Lisa E

So, after first dosing of Expel P, I did water change but then got huge ammonia spike, two fish were worse for wear and later died. I did another water change and added back purigen and things righted themselves. Did second dose of expel p today and will plan for bigger water change tomorrow but should I be throwing away all my filter material (foam, purigen, chem pure- maybe just keep the bio material)? Gets expensive but so does replacing fish. Was wondering if that was why the ammonia spike started- dead materials being in the media.

Dosed with 1st course of Expel P. Will water change tomorrow (24 hours later). Do I put purigen, etc back in between dosing? Like dose, water change in 24 hours, run filters again until next dosing? Of just bio matter and sponge for the entire 4 weeks?

Will have to investigate raising my own live food…thanks for all your help! Take care.

Ok- so do one dose of expel P for 4 consecutive weeks, keep tank dark for 24 hours. How long do I wait to do the water change? Maybe the day of the next dose? And tank water will not plummet without any other filter matter? Do you think the puffers and gudgeon will eat different food or is there a way to get parasites out of my supply of blackworms? Can I freeze them (like frozen blood worms or brine shrimp) altho not sure they’d eat them dead.

levamisole-is that expel p? Do I have to run filter with nothing but bio matter (ceramic balls, etc) and sponge filter for the whole 4 weeks? I would love to do away with the black worms (live- I feed frozen brine shrimp and bloodworms) but am afraid the puffers and gudgeon will starve to death. They are pretty pathetic at feeding time. I do shoo away the barbs but they are determined. No matter what I feed they are engorged on it. Will the expel p get ride of the planaria too? The traps work but think I’ll be using them forever. I was gonna try to remove an inch of substrate to at least get rid of a solid portion of them since I have at least 3-4 inches in there (my husband thought it was supposed to be thick altho we have since learned otherwise). Will that help? When I look up levamisole I get this from our local pet store but seems to be more just a bunch of oils….

levamisole-is that expel p? Do I have to run filter with nothing but bio matter (ceramic balls, etc) and sponge filter for the whole 4 weeks? I would love to do away with the black worms (live- I feed frozen brine shrimp and bloodworms) but am afraid the puffers and gudgeon will starve to death. They are pretty pathetic at feeding time. I do shoo away the barbs but they are determined. No matter what I feed they are engorged on it. Will the expel p get ride of the planaria too? The traps work but think I’ll be using them forever. I was gonna try to remove an inch of substrate to at least get rid of a solid portion of them since I have at least 3-4 inches in there (my husband thought it was supposed to be thick altho we have since learned otherwise). Will that help?

Nitrate - about 5ppm…ph- about 7.0 and nitrite-under .25ppm…ammonia- 0ppm…no lethargy, no white stingy poop, no visible signs of illness…planted tank…attached pic of very large tetras and largest puffer…the puffer has always been large. The puffer and shrimp was just included b’c it was so cute…have heater with preset temp so not exactly sure what that is…filters cleaned once per month (have 2 70g filters so swap out media at alternating schedule), water every week or two…admittedly see nitrate is a bit higher than usual, usually it’s 0…took purigen and chem poor out yesterday so a lot of crap came out into tank

Hi, first post. Please help. 55g tank, 3 Indian pea puffers, several chili rasbora, 2 peacock gudgeon, several small tetra, a dwarf lemon bristlenose pleco, a few dwarf corycats, 2 male guppies and three blue eye rainbow fish…I also have a fair number of dwarf shrimp, snails and two vampire shrimp…the puffers and gudgeon only eat black worms but of course all the fish go crazy for them. I feed a bit of flake food and either blood worms, daphnia or brine shrimp (all frozen) to the rest of them. Over the last several months there have been constant issues- several of the fish have very bloated bellies (look like they overate but thinking it is worms). They seem fine one minute and a few hours later a fish lies dead. In the past, fish passed and they had that bloated body. Now they die and they are not necessarily bloated but they have flat light colored worms on them. They remind me of planaria but don’t necessarily have the pointed head. I have however suddenly developed a planaria problem, which I am trying to clear with traps (very effective) and gravel vac. I see no worms of any type on the live fish. I have dosed with general cure, initially not realizing it may be a parasite. Also tried a new product Fritz Bacter Shield. I am at my wits end. I keep changing water, cleaning filters, vac gravel with water change… hate having the carbon (i use purigen and chemi-pure green) out to medicate…can’t keep medicating them and can’t afford to keep losing them either . Help!!! pS- before anyone asks, the pea puffers and gudgeon are both very docile. If anyone disrupts harmony in the tank it is the two guppies !!