Lesions left behind on Goldfish after treatment

[Phrozian]

Hi Jsoong~

The reason I ask was that I was contemplating on culturing a concentrated stockpile of good bacteria, such that in the event (hopefully unlikely) of another breakout of illnesses, I would have a backup supply of filter wool full of bacterial colonies, if I need to treat the whole tank again...
I'll most likely make use of the laboratory grade ammonia for that I'll definitely keep the ammonia level below 4 ppm

Again, thanks so much for your suggestions
Also, the tank is definitely in its second cycle, the nitrite levels are constantly at about 0.5ppm, and ammonia is at 0.25 ppm, but remains there. Also, the nitrate levels are rising faster than before, I suspect the cycle is picking up speed!

Ooo, before I forget, there's another question... Is it advisable to use an undergravel filter rather than a waterfall one? I've heard from a few fish fans in the office that an undergravel filter allows the water to cycle better, and can deal with poop etc that's hidden in the gravel?

Cheers~
Alex.

 

[jsoong]

It would be extremely labor intensive to keep a bacterial culture going for QT or hospital use. A better way is to keep extra filter pads in your main tank. <And optionally in a second tank - like the one in your office.> When you have a disease outbreak in your tank, you take out the extra filter material from your tank & maintain that while you treat your main tank. <There is a chance that the disease will get transferred. Although most fish diseases will not survive without a fish host for more than a few days, so this is relatively safe ... Better still would be spare filter pads in 2 seperate tanks, in that case you take the pads from the healthy tank.>

You are going to stir up a hornet's nest with that Q on the UGF ... There are strong opinions pro & con. The overall feeling is that UGF's are less effective than the HOB, and a canister is better. There are ways to make an UGF work - such as reverse flow with a power head, various maintenance tricks, etc. But I think for ease of use, a HOB coupled with good gravel vac is easiest. <If you graduate to larger tanks, a canister is much preferred for goldies ... a wet/dry with sump is even better, both for goldies, larger fish & SW reefs.>

 

[Phrozian]

Good news everyone!!!
After a mere 2 months of trying to cycle with fish... My 5 gal tank is cycled!! I used nutrafin cycle and I usually add about 30mL each time I change water... and apparently it worked!!! YAY~~

My small tank (1 gal) is also close to being cycled, currently sitting at slightly elevated nitrite (0.5) and zero ammonia

Do I get a world record for that? ^.^ kidding~

And more good news, Phrilly's scales have returned, almost completely
Thank you all SO much for all your help and support... I honestly could not have done this without all of you~~

Alex.

 

[jsoong]

Congratulations! You did it. I am happy that the fish are doing fine. I hope it will be smooth sailing from now on.

I am not sure I would credit Cycle for the cycling. 2 months is fairly typical for fishy cycling. A cycling product that works (like BioSpira or direct seeding), should have cycled the tank in a few days, and only with minimal level rise.

One more little bit of caution ... I am trying not to throw cold water on your celebrations .... You do have a small setup for goldies, so you need to keep up with the water monitoring & pwc's. At least weekly & sometimes biweekly pwc's are needed in small setup. At some point, the goldies will outgrow your tank. It might be a few years down the road, but it is best to plan ahead. You will know this when pwc can no longer keep water parameter in control (nitrates rising, pH falling), or when the fish have no more space to move. <Your little guys may grow to 12-18" & live 10-12 years.>

 

[SHARPiE]

Good work Phrozian -

The dedication here is amazing!
Good to see you never gave up.

 

[EscVelocity]

Nice job.

 

[nifedmybi]

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