait. Did not feed fish for a couple of days, and then on my day off did water change etc.
My 40 gallon shows hard water, pH 7.5, no ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate 80, which is down from last week. Small tank same except nitrates 180 I think. It's really hard to read shades of pink isn't it! They should come up with drastic changes in colour. Just bought kit.
I think I will do another partial water change tomorrow and add Stress Zyme. I have never medicated any of my fish, but didn't know what else to do. I think I'm losing her anyway, but I will try to do something. She isn't eating either, poor thing. I've had them for several years.
In my big tank I did lose a couple of my older fish after about a week. A swordtail, a Bolivian Ram that I've had for ages,,and a brilliant rasboro, which was sad, as the other two look confused now ( hey, where's our shoal!)
 

axelrod12

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Jan 10, 2011
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Connecticut
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Greg
80 is a little high let alone 180 for nitrate. I would do some water changes until those numbers come down. What is your typical water change schedule?

What type of kit did you purchase? Is it liquid or test strips?


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spottea

AC Members
Dec 16, 2007
69
0
6
California
I bought test strips because they were all I could find. I'll look for a liquid test kit over the weekend. In the meantime, I'll keep up with the water changes. With only 3 fish in the tank, it's normally pretty stable. However....
thanks for your input all the same!
chris
 

axelrod12

AC Members
Jan 10, 2011
753
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16
Connecticut
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Greg
I bought test strips because they were all I could find. I'll look for a liquid test kit over the weekend. In the meantime, I'll keep up with the water changes. With only 3 fish in the tank, it's normally pretty stable. However....
thanks for your input all the same!
chris
Strips are generally unreliable. The API master kit is favored by many here.


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