Fish beating itself up / water parameters normal - ???

[LiveMermaid07]

take a flashlight and point it at the platy and see if the platy "sparkles" it sounds liknd of like velvet.

crap, I got a better view of her last night. She does have some gold 'sparkles' on one side between her mouth and gills.

The only book I've got says velvet is a parasite (with a life-cycle kinda like ich), but doesn't say anything particularily helpful about treating it.

The only parasite meds I've got right now are 'Jungle anti parasite food' and Quick Cure.
They don't list velvet as things they treat though
Would they even work?

I don't know about the food, but the quick cure has formalin and malachite green. I recently read formalin's not good for plants. (And both? aren't that great for snails and shrimp).
I don't even now how to dose that one safely (or how long) for black khulies, bronze cory, otos, and now I've got a few platy fry in there too. Are they suseptible to those meds?
And how would I get the food down to the bottom for the khulis and cory?
(Another worry is that any that does sink and doesn't get eaten, I have no way to find it, and the stuff molds very quickly - only hours or a day maybe. O.O )

 

[allaboutfish]

crap, I got a better view of her last night. She does have some gold 'sparkles' on one side between her mouth and gills.

The only book I've got says velvet is a parasite (with a life-cycle kinda like ich), but doesn't say anything particularily helpful about treating it.

The only parasite meds I've got right now are 'Jungle anti parasite food' and Quick Cure.
They don't list velvet as things they treat though
Would they even work?

I don't know about the food, but the quick cure has formalin and malachite green. I recently read formalin's not good for plants. (And both? aren't that great for snails and shrimp).
I don't even now how to dose that one safely (or how long) for black khulies, bronze cory, otos, and now I've got a few platy fry in there too. Are they suseptible to those meds?
And how would I get the food down to the bottom for the khulis and cory?
(Another worry is that any that does sink and doesn't get eaten, I have no way to find it, and the stuff molds very quickly - only hours or a day maybe. O.O )

the best way to treat it is keep the light off on the tank and cover the tank up, make sure the heat is up in the tank, and use maracyn coppersafe(i think that's what it is let me go check though).

 

[allaboutfish]

it's mardel coppersafe sorry

 

[jpierce3]

Ok, so previously I have on occassion noticed that after a water change one or more fish will 'scratch' their gills against something. I thought it odd.

.....

Are you on city water or use chlorine in well/cistern water? Do you use a dechlorinator and what kind when doing your water changes?

I didn't have the platy when the heater blew, but perhaps 'blew up' is not the correct description lol.

I came home one night from work, um.. May perhaps?, and thier was steam coming out of my room as I headed up strairs... when I got to the tank their was a bunch of steam coming out and the water really HOT, the thermometer read 93 but tht is about the highest it goes. I unplugged the heater - nothing else could have done that - turned off the lights opened the lid and set a fan on top to blow down inside, and turned the airstone up. So now I don't have a heater. Before the sorority died I noticed that they seemed healthier at 82 and when I had tried setting it lower for a while about 78, they got sick more often so i had turned it back to 82.

This is why I don't use heaters very often and never anything other than ebo jagers when I do.
Other than that, what kind of sick were they getting? They should be healthy at either temperature. Do you or have you had a lot of disease issues in the past? What kind of diseases and what have you done to treat them?

 

[LiveMermaid07]

the best way to treat it is keep the light off on the tank and cover the tank up, make sure the heat is up in the tank, and use maracyn coppersafe(i think that's what it is let me go check though).

well I can't keep the heat up, no heater.

how long can I keep it dark before the plants suffer?
I just added some new ones and transplanted some from other tanks, I'm afraid the new ones might die (argh!).

Will the velvet 'starve' without the light?
(and how long would that take?)

 

[LiveMermaid07]

Are you on city water or use chlorine in well/cistern water? Do you use a dechlorinator and what kind when doing your water changes?

I use Api stress coat (I think that's what it's called, I get the name confused somtimes with the other stress something).
I used prime last year but I'm one of the lucky few that prime and something in the water gradually kills off shrimp.
I think it's city water (we're in the country, but I think the water comes from the tanks in the city, I guess that's how it works.)


