white fuzz on rainbows

[jlk]

Thats good that you dont see any spots! Ok- in case you need to do this in the future, catch the fish, slightly dry the spot with a cotton ball or q-tip & dab a bit of peroxide on the spot with a q-tip or cotton ball & release the fish back in the tank. You can hold the fish in a towel dampened with tank water if needed. Just have everything set first & work very quickly. It should take less than 10secs to do.

 

[HeatherW]

^^ sounds like fun! haha hopefully I won't have to do this

 

[jlk]

Its an easy treatment for scapes/cuts without medicating your tank if you ever encounter a this in the future. Easier to do on big fish though!

 

[HeatherW]

so far so good. I think maybe we have contained the problem. I do not see any new symptoms on anyone. the tank is holding steady with zero ammonia and nitrites. Ph is slightly lower but holding steady at 7.4 (down from regular 7.6) all the fish seem to be eating fine. temp is now down to 76.6 and holding nicely. guess i figured out the heater issue. read up on it a little more and found that is a good heater just that the presets are not very accurate. but once you get it set it holds the temp nicely. (good to hear) I thought it had good reviews when I bought it so I am gladd it is working right now - just a little operator error on my part lol

my tank is looking a little empty though. I am down 7 fish - three deaths and 4 returns. I hope to get me a good quarantine tank soon. is a 14 gallon big enough?

 

[HeatherW]

oh - almost forgot... what should I be doing with my little 2.5 gallon? I put the sick fish in there for a few hours before I returned them. it is empty now

 

[jlk]

Im glad to hear everything is going well!! 14gals sounds decent sized for a qt. I would disinfect the small tank with bleach (10%) to be on the safe side. Im glad you figured out the heater issue, too!

 

[HeatherW]

Im glad to hear everything is going well!! 14gals sounds decent sized for a qt. I would disinfect the small tank with bleach (10%) to be on the safe side. Im glad you figured out the heater issue, too!

what does that mean? take everything out, clean the tank and all the gravel etc, then put it back in? what do I do with the filter?

 

[jlk]

The only way to kill any disease is to disinfect. I would toss the filter media, put the tank in the bathtub, mix a 10% bleach solution (1 part bleach to 9 parts hot water), scrub & soak everything for atleast 15mins, rinse with hot water, refill with dechlorinated water & soak another 15mins, dump & air dry everything & the tank should be ready for use.

Alternately, you can treat the tank with antibiotics & salt for a full course of treatment & then do a 100% water change & it should be ok to use.

 

[ejaramillo01]

The only way to kill any disease is to disinfect. I would toss the filter media, put the tank in the bathtub, mix a 10% bleach solution (1 part bleach to 9 parts hot water), scrub & soak everything for atleast 15mins, rinse with hot water, refill with dechlorinated water & soak another 15mins, dump & air dry everything & the tank should be ready for use.

Alternately, you can treat the tank with antibiotics & salt for a full course of treatment & then do a 100% water change & it should be ok to use.

+1 great advice.

Also, because it is just a 2.5 G tank, I will discard the gravel.... But that is just me....
For the QT, you won't need gravel, most of the QT tanks are empty most of the time, when you buy fish, then you just move 1 fully cycled filter to the tank and QT the fish for at least 3 to 4 weeks.

 

[HeatherW]

OK, so I am pretty sure another one of the turquoise rainbows is infected - think he had it all along. so I scooped him out and put him in the 2.5 gallon tank I have. dabbed the spots with peroxide before i put him in there.

so now do I start treating the 2.5 gallon with the maracyn two? kind of difficult to do since the directions are for 10 gallons per packet and my tank is 2.5 gallons.
i did add 1/2 TBSP salt to the tank

 

[jlk]

Take a packet & dump it out on a piece of paper. Divide it in two equal piles then divide each pile again. This will give you 4 doses of meds each sufficent to treat a 2.5g tank. I would then put each pile in a piece of plastic wrap or foil or a small baggie (i know- its a very tiny amount!). Good luck!

 

[HeatherW]

Do I start dosing the 2.5 gallon as if it is day 1 or pick up where I left off on the big tank?
Directions have you do a double dose on day one then reg dose on days 2-5
Do I start over and do the full 5 days on the small tank?
Thanks!!

 

[jlk]

Thats a good question! Hmm... i would start with the double dose because this tank has zero meds in it & then just follow the course of meds from there for a full treatment. This med is a relatively safe one to use & i have actually treated a fish before with this med for longer than recommended so he should be fine. Good luck & keep us posted!

 

[HeatherW]

That was what I was thinking as well. It does say "repeat this 5 day treatment only once if needed"
So I will start day one on the QT tank

 

[HeatherW]

so tonight ends my 5 days of treatment. so tomorrow am I supposed to do a water change and put the carbon filter in or should I just continue on as if there were never any meds in the tank?
water paramaters are still good.
temp - 76.8
nitrites - 0
PH - 7.6

going to test nitrates tomorrow...

 

[jlk]

You may need a water change to reduce your nitrates anyway (see how they look). This antibiotic actually does not stay effective for a very long period of time- thus, the need to redose daily. After a pwc, you can remove some media temporarily & run a new carbon filter for a 1-2 hours to remove any traces of the med. Keep a close eye on everybody- hopefully, this nasty bug is gone for good!

 

[HeatherW]

OK, so here is an interesting bit of information.
I did my water test today. water still looks good (90 gallon tank)
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
nitrates -0

that is the strange part. last water change was right before I started treatment - 5 days. why would the nitrates be at 0?? I do not really have enough live plants to be doing anything in there. I have a small slate of java moss and a small bunch of anacharis floating.

the only thing I can think of is that I have removed several fish from the tank (7 rainbows, 1 dwarf gourami, 1 harlequin rasbora). could this be the reason?

I am sure I did the test right. tested it twice and at the same time I tested the 20 gallon tank and got a reading of 30 ppm there

 

[jlk]

Thats interesting- i actually saw this earlier today on a fishless cycle post & I have seen it before as well (other cycling posts & 1 of my own tanks) but I dont have a scientific explanation for where they went. I would do a wc anyway if you havent done one already to remove dissolved solids & replenish buffers. Its possible with fewer fish, you are just not getting detectable nitrates. How is your everybody (and your pale loach) doing?

 

[HeatherW]

everyone that is in the big tank is doing fine. the rainbow that I moved to the QT died last night. I think the tank is just too small. getting a 14 gallon today (or tomorrow) to set up for the qt. then I think I will get me a few rainbows to replace everyone I lost. is this too fast or should I save that qt a few more days until I am sure the big tank is still ok?

figured I would set it up, dose to 2ppm and see if my old filter media could handle it. if so, then add 3 rainbows to start it out - keep them in there 3 weeks, then move them to the big tank.

the pale loach is curious. I have noticed him very pale a couple of times (always in the evening) and today when I look at him he seems fine. I can find all 6 - a set of two that are bigger and a set of 4 that are all smaller. they all seem to be fine. I don't get the color difference but I guess he is fine (or is it a she?) I will keep looking to see if I can figure it out.

 

[jlk]

Thats great your upgrading your qt!! I am sorry about your rainbow- columnaris is a vicious disease & can kill quickly unfortunately. Just make sure you get healthy new fish & qt them to be sure they are disease free before adding them to your big tank.

I wish i could offer you advice on your loach but i dont know anything about them. He/she is a neat looking fish though! Im glad everyone is doing well!