Newbie mistakes...when your not a newbie.

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azadehm1

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Aug 15, 2006
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I just wanted to share that even after 10+ years of having raising..sustaining...breeding fish..we all make mistakes. Last night while doing a water change I sucked up two of my juvenile angels (who were beautiful) in my new python gravel cleaner. I normally just leave it hanging on the side into the sink and just come back in a few minutes. This tube is obviously much bigger than any I had used before and I must have just pulled them up. I didn't even notice they were missing until about an hour later when I looked at the drain.

Lesson learned...Don't leave your tank unattended....and YES fish are stupid enough to swim right in.
:sad:
 
gatotsu77

gatotsu77

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May 17, 2006
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Usually if I'm going to do a water change with my python and don't plan to watch it the whole time, I'll dig it down into the gravel before I leave it alone, so that none of my fish can swim into it. I'm sorry to hear about your loss. I'll admit, I've made a complete newbie mistake in the last week myself. I bought 2 more baby clown loaches (not even 2" long) and introduced them directly into my 55, thinking that the company of my other 3 would be good for them, and that in my 10g iso tank they'd be really stressed out... well, after noticing last night that one of them MIGHT have ich (which will be the first time I've had to deal with it) I isolated both of them in my 10g. I'm going to take my 2 females out and put them in the 55, and possibly even move a bunch of the fry. (though my rainbows might eat them) I'm hoping to heck its not ich, but it very well may be. To what I could tell, he had 3-4 small white dots on the side of him... one of which was on one of his black stripes, so it stood out quite vibrantly. I introduced them into the tank perhaps 4 days ago, and already I'm freaking out that my 55 may be infected. ;_;
 
gatotsu77

gatotsu77

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May 17, 2006
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Actually, I'm sitting here right now with both of them in a 1/2 gallon container in my lap, observing both of them. One has 2 small white spots on its right side, and a third white spot on its dorsal fin. The other appears fine. (and I use the word "appears" liberally... I know there could be something I can't see) I don't know whether or not I should put the one which appears to be healthy back into my main tank, or keep both of them isolated in the 10g for now. If anyone has any opinion, please let me know as soon as you can. I'll be sitting here, changing out their water for fresh tank water until I figure out what to do with them.

Oh, one other thing... have any of you used a salt dip on clown loaches for treating ich? Was it effective? How much salt did you use per gallon of water?
 
aardvark1

aardvark1

Too many tanks are almost enough...
Sep 27, 2005
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Warner Robins, Georgia, USA
Whilst doing the water change on my Angels tank (with Python) last Sunday, got a kick how they were trying to catch and eat the "stuff" floating up the siphon tube.

Greedy little buggers!
 
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azadehm1

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Aug 15, 2006
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Yeah...I have really planted tank which prevents me from cleaning anything in the substrate but I'll have to rig up a net for the opening or something.

In response to what your going through...I know that ich can totally kill a whole tank, it just happened to my bf recently, but if your tank is established and your fish were previously very healthy then I wouldn't worry that much. I'm a true believer that stress brings on bad cases of ich and if your fish were previously well (i mean they're breeding which is a good sign) then just remove who you think is affected(and raise the temp a few). Also, darker fish sometimes get white spots where scales have been removed in the process of moving etc. I have a black molly who gets into fights and loses a scale and it looks exactly like a spot of ich( but it isn't).

Sorry one more thing...why not just stick him into a hospital tank without any medications and wait awhile. Those meds are just as likely to kill the fish as the ich is.(I mean some are known carcinogens...that just can't be that good). I've had fish I think are really sick (ex an otto with an intestinal bacterial infection) who just got better in the other tank. I think that if I had dosed with meds then they would be dead now.
 
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gatotsu77

gatotsu77

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May 17, 2006
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I'm really considering putting the one apparently healthy CL back into the 55, and letting the one I think might be sick stay in the 10 for another few days to see what happens... I've already raised my main tank 1-2 degrees since last night, but I wanted the increase to be gradual. (so as to not induce any extra stress... I believe my tank has been quite stress free and all of my fish have been very healthy) Actually, scratch the idea of putting the apparently healthy one back in. He seems like he might have one little white spot on his nose. I was reading that ich will show itself on a fish's body... but will it also appear on their fins? I closely examined the one which is affected under some natural sun light, and he does have more like 4-5 on his side, and they do seem to protrude a little bit. Perhaps it is just damaged scales? I'd like to be overly-cautious and isolate them for at least another day or two to see if there is any apparent improvement in their appearance before putting them back into the main tank. Dang... I really hope this isn't ich...

Yet another random question for you guys... can ghost shrimp get ich? I'm guessing the answer is yes, but I don't know for sure.
 
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Lady Friesian

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Sep 26, 2006
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can ghost shrimp get ich
Click to expand...
I'm almost certain not; but any medication used for ich will kill the shrimp, as they are invertebrates like the organisms that cause ich. Any medicines with copper WILL kill shrimp.
 
gatotsu77

gatotsu77

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May 17, 2006
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I'm not going to resort to medication until I know for certain I absolutely have to. I've raised my iso tank and main tank to 84 degrees, and may raise it 1-2 more in the next 24 hours, depending on how everyone seems to be doing. I can't get a good look at the 2 little ones... they're being very shy and hiding. (which I can only figure is stressing them out more...) If the temperature alone doesn't help, I'm going to slowly increase the salinity level to see if that happens. To what I was reading, ich should complete its life cycle in about 4 days at 82 degrees, so hopefully this boost in its metabolism will help flush it out into the water. It looks like I might end up losing all of the fry in that tank though... I'm sure that if they get infected they won't be able to fight it as well as the clown loaches are.
 
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