This is why I don't use heaters very often and never anything other than ebo jagers when I do.
Other than that, what kind of sick were they getting? They should be healthy at either temperature. Do you or have you had a lot of disease issues in the past? What kind of diseases and what have you done to treat them?

ebo jagers? is that a brand?

on occassion they would get a little fuzz, not often just maybe 2 or 3? times. they would also, or just seem kind of legarthy and sadish, and they just seemed to feel better when the heat was up more.
I would not say a lot of disease, no.
Generally Melafix and Pimafix cover everthing that's ever occured in that tank. (Once I read that melafix can be damaging to labyrinth breathers and you shouldn't use more than half strength, I did that.)
Nearly all the female bettas eventually get tumors, but not usually till they are least a year old. Some don't live long after, but one lived nearly normally for nearly a year after developing her tumor. (I think the breeder that supplies our petsmart doesn't take care of the girls and might use sick fish for breeding. :/ )

 

[allaboutfish]

well I can't keep the heat up, no heater.

how long can I keep it dark before the plants suffer?
I just added some new ones and transplanted some from other tanks, I'm afraid the new ones might die (argh!).

Will the velvet 'starve' without the light?
(and how long would that take?)

i really dont know. try googling it. i know i saw it when researching it though. id just use mardel copperfafe and lots of water changes bc it will kill your biofilter sadly. so youll be cycling.

 

[TheFishBoss97]

^^ebo jagers are eheim aquarium heaters, the best to many and the most reliable...................

for the plants, they should be fine for 3-5 days b4 something happens, even more if you have even enough light to see in the tank..........i guess...........unless they are high light plants

i'd also be doing as many large WCs as possible

good luck!

 

[jpierce3]

ebo jagers? is that a brand?

Yes. The only one I will use anymore. I have been lucky so far in that any of my heaters that quit working did not malfunction first and kill off fish. They just stopped working or the glass was broken on them. I have yet to have an Ebo Jager even stop working and the glass is thick so the fish won't break them.

on occassion they would get a little fuzz, not often just maybe 2 or 3? times. they would also, or just seem kind of legarthy and sadish, and they just seemed to feel better when the heat was up more.
I would not say a lot of disease, no.

To me, that is a lot already. In 15 years, over 40 species, and hundreds of fish, I have only medicated maybe 6 times. I did do salt baths and metro soaked food for wild caught fish coming in, but as a preventative. I never saw any of them actually have a disease or parasite.

Generally Melafix and Pimafix cover everthing that's ever occured in that tank. (Once I read that melafix can be damaging to labyrinth breathers and you shouldn't use more than half strength, I did that.)
Nearly all the female bettas eventually get tumors, but not usually till they are least a year old. Some don't live long after, but one lived nearly normally for nearly a year after developing her tumor. (I think the breeder that supplies our petsmart doesn't take care of the girls and might use sick fish for breeding. :/ )

I really keep coming back to your original statement that the fish would act like this after each water change. I am thinking there is something in or missing from the source water.

I'm not positive about Petsmart, but most large box stores get their fish from one or two farms for the entire chain. That would mean if it's the breeders fault, all the female bettas all across the country would be getting tumors after one year. Bettas will like it a little warmer because the air in the tank stays more humid and they like that. I didn't see you mention Bettas before though so...

Are you sure there is chlorine in your water? I don't know what the long term effects of a chlorine remover is when there isn't anything for it to react with. You can find out if you call your water provider and see if there is anything added. They should be able to tell you exactly what all is in your water and where it comes from. Ask them about heavy metals.

See if you can't get some liquid test kits for your other params.

 

[LiveMermaid07]

^^ebo jagers are eheim aquarium heaters, the best to many and the most reliable................... will add this to xmas list then

for the plants, they should be fine for 3-5 days b4 something happens, even more if you have even enough light to see in the tank..........i guess...........unless they are high light plants not enough light to see in tank, 'borded it up' as well as possible with what I had on hand. Think it had been 5 days at point of this post. Yep, high light plants.

i'd also be doing as many large WCs as possible

good luck