1~What type of fish is afflicted?
The angel fish a a large cottony thing on his eye. The black skirt tetras also had a little on their eyes and head.
2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.
Temp = ~80
Ammonia = 0
Nitrites = 0
Nitrates = 160
pH = 6.0-6.5
I have a very hard time keeping the pH any higher.
I live in a rural area. I have very hard water – although it is softened (it is still considered hard.) I buy RO water – 12 gallons at a time. I have occasionally put a gallon of my tap water in the tank if the water level gets too low (due to evaporation) before I can buy more water.
I use 5 in 1 test strips:
GH is always 180+ (very purple)
KH is ? - the color is very yellow – chart shows pale yellow to green/greenish blue
I only have fake plants and a large piece of driftwood in my tank.
3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?
I have a 55-60 gallon freshwater tank – 7 ½ years ago.
4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.
Rena Filstar Canister Filter XP2 300 GPH
~5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?
(1) Pleco - ~12 years ~ 12” nose to end of body (doesn’t include tail fin)
(1)Angel fish - ~1-2 years ~ little bit bigger than the size of an oreo cookie
(2) black skirt tetras - ~2-3 years ~ between a quarter and a half dollar size
(1) Harlequin raspbora ~ 2-3 years ~ 1”+
(I know I should have more of like kind fish (at least my Raspbora and angel fish), but my house is for sale and I am trying to keep my tank to a minimum until I move.) I got the angel fish from a friend (originally 4 of them) about 1 ½ years ago. She didn’t want the tank /fish anymore. 2 of them died within a few months. 3rd one died about 6 months ago (never looked/acted sick).
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?
I did a water change and vacuum yesterday. I do both of these about 1/month. I remove about 11-12 gallons at a time.
7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?
See above. I got my pleco in April 2002. He/she made the move with me from another state to my present tank 7 ½ years ago, when I set up this tank. All of the fish have been in the tank for at least the last 1-2 years.
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?
No - other than Fungus cure – yesterday
9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?
I feed once a day:
1 large algae wafer daily for the pleco.
Tropical fish food flakes for the other 4 fish.
I used to feed 1-2 mini algae wafers for a dojo weather loach, but he died about 2 weeks ago. I had him about 5 years. No idea what happened, he never acted sick. Found him one morning laying on the bottom of the tank upside down – clearly dead.
I have not changed their diet – BUT – I was on vacation about a month ago and my mother stayed at my house to feed my cats and fish. (She is my problem and I don’t intend to ask her to do this for me in the future. She thinks I feed my fish too little – I don’t.) I am sure she overfed my fish. We have gotten into arguments about this in the past - I have left enough food for only the time I have been gone. She has gotten upset with me wanting to know where more food is. This time, she never mentioned it – I am guessing she bought some of her own food and fed them extra. I cleaned the tank before I left. I noticed mid-week the cottony stuff on the fish and fuzzy stuff on the gravel. When I vacuumed, all kinds of food (algae wafers mostly) was buried in the gravel. I still have gunk in the gravel – can’t get all of it in 1 shot.
I have also noted over the past month that algae is growing a lot on my air tubes, filter equipment and heater (plastic pieces).
After a cleaning, I typically add:
Stress Coat
Liquid Gravel Vac
aquarium salt
mineral blocks (generic? Buy at my aquarium store – no brand name).
I occasionally add Pimafix, if any fish start to look ill (this happens rarely.)
I added liquid Fungus Cure to the water yesterday due to the Saprolegnia, but I only added 20 ml. Directions say 5 ml per 5 US gallons. I read another forum where they added according to the directions and most of their fish died within a few days (Die Off After Fungal Treatment - Freshwater Fish Disease - 109848)
I want to be cautious – don’t want to disturb the biological bacteria too much, too quickly.
Chemicals I have on hand (I have only used any of them on very rare occasions):
Ammonia detoxifier (had it for years- my ammonia reading is never above 0)
Algae Fix
Coppersafe
Melafix
PraziPro
All are still alive this morning. I plan on doing a 10% water change and vacuum more gunk today.
Should I add more Fungus Cure? If I add Liquid Gravel, it is a waste of time (Fungus Cure counteracts it?)
