questions!!!!!

[allaboutfish]

ok i've got some questions pretty random.
1.im leaving for a week or two for vacation and im scared something will happen to my fish. will a temp of 82 prevent some diseases like ICH? i think i'll make my grandpa make an account on here so if he sees anything wrong he can make a thread.
2.how do you sex a german blue ram or bolivian ram?
3.what's the best way to prevent disease while your gone?
thanks

 

[bofadeeznuts]

Well to answer a good majority of your questions you shouldnt have to worry about disease while your gone if your fishtank is healthy as it is and you perform regular water changes and maintenance. As For the blue ram question I will research and edit

EDIT: the female ram is smaller and has more pink pigmentation in the ventral region

 

[allaboutfish]

i just added new fish

 

[severum mama]

I would strongly recommend waiting until after vacation to add anything new.

*edit* never mind.

 

[bofadeeznuts]

That shouldn't make a difference.

 

[allaboutfish]

would 82 degrees fight off ich though? and how big of a water change should i do since ill be gone for 1-2 weeks

 

[severum mama]

82 degrees is not going to prevent ich. If you happen to have an outbreak, it will only speed up the life cycle without salt or medication (I prefer salt).

That shouldn't make a difference.

How so? If issues are going to happen, they'll most likely show up within a few days to a week of adding new fish... when the OP is going on vacation. Wouldn't you rather be present to watch for any potential problems?

 

[BBradbury]

Questions???

Hello all...

I can give you a little advice for your vacation: If you've been faithful in your tank maintenance routine, your tank should be fine for a week or two. I don't believe you need to make any changes.

The only thing I would suggest is to have whomever watches your tank feed the fish sparingly and check the following:

Make sure the filter equipment is running.

Check the water temperature.

Check around the tank for a potential leak.

Check the tank light. Hopefully, you already have the lights on a timer.

Provide replacement water, so the tank can be topped off.

And last, provide a phone number of a knowledgable, local fish person.

This is all I do when I go on vacation.

B

 

[allaboutfish]

my grandpa is there 24/7 to watch the fish and will turn the light on and off. ill give him a list of websites and he can usually tell if something is wrong with any fish.

 

[bofadeeznuts]

I meant they should aclimate to their new surroundings normally even if your not present.

 

[jetajockey]

I agree, adding new fish isn't really the best thing since they really should be quarantined to prevent adding disease to your main tank.

Otherwise, diseases don't usually just crop up out of nowhere.

 

[severum mama]

I meant they should aclimate to their new surroundings normally even if your not present.

Unless you've unknowingly added sick fish. Signs of disease don't always present themselves at the time of sale.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

ok i've got some questions pretty random.
1.im leaving for a week or two for vacation and im scared something will happen to my fish. will a temp of 82 prevent some diseases like ICH? i think i'll make my grandpa make an account on here so if he sees anything wrong he can make a thread.
2.how do you sex a german blue ram or bolivian ram?
3.what's the best way to prevent disease while your gone?
thanks

Answer to Question One and Three: You can't prevent sickness from happening if you're not going to be there. Severum mama is right, high temperatures just speed up the life cycle. In my experience with ich, low temperatures seem to kill the parasites. If you've been keeping up on maintenance and you've treated your tank well, there really shouldn't be a disease outbreak. Since I'm going to be gone next week, I'm doing a 25% PWC and then leave them be. Also I'm not adding any new fish or starting any new tanks, just want to make sure everything is fine when I'm there.

 

[severum mama]

Low temps won't kill it, the life cycle will be slower. If you get the temp high enough, then heat in and of itself may kill it (unless you have a heat resistant strain). Salt and/or meds will kill it.

 

[allaboutfish]

ok so lets say my grandpa calls me and says that one of the fish has white spots. i have mardel coppersafe and i have salt but then i have corys so how much salt should he add? half the recomended dose? and then if he adds the mardel coppersafe it kills my cycle so then there would be more problems bc he's too old to do water changes. one thing i did do was get the fish fresh the day they were in the store.

 

[severum mama]

ok so lets say my grandpa calls me and says that one of the fish has white spots. i have mardel coppersafe and i have salt but then i have corys so how much salt should he add? half the recomended dose?
Probably. I'd start with half. Dissolve it first and add slowly to the tank.
and then if he adds the mardel coppersafe it kills my cycle so then there would be more problems bc he's too old to do water changes.
Don't add the coppersafe unless you absolutely have to. It's going to be rougher on the fish than salt.
one thing i did do was get the fish fresh the day they were in the store.
Usually not good IMO. They're already stressed from shipping and haven't been observed for signs of illness.

Comments in green. Hopefully you won't have any issues. I'd strongly suggest exercising a greater degree of patience in the future.

 

[fishfanatic]

Comments in green. Hopefully you won't have any issues. I'd strongly suggest exercising a greater degree of patience in the future.

+1 (I am guilty of not having enough patients, I am trying to work on it )

 

[allaboutfish]

um i HAD to buy them that day and dont have a problem with patience.

 

[severum mama]

Sorry, but you never HAVE to buy fish.

 

[allaboutfish]

the store was not going to give me a refund on a fish that died so they said i either replace it or get nothing and my mom wasnt going to waste her money. but that'[s off topic. im leaving supplies and notes for him and have given him a disease website so if he thinkgs something's up he'll know.