mwe_ch
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
So, two weeks before a house move (early May) and imminent stress, I notice that two of my three my adult swords (and not the two fry) have what I thought was ich. I immediately slowly raised the temperature and left it there for two weeks. With a move upcoming I didn't want to try putting anything in the water as I was going to do frequent small water changes leading up to the move. The ich disappeared quickly but before the fish had time to recuperate, exactly two weeks since I raised the temperature, we moved house. I asked myself if they would survive.
On aquarium move day, I was able to do a water change and then later that day siphon all 40l of the water out into a large opaque insulated cooler (e.g. coleman type), move the fish into the cooler as well as the plants, drop in some oxy tabs and then drive the fish over to the new house, 1km away. After less than two hours I had the tank back up and running and all the stuff back in the tank.
A few days later though, the female who hadn't had fry started being agressive to the other swords. Then it looked like those two had fin rot, the female also having a few white spots on her fins (but did not look like ich). I immediately took the agressor out of the tank and transferred her into my larger 220l tank (where she's been now for awhile and is doing fine). I went to the pet shop here in Switzerland and they suggested FURANOL2 (not knowing what any of the fish diseases are in French I described what was going on in French and this is what was suggested, I've since googled it but can only find sites in German!).
In any event, I treated for 5 days (sans carbon) and then reintroduced the carbon and did a large water change. In those 5 days, one of the baby fry started nipping at her mother and biting away the whiteness around what I thought was the fin rot. Eventually eating through. The female's fin rot since looks better, and white spots disappeared at first, but a single spot has reappeared on each pectoral fin since.
I left the tank without FURANOL2 for a day (as fish seemed better but not best) and then did another dose (the instructions said you could do another 5 day dose after the first). The male then started getting lethargic and his back started arching. At the end of those five days I did another water change and reintroduced carbon and added JBL Acclimol for improved immune response and Denitrol to reintroduce good bacteria. I didn't want to do another treatment as the instructions didn't say anything about a third dose. I have been doing small water changes/gravel siphoning every few days since (there's hardly any debris in the gravel!), but there doesn't seem to be any improvement.
The two adults, in fact, are still sick, if not worse. They both hide or float near the bottom of the tank. The female looks healthier than she did when I first suspected fin rot, but she's still lethargic. She seems to be eating. The male, however, I am not sure is eating and is getting skinnier and skinnier. And his back is arching. Which I suspect is from not eating rather than from TB or something else. The fry seem ok (except they get distended stomachs when I give brine shrimp treats as they eat it up so fast!) but I think they eat all the food so I've also put some sinking Novo tablets in for the adults to try to get from the tank bed. Oh, the male also has globulet-like poo now. It doesn't look like worms but it could be from the fact he's not eating, who knows.
I have no where to put the fry (I think they'll get eaten by someone in the bigger tank) so I have not separated them. The idea was to separate out the two adults and put into my larger tank and leave the fry in the 40l tank until they were big enough to transfer also, and then use the small tank as a quarantine, but that idea is currently on hold while I get the sickness under control!
Any ideas? The ich 5 weeks ago was clearly ich, since it disappeared almost immediately with a temperature hike, but the stress from the ich and the move thereafter obviously meant they were immuno-depressed so got something else. I don't just want to treat with more meds when I don't know what's going on. I thought about salt, but as I am in Switzerland and packaging is in French/German, I don't know what to buy and now I don't know if they are strong enough to withstand it. Table salts here have both iodine and fluoride so I am not going that route.
I'm not sure if it's euthanasia time or if there is something else to try. I don't like seeing them suffer. All the products are European with German, French or Italian packaging and I am used to the Canadian brands, so it's a maze to figure out when things go wrong.
Oh, the tank is a 40l 3-in-one by JEBO with natural coloured gravel and a few plants. I removed the plants that weren't doing well when we moved house.
Thanks.
-M
P.S. I haven't been able to take a good photo otherwise I'd post one.
On aquarium move day, I was able to do a water change and then later that day siphon all 40l of the water out into a large opaque insulated cooler (e.g. coleman type), move the fish into the cooler as well as the plants, drop in some oxy tabs and then drive the fish over to the new house, 1km away. After less than two hours I had the tank back up and running and all the stuff back in the tank.
A few days later though, the female who hadn't had fry started being agressive to the other swords. Then it looked like those two had fin rot, the female also having a few white spots on her fins (but did not look like ich). I immediately took the agressor out of the tank and transferred her into my larger 220l tank (where she's been now for awhile and is doing fine). I went to the pet shop here in Switzerland and they suggested FURANOL2 (not knowing what any of the fish diseases are in French I described what was going on in French and this is what was suggested, I've since googled it but can only find sites in German!).
In any event, I treated for 5 days (sans carbon) and then reintroduced the carbon and did a large water change. In those 5 days, one of the baby fry started nipping at her mother and biting away the whiteness around what I thought was the fin rot. Eventually eating through. The female's fin rot since looks better, and white spots disappeared at first, but a single spot has reappeared on each pectoral fin since.
I left the tank without FURANOL2 for a day (as fish seemed better but not best) and then did another dose (the instructions said you could do another 5 day dose after the first). The male then started getting lethargic and his back started arching. At the end of those five days I did another water change and reintroduced carbon and added JBL Acclimol for improved immune response and Denitrol to reintroduce good bacteria. I didn't want to do another treatment as the instructions didn't say anything about a third dose. I have been doing small water changes/gravel siphoning every few days since (there's hardly any debris in the gravel!), but there doesn't seem to be any improvement.
The two adults, in fact, are still sick, if not worse. They both hide or float near the bottom of the tank. The female looks healthier than she did when I first suspected fin rot, but she's still lethargic. She seems to be eating. The male, however, I am not sure is eating and is getting skinnier and skinnier. And his back is arching. Which I suspect is from not eating rather than from TB or something else. The fry seem ok (except they get distended stomachs when I give brine shrimp treats as they eat it up so fast!) but I think they eat all the food so I've also put some sinking Novo tablets in for the adults to try to get from the tank bed. Oh, the male also has globulet-like poo now. It doesn't look like worms but it could be from the fact he's not eating, who knows.
I have no where to put the fry (I think they'll get eaten by someone in the bigger tank) so I have not separated them. The idea was to separate out the two adults and put into my larger tank and leave the fry in the 40l tank until they were big enough to transfer also, and then use the small tank as a quarantine, but that idea is currently on hold while I get the sickness under control!
Any ideas? The ich 5 weeks ago was clearly ich, since it disappeared almost immediately with a temperature hike, but the stress from the ich and the move thereafter obviously meant they were immuno-depressed so got something else. I don't just want to treat with more meds when I don't know what's going on. I thought about salt, but as I am in Switzerland and packaging is in French/German, I don't know what to buy and now I don't know if they are strong enough to withstand it. Table salts here have both iodine and fluoride so I am not going that route.
I'm not sure if it's euthanasia time or if there is something else to try. I don't like seeing them suffer. All the products are European with German, French or Italian packaging and I am used to the Canadian brands, so it's a maze to figure out when things go wrong.
Oh, the tank is a 40l 3-in-one by JEBO with natural coloured gravel and a few plants. I removed the plants that weren't doing well when we moved house.
Thanks.
-M
P.S. I haven't been able to take a good photo otherwise I'd post one.