The angel fish a a large cottony thing on his eye. The black skirt tetras also had a little on their eyes and head.
2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.
Temp = ~80
Ammonia = 0
Nitrites = 0
Nitrates = 160
pH = 6.0-6.5
I have a very hard time keeping the pH any higher.
I live in a rural area. I have very hard water – although it is softened (it is still considered hard.) I buy RO water – 12 gallons at a time. I have occasionally put a gallon of my tap water in the tank if the water level gets too low (due to evaporation) before I can buy more water.
I use 5 in 1 test strips:
GH is always 180+ (very purple)
KH is ? - the color is very yellow – chart shows pale yellow to green/greenish blue
I only have fake plants and a large piece of driftwood in my tank.
3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?
I have a 55-60 gallon freshwater tank – 7 ½ years ago.
4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.
Rena Filstar Canister Filter XP2 300 GPH
~5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?
(1) Pleco - ~12 years ~ 12” nose to end of body (doesn’t include tail fin)
(1)Angel fish - ~1-2 years ~ little bit bigger than the size of an oreo cookie
(2) black skirt tetras - ~2-3 years ~ between a quarter and a half dollar size
(1) Harlequin raspbora ~ 2-3 years ~ 1”+
(I know I should have more of like kind fish (at least my Raspbora and angel fish), but my house is for sale and I am trying to keep my tank to a minimum until I move.) I got the angel fish from a friend (originally 4 of them) about 1 ½ years ago. She didn’t want the tank /fish anymore. 2 of them died within a few months. 3rd one died about 6 months ago (never looked/acted sick).
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?
I did a water change and vacuum yesterday. I do both of these about 1/month. I remove about 11-12 gallons at a time.
7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?
See above. I got my pleco in April 2002. He/she made the move with me from another state to my present tank 7 ½ years ago, when I set up this tank. All of the fish have been in the tank for at least the last 1-2 years.
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?
No - other than Fungus cure – yesterday
9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?
I feed once a day:
1 large algae wafer daily for the pleco.
Tropical fish food flakes for the other 4 fish.
I used to feed 1-2 mini algae wafers for a dojo weather loach, but he died about 2 weeks ago. I had him about 5 years. No idea what happened, he never acted sick. Found him one morning laying on the bottom of the tank upside down – clearly dead.
I have not changed their diet – BUT – I was on vacation about a month ago and my mother stayed at my house to feed my cats and fish. (She is my problem and I don’t intend to ask her to do this for me in the future. She thinks I feed my fish too little – I don’t.) I am sure she overfed my fish. We have gotten into arguments about this in the past - I have left enough food for only the time I have been gone. She has gotten upset with me wanting to know where more food is. This time, she never mentioned it – I am guessing she bought some of her own food and fed them extra. I cleaned the tank before I left. I noticed mid-week the cottony stuff on the fish and fuzzy stuff on the gravel. When I vacuumed, all kinds of food (algae wafers mostly) was buried in the gravel. I still have gunk in the gravel – can’t get all of it in 1 shot.
I have also noted over the past month that algae is growing a lot on my air tubes, filter equipment and heater (plastic pieces).
After a cleaning, I typically add:
Stress Coat
Liquid Gravel Vac
aquarium salt
mineral blocks (generic? Buy at my aquarium store – no brand name).
I occasionally add Pimafix, if any fish start to look ill (this happens rarely.)
I added liquid Fungus Cure to the water yesterday due to the Saprolegnia, but I only added 20 ml. Directions say 5 ml per 5 US gallons. I read another forum where they added according to the directions and most of their fish died within a few days (Die Off After Fungal Treatment - Freshwater Fish Disease - 109848)
I want to be cautious – don’t want to disturb the biological bacteria too much, too quickly.
Chemicals I have on hand (I have only used any of them on very rare occasions):
Ammonia detoxifier (had it for years- my ammonia reading is never above 0)
Algae Fix
Coppersafe
Melafix
PraziPro
All are still alive this morning. I plan on doing a 10% water change and vacuum more gunk today.
Should I add more Fungus Cure? If I add Liquid Gravel, it is a waste of time (Fungus Cure counteracts it?)
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one medication i do use when all else fails is maracyn-oxy. Its designed for true fungal infections but i have found it to cure almost anything.
