Desperate for advice! Please help!

[catnicki1978]

I have started a new thread on the advice of a couple of people trying to help me on here.

My original thread was regarding the poorly Comet.

At the moment we are doing large daily water changes of 80 - 90% as the ammonia has been creeping up to 0.5ppm and his Dorsal Fin has been going down.

As soon as we have done the water change his Dorsal Fin goes back up!

I have today started him on a course of Esha 2000 as with the popeye and cloudiness in his eyes I have read this is more than likely a bacterial infection due to poor water/complete stone change.

The water has turned green but now I'm worried I won't be able to test the water accurately and even if I can, after doing a large water change I'm going to be getting rid of the meds.

Can anyone offer some advice on this please?

Many thanks

Nicki

 

[sinibotia]

Find an established tank to get some filter media or substrate media from, which will have beneficial bacteria and hopefully that will help the tank cycle/re-cycle and get rid of the ammonia problem. Then try to temper the water changes to treat the tank without wasting all the meds. That's what I would do. Sounds like a tough situation, best of luck.

 

[catnicki1978]

Thankyou.

Someone has suggested using Nutrifin Cycle which puts in good bacteria and lowers ammonia, do you think this would help?

 

[sinibotia]

Thankyou.

Someone has suggested using Nutrifin Cycle which puts in good bacteria and lowers ammonia, do you think this would help?

Honestly, the only product I've heard good reviews for that claims to do that is Dr. Tims and Biospira, both of which can be difficult to find. You're better off getting "the real deal" from someone else's tank.

If I remember correctly though, the water conditioner "Prime" detoxes ammonia. Maybe use that or something like it in conjunction with the treatment.

 

[Fishdude3233]

I'd get prime and dose it x2 the dose that it tells you to do, other then that I'd keep up on your water changes.


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[Andy Sager]

If possible, I would take the sick fish out of the tank and put it into a separate clean tank while medicating. You should be starting with good clean water for this so check and make sure you are not adding ammonia or nitrates in from your tap water. Do water changes as directed by the medication. Since you will be using an antibiotic ( I presume) it will effect any bacteria you are trying to grow in your main tank so treating your main tank with meds & bacteria at the same time is a waste.

Next, assuming you don;t have other fish in the tank, I would do a 100% water change in your tank and make sure you do some cleaning of the gravel or whatever substrate you have. Once that's done, you can either use the Dr. Tim's or just do a fish-in cycling. Using seachem's PRIME will help detoxify the ammonia that's present during the beginning of the cycle so that weekly or bi weekly water changes should help keep the water from getting too dirty. When using PRIME, the amount of ammonia is not as important because it is not toxic and it's the toxicity of ammonia that is the real concern. Too much ammonia or ammonium will cause some fin deterioration so you do want to keep it in check even tho it is not toxic and shouldn't kill the fish.

If you do have other fish in the tank, I would remove them all and then do your 100% water change and cleaning and once completed, acclimate your fish back into the aquarium as you did the first time you got them. Don't just put them straight into the new water.

Hope this helps

 

[Delapool]

If possible, I would take the sick fish out of the tank and put it into a separate clean tank while medicating. You should be starting with good clean water for this so check and make sure you are not adding ammonia or nitrates in from your tap water. Do water changes as directed by the medication. Since you will be using an antibiotic ( I presume) it will effect any bacteria you are trying to grow in your main tank so treating your main tank with meds & bacteria at the same time is a waste.

Next, assuming you don;t have other fish in the tank, I would do a 100% water change in your tank and make sure you do some cleaning of the gravel or whatever substrate you have. Once that's done, you can either use the Dr. Tim's or just do a fish-in cycling. Using seachem's PRIME will help detoxify the ammonia that's present during the beginning of the cycle so that weekly or bi weekly water changes should help keep the water from getting too dirty. When using PRIME, the amount of ammonia is not as important because it is not toxic and it's the toxicity of ammonia that is the real concern. Too much ammonia or ammonium will cause some fin deterioration so you do want to keep it in check even tho it is not toxic and shouldn't kill the fish.

If you do have other fish in the tank, I would remove them all and then do your 100% water change and cleaning and once completed, acclimate your fish back into the aquarium as you did the first time you got them. Don't just put them straight into the new water.

Hope this helps

And would the best way to get the antibiotic to the fish be as medicated food? Assuming still eating.

 

[Noviceafter2yea]

If possible, I would take the sick fish out of the tank and put it into a separate clean tank while medicating. You should be starting with good clean water for this so check and make sure you are not adding ammonia or nitrates in from your tap water. Do water changes as directed by the medication. Since you will be using an antibiotic ( I presume) it will effect any bacteria you are trying to grow in your main tank so treating your main tank with meds & bacteria at the same time is a waste.

Next, assuming you don;t have other fish in the tank, I would do a 100% water change in your tank and make sure you do some cleaning of the gravel or whatever substrate you have. Once that's done, you can either use the Dr. Tim's or just do a fish-in cycling. Using seachem's PRIME will help detoxify the ammonia that's present during the beginning of the cycle so that weekly or bi weekly water changes should help keep the water from getting too dirty. When using PRIME, the amount of ammonia is not as important because it is not toxic and it's the toxicity of ammonia that is the real concern. Too much ammonia or ammonium will cause some fin deterioration so you do want to keep it in check even tho it is not toxic and shouldn't kill the fish.

