bloodlucky
Aquarium Advice FINatic
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2012
- Messages
- 900
If you look at my latest thread, I've explained all the details regarding this unknown disease that has swept through countless amounts of fish including my baby angelfish and a very nice blue ram I had for almost a year. Basically, once it's in the fish, the fish's stomach gradually begins to decrease in width until eventually it is flat like a pancake and caved in until the stomach looks like an upside down V from the side. It had already killed 2 generations of platys, the second one I raised myself entirely, and now 2 of my gold barbs. There are several moments when I thought the disease had simply worn off, but boy was I wrong. I'm now fully aware that this is a very strong disease that just wont die as long as there is a host in the tank. So after I saw the very beginning symptoms showing up in the second gold barb after the first one had died, I immediately quarantined him in a 2.5 gal. Nearly a week later he died (today) and if you look at the photo I posted in the last thread his carcass perfectly fits my description of the damage of the disease.
Since I have not seen a case where two fish were affected by the disease at once, I now believe that there is a good chance that by quarantining the victim before it reaches death, as I have just done, the disease will finally die out, now that its trapped in the 2.5 gal.
Of course I have no proof of this, and even if the disease is gone due to personal reasons I have decided on restarting my entire 40 gal stocking plan from a community to a solo blood parrot cichlid or something alike. But after I trade in my current fish in my 40 gal I want to be absolutely sure that the disease is completely gone before introducing my new stock, whether that means emptying all of the water out, bleaching and boiling everything and restarting the entire nitrogen cycle over again, no matter how many weeks it may take. Obviously it would greatly benefit me if doing this weren't necessary, so I'm wondering, what would be the most logical thing to do after I give all of my current fish away? Someone said that according to my story, this "skinny fish disease" would go away by itself if I let the tank sit with no fish in it for a while. But then again since nobody can seem to identify the disease in general I don't know whether this disease can survive on its own either.
And in case I do need to empty everything and boil all contents of the tank, I have a few questions beforehand.
How thorough should I be cleaning the tank out before I am ready to introduce purified water into the tank and begin the nitrogen cycle? I have a thick layer of gravel as well. Should I replace all of it or could I sit and wait for it to dry out after I boil it through? Thanks.
Since I have not seen a case where two fish were affected by the disease at once, I now believe that there is a good chance that by quarantining the victim before it reaches death, as I have just done, the disease will finally die out, now that its trapped in the 2.5 gal.
Of course I have no proof of this, and even if the disease is gone due to personal reasons I have decided on restarting my entire 40 gal stocking plan from a community to a solo blood parrot cichlid or something alike. But after I trade in my current fish in my 40 gal I want to be absolutely sure that the disease is completely gone before introducing my new stock, whether that means emptying all of the water out, bleaching and boiling everything and restarting the entire nitrogen cycle over again, no matter how many weeks it may take. Obviously it would greatly benefit me if doing this weren't necessary, so I'm wondering, what would be the most logical thing to do after I give all of my current fish away? Someone said that according to my story, this "skinny fish disease" would go away by itself if I let the tank sit with no fish in it for a while. But then again since nobody can seem to identify the disease in general I don't know whether this disease can survive on its own either.
And in case I do need to empty everything and boil all contents of the tank, I have a few questions beforehand.
How thorough should I be cleaning the tank out before I am ready to introduce purified water into the tank and begin the nitrogen cycle? I have a thick layer of gravel as well. Should I replace all of it or could I sit and wait for it to dry out after I boil it through? Thanks.