Jungle Fizz Tab System - fungus clear - tragedy strikes

[sushiray]

20g 4 med silver $, 1 lg 1 sm tricolor sharks, 2 lg bloodfins, 2 lg 1med albino corys, 1 pleco. I have a severe case of tail rot with my 2 lg fat albino corys, all their fins eaten away except their tails, leaving stubs, barbels fine. the 3rd med is ok. Tricolors & bloodfins have perfect finnage, silver $ little split in tail.

I changed 25% water, cleared a lot of the organic debris, Ph 7.4. That's when I added the fizzle tabs (2 tabs for 20g treatment). Removed carbon media but kept filter speed/aeration the same. Pop in the tabs immediately starts to fizzle like alka seltzer. They dissolve quite quickly turning water green/yellow. Instructions state if 40g or bigger, & for soft &/or acid water with low akalinity, to dissolve tabs 1st. Since mine is 20g I just popped them in direct.

Overnite 7hrs later I see all my midswimmers gasping for air, the silver $ 2 already croaked, 2 gasping darting upside down sideways. The tricolors & bloodfins gasping at surface. Corys & pleco repeatedly swim to surface then back down - more frequently than normal (1st time I have seen pleco go to surface), but they appear ok. I add back carbon takes full day to clear up coloration. Apparently, the fizzle displaced the O2 - I should have realized from my science days - it added so much CO2 to the water that my filtration aeration didn't compensate. I am so used to using liquids or slow dissolving tablets so this caught me by surprise. I will admit I was fascinated at this type of delivery system, I was impressed.

But I called company to complained that there should be a more explicit warning sign to state excess CO2 is released so requires increase aeration. They are going to send me non-fizzle medicine in replacement.

I still lost my 4 precious silver $ which I raised from the size of nickels to twice the size of silver $'s!! All my other fish survived as a consolation.

So I hope someone else will learn from my mistake. Great idea but...

 

[DooSPX]

sorry for your luck. they should have stated to have plenty of aeration because many meds need more O2 than normal.
but I have to say this, all of those fish who get HUGE BTW in a 20G is asking for trouble. The SD's and the Sharks get really big, I have seen SD's the size of a good size saucer the the Pleco, if its a common Pleco get 18"+. your tank is SUPER over stocked!!!! none except for the cories are okay in that tank. Im sorry to tell you the bad news.

 

[Bubbles2112]

In my opinion--that tank was doomed. Way overstocked and a 25% WC wouldn't cut it. You'd need to be doing daily WC's for that many fish in such a small tank. Even though your fish may have been fine at one time--they have been growing and producing more waste. Your 25% water changes may have been okay when they were smaller fish. I am sorry that you have lost your fish--it sounds like they were loved as your pets and it appears that you were taking good care of them--but this is how we learn, unfortunately. If you want to keep larger fish such as your silver dollars, common plecos and sharks--you should really look into a significantly larger tank and you will be rewarded with some really great fish!

 

[DooSPX]

I would suggest a 180 at the least for all those fish then more than likely they will need bigger than that soon. I'm very sorry to hear about this, but as stated above, this is how we learn. We all have been there at one time. my better half and I started about with several goldfish in a 10G, then learned more... they now are in a 65G and we are looking for a 150G as we speak because they are out growing the 65G.

 

[sushiray]

thks everyone, I am looking into a 30gal to double up - but space is the problem & wife will not allow me to expand. since my lost, I now have only the 2 tricolors, 1 bloodfin, 1 reg.med.pleco & my lovable albino corys. added 2 plants. don't plan on adding more unless I get 2nd tank. thks again for the valuable feedback.