If you do have other fish in the tank, I would remove them all and then do your 100% water change and cleaning and once completed, acclimate your fish back into the aquarium as you did the first time you got them. Don't just put them straight into the new water.

Hope this helps

If I understand correctly, she has done 80% water changes to the main tank. If she puts the sick comet into the separate tank (can she just use a clean, never soapy container if she doesn't have a separate aquarium?), does she still need to do the 100% change to the main tank? Would the other fish get stressed out by so many changes and a change of environment?

Catnicki, during your water changes, have you been using pretreated with prime water or adding prime to the tank at all? Also, are you removing the activated filter while medicating? If I overlooked those originally, I apologize.

 

[Andy Sager]

And would the best way to get the antibiotic to the fish be as medicated food? Assuming still eating.

It would depend on which med gets used. If the fish is not eating. medicated foods obviously wont work. My standby med is always Furan-2 ( nitrofurazone) because it treats both gram + & gram - bacteria.

If I understand correctly, she has done 80% water changes to the main tank. If she puts the sick comet into the separate tank (can she just use a clean, never soapy container if she doesn't have a separate aquarium?), does she still need to do the 100% change to the main tank? Would the other fish get stressed out by so many changes and a change of environment?

Catnicki, during your water changes, have you been using pretreated with prime water or adding prime to the tank at all? Also, are you removing the activated filter while medicating? If I overlooked those originally, I apologize.

I thought I read that even after doing these massive changes the water was still green. That says to me that there are too many nutrients in the water making it possible for the algae to live and flourish.
If the 80% changes didn't kill the fish already and still gives algae a chance to grow, there needs to be some thorough cleaning and all the fish should be removed so that they are not effected by the large change in water. Since they won;t be in the tank at the time of the cleaning, by re-acclimating back into the cleaned tank, the fish should not be as effected as they will only be going through a change once ( and hopefully for a final time.)

 

[Noviceafter2yea]

Andy - I think the water has just recently started turning green - maybe the medicine? I defer to you as I really don't want to steer anyone wrong. I like to equip myself with as much information as I can for my own tank.

Thanks.

Edit: I just read on a few sites that it will turn water green. That doesn't mean, however, that the green isn't also algae.

 

[Andy Sager]

Andy - I think the water has just recently started turning green - maybe the medicine? I defer to you as I really don't want to steer anyone wrong. I like to equip myself with as much information as I can for my own tank.

Thanks.

Edit: I just read on a few sites that it will turn water green. That doesn't mean, however, that the green isn't also algae.

I just re read the first post and you may be correct that
it was the med that turned the water green however, for there to be an ammonia issue daily, there must be something going on in the tank for this unless the water they are using has the ammonia already in it. IF that is not the case, ( ammonia from the tap water ) I would still be doing heavy cleaning in there as the condition of the fish sounds like it's been in a dirty tank.
Certain diseases can be isolated incidences where a quicky water change solves the problem. With what has been described, this does not sound like one of those times.

Hope this helps

 

[Delapool]

It would depend on which med gets used. If the fish is not eating. medicated foods obviously wont work. My standby med is always Furan-2 ( nitrofurazone) because it treats both gram + & gram - bacteria.

Thanks for the post - would you combine that with Kanamycin or just furan-2 out of interest?

 

[Delapool]

Also really one for the OP but I think it is the Esha 2000 med turning the water green.


ESHA 2000 (UK) - INGRED: 6.3 mg ethacridine lactate, (AKA: Rivanol, an antibacterial acridine, sometimes used to treat shigella.) 1 mg proflavin, an acridine closely related to acriflavin and used for protozoans (velvet), gram positive bacteria, and fungus. 3.2 mg Copper ++ - Treats: protozoans (ich and velvet). Note: Effective against parasites, but often toxic to fish, espceially in soft water. 0.26 mg methyl orange - a multifunctional product.

 

[Noviceafter2yea]

What is the status on the comet?

 

[Noviceafter2yea]

What is the status on the comet?

Feeling a little disappointed no update of the status
Anyway, I hope everything worked out for the best.

 

[catnicki1978]

Hi

I didn't come on yesterday as wasn't feeling too well myself.

After 3 days of treatment with the Esha 2000 there has been a slight improvement.

He's trying to swim again, not very often but he's no longer looking like a rag!

The cloudiness in his eyes has completely gone and they look less poppy.

We have been propping him up next to the glass with stones from the tank and he has been sitting there moving his tail and fins whereas before he was motionless.

We're not sure if it's the treatment or just down to the water changes but can only hope if we carry on as we are he starts improving a bit more



Nicki

 

[Noviceafter2yea]

Hi

I didn't come on yesterday as wasn't feeling too well myself.

After 3 days of treatment with the Esha 2000 there has been a slight improvement.

He's trying to swim again, not very often but he's no longer looking like a rag!

The cloudiness in his eyes has completely gone and they look less poppy.

We have been propping him up next to the glass with stones from the tank and he has been sitting there moving his tail and fins whereas before he was motionless.

We're not sure if it's the treatment or just down to the water changes but can only hope if we carry on as we are he starts improving a bit more



Nicki

I am so happy to hear that! Keeping my fingers crossed for continued improvement!