12 replies to this topic

[emmz-cichlids]

Hey guys so about a month ago my pearl horseface had hole in the head, I was told to treat with metronidazole so i did for 3 treatments with a 30% water change before every treatment. After the treatment was over a few fish came down with white spot, so I treated that until every spot was gone. I then had my featherfin catfish come up with white blotches on him, I separated and treated and after a week was healed, then I had an eel tail catfish come down with the same thing, separated him as well and is still under treatment. Now I have my other eel tail getting white blotches on him as well and I've noticed my Gold sevrum has a hole in his head and the pearls original hole is now bigger wtf, I'm getting so frustrated and upset I really don't no what to do now

[Buccal]

Make sure your KH is at least 8.
Make sure your heater is not under rated for tank,, if it struggles making water go up and down in temp, that's bad.
Surface water breaking for good oxygen transference,
Wash filter media (when you do) in a bucket of tank water.
Sufficient size filter.
Don't use crappy cheap foods.

As I said, once it's set in on fish,,, it's really hard to get rid off, and almost not worth trying.
If there is a problem causing this illness which sounds like there is,,, then treating is useless as the cause will keep re-infecting fish.
You must get the basics of your system correct first,,, go through and fool proof it.
It sounds like there's Definetely a problem with your system.
Take your time and really think and go over everything (your whole set up).

[emmz-cichlids]

My KH is perfect as u had to rise it when my pearl first had a tiny whole, I've actually just got a new heater so that's fine, I have a strong current on the surface of my water and I haven't cleaned my canisters now in coming up 3 months and they are still pushing strong. I feed them nls, chilli red and spirlina flakes so I'm litterly stumped, I'm not treating the tank anymore just doing a regular water change once a week with salts hoping a more "natural" way will help
And if anything since the treatment with metronidazole I have a few fish that lost their colour fully colour up again, they are all very vibrant in colour and the pearl is no longer sulking. I'm thinking I might need my local fish shop to come out and test my waters and see what they think
Would you have any idea what could be the reason for my scale less catfish to get white blotches, I've never seen it before

[Buccal]

I've seen scaleless cats get pale blotches in coloration due to ammonia presence,,, also seen it with just simply water being to cold.

What's your temp again ????
It's always good to carry out treatments with temp turned up to.

If there's something wrong with the system effecting fish and not fixed, it's common that DMZ will make fish look better as their immune systems are being propt up by DMZ (antibiotics),,,,,, but not long after treatment the fish will fall sick again if issues aren't fixed.

Many people keep their tanks quite cool,,,, I never do this as I worry about the fishes immune systems being lowered,,, especially in my situation with heavy stock levels.
I never let go below 26.c,,,, but try to maintain 27.c.

[sandgroper]

Maintain better water quality, poor water quality equals poor fish health. It's pointless medicating when the fish are kept in poor water quality as they will just get reinfected.

[chocky]

can i just ask why you haven't cleaned your cannister filter in 3 months?

i would imagine it would be filled with a lot of detritus etc and not allowing water to flow as easily through the filter media (water will take the easiest route through the filter) - would cause water quality to drop? maybe even harbour nasty bad bacteria causing infections?

 

its not that easy to kill off or wash off too much BB if you're just rinsing in tank water. i clean my filter media every week or two with no issues. 

[Buccal]

My display tank has filter media cleaned every three months.... Nothing wrong with that.
I have a small display, one Ellioti and six bleeding heart tetra 600x600 tank,,,,, I clean my filter in that once a year !!!!! And water is swish, with moderate nitrate.

Cleaning weekly is far to excessive,,, even fortnightly is excessive,,, and if you clean every three weeks then the bioload would have to be really really high.

[emmz-cichlids]

I believe I have found the problem as you pointed out buccal, I had an ammonia spike, not sure why as of yet I'm guessing food wastage but I do water changes once a week and keep the fish on a low protein diet but I have made changes to drop the levels and have dropped feeding twice a day to once a day. Hopefully this will help

[Buccal]

Most common occurrence of issue,,,, over feeding,,, it's catastrophically huge.
Fish don't need much food at all.
I feed all my breeding fish and display only five days out of the week,,, and only once on the feeding days.

Fish trickle poo (a little bit comes out now and then),,,, if food is going in quicker than they can excrete (expell) it,,,, then constipation turns into internal infection and disease.

On top of this, excessive food is still being administered to further contaminate the water directly (I dare say your main issue).
Ammonia does some nasty weird things to fish and instantly burns the gill filaments which causes serious suffocation then death depending on ammonia spike size.

Stress coat or zyme and seachem prime will help survivors to feel better and reduce stress. Keep your water warm.

[malawiman85]

can i just ask why you haven't cleaned your cannister filter in 3 months?
i would imagine it would be filled with a lot of detritus etc and not allowing water to flow as easily through the filter media (water will take the easiest route through the filter) - would cause water quality to drop? maybe even harbour nasty bad bacteria causing infections?
 
its not that easy to kill off or wash off too much BB if you're just rinsing in tank water. i clean my filter media every week or two with no issues.

Chocky,

Cannisters are pretty much designed to operate for long periods of time without a clean. Regular cleaning of a canister has risk involved. One mistake and you blow a lot of bacteria and suffer an ammo spike followed by a series of problems, in some instances, just like those described by the OP. I think lots of people underestimate the value of stability in an aquarium and the effort that needs to go into avoiding ammonia presence at all costs.
Most issues as Buccal and others have pointed out in recent times stem from ammo spikes or exposure to high nitrates/dirty water for a long period of time.
Frequency of Canister filter cleans are really based on two things: Flow rates and nitrate levels. If nitrate levels start creeping up faster than normal then its a sign there is a too much crap producing ammo and eventually nitrate in the canister. After a while if the tank is stable you dont need to test all the time to determine frequency, you just maintain a suitable routine. But, routine cant be determined without water testing.
These kinds of ongoing issues are often the result of people damaging filters when cleaned... often obliterating bacteria populations with water straight from the tap, etc.

[chocky]

Yeah I understand that but like I said it's not really that easy to destroy or wash off beneficial bacteria from sponges etc
They stick to the surfaces and unless you as you said clean with tap water I don't really see the harm in squeezing your filter sponges etc regularly.

I don't even have a test kit. I water change regularly so I know nitrates won't climb high and pH will be stable.

Anyway
I wasn't saying it is wrong or anything. I was just curious is all.
But ammonia spike could suggest the cannister filter media being clogged and not working at full capacity

[emmz-cichlids]

I use stress coat anyway but I recently added purigen into my tank but I'm definitely getting stress zyme today, I appreciate your help buccal, I just wish I bought a master kit ages ago and then their wouldn't be a problem, I've always tested ph and KH and never had fish problems for probably 3yrs until recently
The ammonia spike was simply from me being to kind to my fish and falling for the I'm hungry act my fish do when they see me. My canisters like I've said before still push water strong enough across the tanks surface

[chocky]

http://goldfishkeepe...g-filters.6777/

 

If anyone is interested in a read