Fishalicious
Aquarium Advice Freak
Got some good news and some really bad news..
The good news is, after a VERY long two months, week, and three days; MY TANK IS FINALLY CYCLED!!
After coming home from work today, I tested my water parameters and they are as follow:
Ammonia: 0
NitrITE: 0 (FINALLY YAY!!!)
NitrATE: 5
pH: a very stable 6.8
After a month of my nitrites not going away, I increased the bioload in my tank and also left about an inch less of water in the tank to increase aeration and less than a week later, I was completely cycled.
Now the bad news...
As some of you may or may not recall, A few nights ago I had to put down one of my Danios because of a curved spine, slugishness, and inability to school with the others. Well today RIGHT before work I was looking at my tank and noticed the other NTD suspicious danio with a slightly curved spine was breathing rapidly and had very red gills (signs of gill flukes...so he had NTD and gill flukes?) I also noticed that the other Danios were being aggressive towards him because he wasnt moving too much at the surface. It looked as if they were biting him. I was hoping that he would survive until I got home. I didnt have the time to prepare to euthanize (and didnt want to flush 'em). I was running really late so I figured that I would euthanize him properly when I got home if he had survived. Well, he not only didn't survive, but is no where to be found. I think the Danios ate every last piece of him after he died. I did a very thorough search. When I checked my filter box, I lifted the filter pads out and noticed some brownish slimy stuff on the pad (I assumed this was his leftovers possibly?) No bones. No Nothin'! The danios bellies arent big but I was also gone for 8 hours (I thought I was only going to be gone for 4) so they had ample amount of time to digest.
My concern is that they may all be infected from eating him now and from what I read, this disease is very slow and could take weeks to months to show symptoms.
My other concern is that this tank may have TB. From what I read, the symptoms of NTD and TB are identical and I dont really understand the difference.
The other tank mates are very lively and always moving. But symptoms take time to arrive.
I know that there is no cure for either of the diseases and have read that spores can be in the tank and future arrivals can eat them and can also become infected. So the only way to rid it is to tear down and bleach the tank (NO WAY. NOT AFTER A 2 1/2 MONTH CYCLE!!)
I really need some help on the diagnosis and maybe some methods to cure. I KNOW I should've QT'd these fish but the QT was not setup and I needed more Danios to finish up my stuck cycle because of my prior bioload size. Now I am afraid for my fish, future fish, and my own health of contracting Myobacterium Marinum from the TB if that indeed is the case.
A lesson has been learned..
Sorry for the long post. I'm just very clueless right now and needed to vent. I would appreciate ANY input.
Thank you all very much you have been so helpful!
-Dan
The good news is, after a VERY long two months, week, and three days; MY TANK IS FINALLY CYCLED!!
After coming home from work today, I tested my water parameters and they are as follow:Ammonia: 0
NitrITE: 0 (FINALLY YAY!!!)
NitrATE: 5
pH: a very stable 6.8
After a month of my nitrites not going away, I increased the bioload in my tank and also left about an inch less of water in the tank to increase aeration and less than a week later, I was completely cycled.
Now the bad news...
As some of you may or may not recall, A few nights ago I had to put down one of my Danios because of a curved spine, slugishness, and inability to school with the others. Well today RIGHT before work I was looking at my tank and noticed the other NTD suspicious danio with a slightly curved spine was breathing rapidly and had very red gills (signs of gill flukes...so he had NTD and gill flukes?) I also noticed that the other Danios were being aggressive towards him because he wasnt moving too much at the surface. It looked as if they were biting him. I was hoping that he would survive until I got home. I didnt have the time to prepare to euthanize (and didnt want to flush 'em). I was running really late so I figured that I would euthanize him properly when I got home if he had survived. Well, he not only didn't survive, but is no where to be found. I think the Danios ate every last piece of him after he died. I did a very thorough search. When I checked my filter box, I lifted the filter pads out and noticed some brownish slimy stuff on the pad (I assumed this was his leftovers possibly?) No bones. No Nothin'! The danios bellies arent big but I was also gone for 8 hours (I thought I was only going to be gone for 4) so they had ample amount of time to digest.
My concern is that they may all be infected from eating him now and from what I read, this disease is very slow and could take weeks to months to show symptoms.
My other concern is that this tank may have TB. From what I read, the symptoms of NTD and TB are identical and I dont really understand the difference.
The other tank mates are very lively and always moving. But symptoms take time to arrive.
I know that there is no cure for either of the diseases and have read that spores can be in the tank and future arrivals can eat them and can also become infected. So the only way to rid it is to tear down and bleach the tank (NO WAY. NOT AFTER A 2 1/2 MONTH CYCLE!!)
I really need some help on the diagnosis and maybe some methods to cure. I KNOW I should've QT'd these fish but the QT was not setup and I needed more Danios to finish up my stuck cycle because of my prior bioload size. Now I am afraid for my fish, future fish, and my own health of contracting Myobacterium Marinum from the TB if that indeed is the case.
A lesson has been learned..
Sorry for the long post. I'm just very clueless right now and needed to vent. I would appreciate ANY input.
Thank you all very much you have been so helpful!
-Dan
