i think the goldish white dust is a sign of velvet, pretty tough to cure. get some more opinions on it though. you may have to euthanise.
Help... my tank has the plague!
- Thread starter haydenm315
- Start date
wataugachicken said:
I have a hard time seeing it as gold dust. It's more like a white dust. It's so frustrating because I can't really explain it better than my fish's fins are eroding away, they sit on the bottom of the tank most of time, swim like they're half paralyzed, and don't look happy at all. The pleco seems the most well off, followed by the jewels and lastly by the terror. I'm trying to get some pictures.
OrionGirl said:
I read the article and I'm coming up on 84F. I've been gradually adding the salt for the past 2 days. They say something that seems kinda high. Up to 2 tsp of salt per gallon. Right now the waste is floating to the top, I'm guessing from the added buoyancy.
I'm not overly concerned about killing the good bacteria. I monitor the vitals in the water once a day. I've got another healthy tank with plenty of that stuff to give the tank a boost when the treatment is over, or even during it. Things are still in the clear for nitrites/ammonia as of this evening. I'm getting paranoid that maybe my water change technique isn't sufficient. I'm currently siphoning the water out the window, and refilling with the garden hose. I make sure to let the hose go for a minute or so to get the old water out of the line, before filling the tank. AFter that I add the water treatment stuff to the tank. I'm wondering if something from the hose may be wreckign havoc. Maybe I need a specific fish tank hose.
Some garden hoses specifically say they might leech stuff into the water cause they are made from recycled material.
Hannys_Papa said:
Ok... I will remember that for next time. I'm never using that hose again for water changes. I just checked out some pictures at
this site
I'm convinced that my tank has a combination of ich, dropsy, and bacterial fin rot. Ironically I've been monitoring the water vitals like a hawk and it's cycled. I did put the fish in a little prematurely, but I had media from an established healthy tank to give the bacteria a kickstart. I was doing 25% changes everyday for the week it took to get the nitrates to balance out the ammonia/nitrates. I'm sure the little guys came diseased from the store, but it's been over a week. If only I'd have known how to recognize the flashing behavior. I thought they were just marking their territory. The terror was doing it since day one, but it was infrequent and it looked healthy. Looks like I'll learn from my mistakes. If everything dies, what the heck should I do to kill everything bad in that tank before starting again?
wataugachicken said:
I went out and bought some of that herbal melafix and pelifix stuff. I added it in conjunction with the salt. I hope that's all ok. Everything is natural.
2 tablespoons of salt still gives you a pretty low concentration. I've used that for senstitive fish like puffers with no problems.
I know lots of people really advocate melafix and pimafix, but IMO, they are pretty useless, and good water quality will accomplish more. 'All natural' doesn't mean good.
If none of the fish survive, I would let the tank sit empty for one week with the temp up to 86, then do a huge water change. You'll need to feed the tank during this time to keep the good bacteria going, but it will kill off any parasites still in there.
I know lots of people really advocate melafix and pimafix, but IMO, they are pretty useless, and good water quality will accomplish more. 'All natural' doesn't mean good.
If none of the fish survive, I would let the tank sit empty for one week with the temp up to 86, then do a huge water change. You'll need to feed the tank during this time to keep the good bacteria going, but it will kill off any parasites still in there.
OrionGirl said:
Ok... so useless to me, but not to the treehuggers who sell the gunk. When I think of all natural it makes me feel safer about mixing meds, but I could be wrong about that as well. Basically I don't need to keep adding salt to the tank, so long as I don't remove the water? From what I've read everything that goes in the tank, stays in the tank. I've got around 40 teaspoons in my tank. I guess I need to keep adding some more. Is it beneficial to change some of the water even if the ammonia/nitrites are reading nil?
Welps... things continue to deteriorate in my tank. The green terror was out of commission when I came home. I did a bit more than a 25% water change and put the salt back in. The temperature is around 84F now. The fish are all hanging around the top now but they're at least swimming around. If I remember correctly, the o2 levels are probably low from the rise in temperature. The pleco has a clear stringy thing hanging from his poop chute. IIRC that is a sign of a parasite? Any way you look at it, I think the tank is hosed. It's such a sad site especially when I thought I was doing so well getting the tank cycled and doing all the water changes 
Back to the drawing board I guess.
Back to the drawing board I guess.Give the pleco some good greens--if he hasn't been getting them, could just be constipated. Squeeze some raw peas out of their shell, and put in for him.
Hope the others pull through. With any kind of ailment, it's tough. Compound that with multiple problems, and it gets tougher.
And yes, you're right that the salt will stay in the tank until removed by water changes.
Hope the others pull through. With any kind of ailment, it's tough. Compound that with multiple problems, and it gets tougher.
And yes, you're right that the salt will stay in the tank until removed by water changes.
