Multi-illness is my fault

[razmataz1971]

OK, my fish came down with fin rot. Mainly my fault because I only let my 75 gal tank cycle for a week. I'm treating using Jungle Fungus and just started last night upon figuring it was fin rot and not others nipping. (I sat in front of the tank for hours watching to see if any other fish were fighting and they all get along great)

Now, just today, I noticed small white spots (like salt particles) on fins of other fish (the ones not effected by the rot) and a few on a Rainbows mouth. They aren't covered with spots, but I know that the one's on the Rainbows mouth just arrived within the past few hours.

What is the difference between Ich and Columnaris? Or maybe could this be part of the fungus that I'm dealing with? The fish are feeding and swimming well. So how do I now treat multi-illness in the tank? I'm basically still doing my PWC to get the levels down. My QT tank is cycling and it wouldn't make sense to take all the ill fish from one death trap to another.


ammonia is .25 (fell from 4.0 few days ago)
nitrite is 2.0 (fell from 5.0+ yesterday)
nitrate is 5.0
Tank temp: 79


Please review my sig for all the fish I have in the tank for medication referrals.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Menagerie]

Check the article on FW ich in the Articles section and compare the pic to your fish. If you are dealing with ich, raise the temp and add salt while you continue to treat the tank with the fungus med.

 

[razmataz1971]

YEP YEP, I'm dealing with ICH too. 8O

Before I got a chance to read your post Menagerie, I figured out I was dealing with ICH also because there were more spots when I got home. I had some Rid-Ich and now I'm using both meds. 8O

I've been treating now for 3 days and it seems the ICH is getting worse. It spread to the other fish and more spots appeared on fish bodies. At least the the fin rot is stable. I really don't know how to tell actually if the fin rot is getting better.

Did a 60% PWC on Tuesday morning and started treating with the Melafix and the Rid-Ich, (Talk about fish meds actually smelling like human meds ewww.) My house smells like a hospital because of the Melafix LOL

I'm following the instructions on the bottles in regards to the 25% PWC each day before adding more. But I'm only treating the Ich once a day.

I'm scared to try the salt method. Would raising the tank temp prolong the treatment of the fin rot fungus?

BTW: update on my water conditions:

Ammonia: .25
NO2: 2.0
No3: 10

 

[Menagerie]

I'm scared to try the salt method. Would raising the tank temp prolong the treatment of the fin rot fungus?

If the fin rot has slowed due to the med, I would treat the ich naturally and not use so many meds all at once.

 

[razmataz1971]

Well the fin rot is pretty much under control for the most part. With any of the fish I have in the 75gal be harmed by the salt? How much salt do I add?

 

[TankGirl]

BTW, it is not uncommon for rainbows to contract columnaris, with a fuzzy looking white mouth. I have successfully treated this in rainbows (in a very, very mild form, just barely noticeable) with Melafix and Pimafix in the show tank without moving them to a hospital tank.

I think your fish will do fine with the salt except for the cories. I'd personally just skip the salt though and use high temps alone, as Menagerie suggested. You can knock out ich with this method.

 

[razmataz1971]

Update

I was tossed on using the salt because of the cories. The Ich seems to be getting better with the raised temp to 82 and using Rid-Ich. I just read the bottle and the bottle said to treat for 3 days. I obviously need to do this longer and most of the spots haven't dissappered.

Without interrupting my schedule, I did a 50% PWC yesterday with a light surface vacumm in the front of the tank. I didn't dig into the gravel or surface vacumm the rear of the tank. Then added more Rid-Ich. I haven't used the Melafix in a few days. I think I killed by bio-filter. All my tests this AM are coming out ZERO. I know the NO2 and the Ammonia are suppose to be ZERO, but is it normal for the NO3 to be ZERO also? Or is it a sign that my tank is fully cycled?

 

[Mofo2713]

Well, if you have plants in your tank they use up nitrates and if you just did a 50% pwc, you cut your nitrates in half from what they were before. The combination of plants and a big water change could result in a reading too small to show on the scale if the level was already low to begin with. I keep my reading of nitrate just under 10, and if I was to perform a 50% wc, it would probably show as 0 on my nitrate scale.

 

[razmataz1971]

That would make sense if I had live plants in my tank. It looks like I do but they are silk plants. I'd love to get live plants, but it would mean changing the substrate. Not only that, I can't even properly trim the landscape on the outside of my house

 

[Mofo2713]

what kind of substrate do you have?

 

[razmataz1971]

I have mixed gravel. 50lbs of small standard gravel and 20lbs of large (dime size) for a different look. You can see it under "view my gallery"

 

[BASSNMAN]

It sounds like your tank has cycled. You don't have to change substrate to grow many plants. You can mix fluorite in with your current gravel. Unless you plan to go with big lighting and co2, you should have no problems. Try some of the plant bulbs available at Petco or cheaper at Walmart.