Yeah, that's a crummy situation to be in for sure. Don't bother with the expensive start right stuff, their claims of adding beneficial bacteria are not accurate. I would just use standard dechlorinater, whichever one is cheapest as they all will add a slime coat and remove chlorine.
New 180 gallon upgrade from 65 gallon freshwater
- Thread starter Maverick85
- Start date
Ok stopped putting chemicals in just using small amounts of prime for each bucket of water did 50% water change again last night but now nitrites back up aroun 5.0ppm and ammonia a 2.0ppm hadnt fed them in awhile till yesterday and they seemed real hungry i may of over-did it so ive been trying to vaccum the substrate real good as i change the water tank looking real clean and spiffy but nitrites staying at high levels. Should i just change the water out again?
Good morning.
I'd go ahead and do another big water change. You want to get the ammonia and nitrite levels as low as possible, below 1 on each. Treat the fresh water going in with Prime, and test the water daily, when it goes to 1 on either ammonia or nitrite, do another water change to get it back down again.
Stop using stresszyme, if you haven't already, it doesn't work.
I've had some success with Tetra Safestart and even better success with angelsplus active sponge filter in cycling new tanks. However, any bacteria supplement, including the ones that have a good track record, have the ability to fail, especially when a panicking fishkeeper is dumping all kinds of chemicals in the tank and whatnot to try to keep the fish alive.
Another method that may not cost a dime is to find someone with a well established tank, and get a piece of their filter media along with a filter squeezing. Some LFS' will even do this for you if you ask. Adding an established piece of biomedia and/or a filter squeezing will help get the bacteria colony established much faster.
Found out the nickname for my Pictus Catfish, apparently they are commonly reffered to as "Pictus Ichtus" because of their common nature to contract ICH extremely easily. Needless to say i accidently overmedicated the Pictus in my 35 gal. Hex tank. Much research next time i go buy any fish. Im so sad i really loved my Pictus, they were totally awesome looking catfish and aggresive too, my kinda fish, one even stuck me in the hand with its fin. Well rest in peace my dear Ichtus Pictus friends this has been a lesson well learned. Never overmedicate, never over stock your tank, always use a hospital tank before introducing new fish to your tank, and just dont buy Pictus, they look like they should stay in the wild anyway much too active a fish for a aquarium.
I have had several Pictus cats and never had one develope Ich. I think they are an awesome fish, you just have to have the tank established better for them. They are very active and that means they need to eat alot, so they have a fairly high bio-load. I think you would be fine with one once your tank gets more stable.
Sounds like things have settled down for you now, congrats!
Sounds like things have settled down for you now, congrats!
Where are you getting this information? Your pictus most likely contracted ich due to its lack of scales and, frankly, your track record with setting up unstable tanks.
Thats unfortunate that it took the death of a hand full of fishes for you to realize some common knowledge.
Over medicating clearly would be a problem just as overdosing on pills is for humans.
Overstocked tanks are possible, you just have to have the proper filtration.
Pictus catfish have been in the hobby forever. The simple fact that its "too active" has nothing to do with its compatibility as a pet. And with your train of though, all pets should stay in the wild.
sorry if it seems like im flaming you. you just seem to ignore all the help you request.
ExPeNsIvE HoBbY
Formerly ExPeNsIvE AdDiCtIoN on MFK
The reason the pictus probably died was using meds at all. Unfortunately you seemed to have contracted "overreacting beginner freak out overmedicating syndrome" or "OBFOOS" for short.
Pictus cats are a scaleless fish. Scaleless fish do not do well with medications, especially malachite green hydrochloride, or formalin, or any other commonly available ICH treatment.
For future knowledge, be aware that the best treatment is most likely going to be raising temp and salinity for around 7-10 days.
Like stated before, just take it slow, research before acting, and if you have doubts, ask first as well.
We are all here to help you, and punctuation and paragraphs helps us out a ton lol.
Pictus cats are a scaleless fish. Scaleless fish do not do well with medications, especially malachite green hydrochloride, or formalin, or any other commonly available ICH treatment.
For future knowledge, be aware that the best treatment is most likely going to be raising temp and salinity for around 7-10 days.
Like stated before, just take it slow, research before acting, and if you have doubts, ask first as well.
We are all here to help you, and punctuation and paragraphs helps us out a ton lol.
Well appreciate the burn Mr. Fancy Pants. I take care of pets very well i just started this whole aquarium trek of mine because im taking care of a tank that for all intents and purposes would have been abandoned and all the other 30 fish im taking care of would be dead, so yeah it actually took 14 dead fish until now and i still dont know exactly what im doing.
