I have 3 freshwater aquariums (Ive gone fish crazy starting last winter 2010) and i have been able to keep them in pretty good conditions, thanks to the wealth of information on the internet.
Ive been meaning to turn one of my 10g into a hospital tank. right now it houses a bunch of pond snails, floating hornwort, and a few plain guppies.
I'm slowly turning my 20g into a diy'ish high tech setup. It houses some more floating hornwort, dwarf saggitaria, water wisteria, and javamoss a molly, a mickymouse platy, some guppies, a few pondsnails, and an assassin snail. recently I upgraded the lighting and made a co2 reactor.
I'm sorry for being indirect about my question but these facts are relevant to the problem i am having. a few days ago i noticed the black molly had very shiny gold scales around his gills and mouth when i shone a bright flashlight on him. I've read this before as velvet desease. when i checked the platy and guppies, they have a very fine dust on them. The molly is darting around scratching things, but otherwise hes very energetic, and still eating. The other fish with the fine dust seem to be perfectly fine, thus far but i'm worried about the virus progressing .
Now i looked online and I guess copper-sulphate or other parasite killers can get this thing fixed, along with dark or dimmed lights, aquarium salt, and high temps. But this is a bit complicated as i'm trying to grow plants, and also keep snails healthy and happy in both tanks, how can i do this with the least amount of sacrifice to plants or snails?
(Today seems to be my long overdue bad-day and this is my first time asking advice on the internet. So please forgive me my brain isn't 100% focused today..lol)
***These are the details i'm suppose to give***
Problem : Fish have velvet in 20G
Tank Parameters: GH-180ppm
KH-180ppm
PH - 7.5
NO2 - 0ppm
NO3 - 18ppm
Temp - 80F
20G Tank has been setup for ~6months
Filter setup : 10-20 Aquatech Power Filter
My livestock: 1 Platy
1 Molly
8-12 guppies (ones pregnant)
Assasin snail
A few pond snails
The molly was the newest addition about a month ago.
I usually do gravel clean/ water changes on all tanks every saturday. However last saturday i did no water change. On sunday i did "top-up" the aquariums. Usually on Saturday, on my 10g i change 2.5g out (1 bucket) and on the 20g i change 2 buckets (5g). I use Aquasafe Dechlorinator and add water after sitting for 24 hours.
The guppies are still at thier adolescent stage and at the most, only half an inch. The molly and platy are 1 inch.
Becuase i have read that platies are omnivores, i feed the fish a diet of bulk vegetable flakes(not the best choice i know) and some betta food (or shrimp pellet). Occasionally ill thow in a small piece of cucumber or some peas.
Ive been meaning to turn one of my 10g into a hospital tank. right now it houses a bunch of pond snails, floating hornwort, and a few plain guppies.
I'm slowly turning my 20g into a diy'ish high tech setup. It houses some more floating hornwort, dwarf saggitaria, water wisteria, and javamoss a molly, a mickymouse platy, some guppies, a few pondsnails, and an assassin snail. recently I upgraded the lighting and made a co2 reactor.
I'm sorry for being indirect about my question but these facts are relevant to the problem i am having. a few days ago i noticed the black molly had very shiny gold scales around his gills and mouth when i shone a bright flashlight on him. I've read this before as velvet desease. when i checked the platy and guppies, they have a very fine dust on them. The molly is darting around scratching things, but otherwise hes very energetic, and still eating. The other fish with the fine dust seem to be perfectly fine, thus far but i'm worried about the virus progressing .
Now i looked online and I guess copper-sulphate or other parasite killers can get this thing fixed, along with dark or dimmed lights, aquarium salt, and high temps. But this is a bit complicated as i'm trying to grow plants, and also keep snails healthy and happy in both tanks, how can i do this with the least amount of sacrifice to plants or snails?
(Today seems to be my long overdue bad-day and this is my first time asking advice on the internet. So please forgive me my brain isn't 100% focused today..lol)
***These are the details i'm suppose to give***
Problem : Fish have velvet in 20G
Tank Parameters: GH-180ppm
KH-180ppm
PH - 7.5
NO2 - 0ppm
NO3 - 18ppm
Temp - 80F
20G Tank has been setup for ~6months
Filter setup : 10-20 Aquatech Power Filter
My livestock: 1 Platy
1 Molly
8-12 guppies (ones pregnant)
Assasin snail
A few pond snails
The molly was the newest addition about a month ago.
I usually do gravel clean/ water changes on all tanks every saturday. However last saturday i did no water change. On sunday i did "top-up" the aquariums. Usually on Saturday, on my 10g i change 2.5g out (1 bucket) and on the 20g i change 2 buckets (5g). I use Aquasafe Dechlorinator and add water after sitting for 24 hours.
The guppies are still at thier adolescent stage and at the most, only half an inch. The molly and platy are 1 inch.
Becuase i have read that platies are omnivores, i feed the fish a diet of bulk vegetable flakes(not the best choice i know) and some betta food (or shrimp pellet). Occasionally ill thow in a small piece of cucumber or some peas.