4 of the 14 were indirectly because of me but i tried my hardest and did what i had to do and thought was neccessary to keep my other fish alive. I seperated the Pictus at the last minute but i knew the 35 gal wasnt cycled but as "active" as the pictus were i thought the would maybe survive. I learned today that anytime you medicate scaleless fish if at all you should use a half dose.
And yes i know it was my fault the Pictus contracted ich dumping them into an old tank that i wasn't too sure was completely cycled but after changing half the water that only sat there a couple weeks and testing it and seeing the nitrites and ammonia at zero i realized some biological filter and bed had to have remained. I dumped 10 fish in that 65 gal when i ressurected it and not all at once but yes in the same week.
So yes i made mistakes which you people did warn me about but. I killed four Pictus Catfish im sorry, where i live they electrocute you in the chair for such a thing im sure you have a problem with that too.
But i have taken much of your advice to heart regardless of the fact that you are rude and extremely egotistical. Personally have a login to FishLore.com and have found people much more well versed and polite and full of detailed, extensive, thourough, informational facts.
I've done 50% water changes on both 180gal and 65gal tanks everyday, was using Prime but talked to my local aquarium store owner whom i bought the tank from whom takes care of over 50 different fresh and saltwater tanks with his wife and kids and he's the one the told me of the Pictus nickname. He also told me of a city water change a couple years back that affected the ammonia level in our tap, then went on to tell me how he's had several customers complain that Prime didn't work enough for their tap and ended up killing some fish.
But im sure you have an explanantion for that being such a master of your craft and knowing all variables included no matter where in the world you happen to be right Mr. Moderator. Anyway he got me on the idea of just using Stress Coat with Aloe to condition the water and Amquel to dechlorinate it.
Wondering if i suck so much at the aquarium game how did i isolate the balas when they came down with ich in my 180 gal keeping the rest of the 22 fish from getting ich. And if i did so bad populating my 65gal why are my 4 Blue Gourami still kicking.
And if i haven't taken anything you've said to heart then how could i be reversing the ich i found on the two Sailfin Plecos i moved into my 65 gal from my 180 gal. I've learned my lesson unfortunately with the death of an innocent creature. If you have to hang me for it then so be it but if your interested to see what im dealing with and what ive been using check out my 7minute post on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTn1mzFfzQk
4 of the 14 were indirectly because of me but i tried my hardest and did what i had to do and thought was neccessary to keep my other fish alive. I seperated the Pictus at the last minute but i knew the 35 gal wasnt cycled but as "active" as the pictus were i thought the would maybe survive. I learned today that anytime you medicate scaleless fish if at all you should use a half dose.
And yes i know it was my fault the Pictus contracted ich dumping them into an old tank that i wasn't too sure was completely cycled but after changing half the water that only sat there a couple weeks and testing it and seeing the nitrites and ammonia at zero i realized some biological filter and bed had to have remained. I dumped 10 fish in that 65 gal when i ressurected it and not all at once but yes in the same week.
So yes i made mistakes which you people did warn me about but. I killed four Pictus Catfish im sorry, where i live they electrocute you in the chair for such a thing im sure you have a problem with that too.
But i have taken much of your advice to heart regardless of the fact that you are rude and extremely egotistical. Personally have a login to FishLore.com and have found people much more well versed and polite and full of detailed, extensive, thourough, informational facts.
I've done 50% water changes on both 180gal and 65gal tanks everyday, was using Prime but talked to my local aquarium store owner whom i bought the tank from whom takes care of over 50 different fresh and saltwater tanks with his wife and kids and he's the one the told me of the Pictus nickname. He also told me of a city water change a couple years back that affected the ammonia level in our tap, then went on to tell me how he's had several customers complain that Prime didn't work enough for their tap and ended up killing some fish.
But im sure you have an explanantion for that being such a master of your craft and knowing all variables included no matter where in the world you happen to be right Mr. Moderator. Anyway he got me on the idea of just using Stress Coat with Aloe to condition the water and Amquel to dechlorinate it.
Wondering if i suck so much at the aquarium game how did i isolate the balas when they came down with ich in my 180 gal keeping the rest of the 22 fish from getting ich. And if i did so bad populating my 65gal why are my 4 Blue Gourami still kicking.
And if i haven't taken anything you've said to heart then how could i be reversing the ich i found on the two Sailfin Plecos i moved into my 65 gal from my 180 gal. I've learned my lesson unfortunately with the death of an innocent creature. If you have to hang me for it then so be it but if your interested to see what im dealing with and what ive been using check out my 7minute post on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTn1mzFfzQk
