Lizzietheloach

Sounds good. She's looking a lot better today, which is encouraging. Does anyone have a link to get some maracyn 2? I'm having trouble finding it. Lot of maracyn, but not a lot of maracyn 2.

Got it. I'll get some. What would have caused that weird pimple-like growth, though?

Hi. Thanks for responding. I got her about 6 months ago from my LFS. She's never had any issues before. She's my biggest, toughest danio. She's still swimming around normally, just looks like she has a small wound on her side. The ulcer or whatever it was is completely off now.

Hi there, This morning I noticed that one of my danios had a large, pale growth on its side that stuck out noticeably. It was swimming and interacting with the other fish normally, but it also seemed like that side with the growth might have been a little bloated. Difficult to tell, because they're so fast. I thought it might be lympho, but wasn't sure. A couple hours later, I noticed some redness on that spot as if it had been scraped or had burst. Tank is a 32g with driftwood, real and silk plants, and some decor. Mid-range pH, 20-30 nitrates, 5 GH, 7 KH, no ammonia or nitrites, 77-78 degrees (not on purpose, it's just hot in Florida). Tankmates included kuhli loaches and amano shrimp who are acting normally. A couple weeks ago I did treat the tank with the first of 3 rounds of Paracleanse because one of my kuhli loaches looked very skinny and I was worried about it being wasting disease. The first two photos are from early in the morning when it was just a white growth, and then second two are later when it looked like it got scraped. At first, it almost looked like it had a bone sticking out of its body. What can I do for this poor fish? Is this going to spread to my other fish? Thank you very much.

I will do that. Thank you again for responding. I feel more confident about what to do. Do I need to store my active carbon wet, or can I just let it dry out while it's out of the tank? Is there anything else I need to remove before medicating, like the foam blocks or the biomax? I assume the medication is going to affect my cycle, so I'll be testing a lot.

Sorry, I realized I hadn't answered all of your questions. I feed them a variety of foods - frozen brine shrimp, frozen blood worms, shrimp pellets, bug bites, etc. - once per day pretty heavily with a fast day once or twice a week. I have 10 zebra danios and 7 amano shrimp with them. None of the loaches hang out near the surface. I haven't noticed him spitting out any food, but he hides a lot and I didn't even see him try to eat yesterday, even though there was food right in front of him, which concerned me. Most of my loaches hang out in the open, but he's a big hider which is why I didn't notice how thin he was until yesterday.

I wondered about that too, but his mouth was right next to two different foods, shrimp pellets and bug bites, and he just sifted sand instead of eating. I didn't notice any rapid breathing, but the loach that died a few weeks ago had very rapid breathing and and flaring gills. I haven't seen any stringy white poop, and I can't tell if his belly is sunken because he just looks skinny from head to tail. The other new loaches are still small and slender, but not like this. My older loaches are super thick. What would you do here? I really appreciate your reply. Thank you.

I have 15 kuhli loaches in a 32 gallon planted tank. Most of them hang out all day and sift sand, lie in piles, or explore, but 4-5 of them hide regularly. Yesterday evening I saw that one of my newer loaches is very skinny. He came out during feeding time, but it didn't look like he was actually eating, just sifting sand next to the food and the other loaches who were eating. I test my parameters regularly, and they are all normal today - 0 ammonia and nitrites, low nitrates, 77-78° F, stable pH and hardness. Is this a parasite? Should I treat the tank with something? I do not have a hospital tank, so I was thinking of treating the entire tank with ParaCleanse 2 or 3 times after watching Cory's video on that medicine. I don't have a picture of this loach, because he's one of the few hiding ones and he was only out for a little while, but just imagine the skinniest little slip of a thing, so skinny you could almost see right through him from the side. I didn't see any other visible issues. I got him about a month and 1/2 ago with a group of small, young loaches. They are mostly still small, but definitely not skinny like this one. I'm feeling sensitive about my loaches because we lost one a couple weeks ago when it went into what looked like shock for no apparent reason. We euthanized it after it didn't get better because we didn't want it to suffer. I can't help but to wonder if this is a similar problem, but I don't remember that one being as thin. The ParaCleanse arrives tomorrow. If I do dose the tank with ParaCleanse, how many times should I do so? I have a Fluval Flex, so I have active carbon and biomax. Should I remove both or just the carbon? How do I store the carbon while I'm medicating? What can I do to keep my cycle from crashing? Sorry for the all the questions. This will be my first time medicating a tank, and I'm nervous, but I really care about my loaches and want to help them. Thanks so much. Edit to add that the whole tank has kuhli loaches, zebra danios, and amano shrimp

Yes! I clean it regularly. After playing with our downstairs thermostat, I've determined that the tank is warm right now because everything and everyone is warm right now in Florida haha

Thank you!!

If it's allowed, could I have a link or two for the temperature controllers, please? Thank you!

Nice! I just worry about it getting too cold in winter.

Update! My husband turned the air down lower than normal this evening, and when I came downstairs the thermometer said 77, which is the first time it's been lower than 78 in days. We're going to keep the A/C a little lower to see what happens. I guess we're all just too hot in Florida in the summer.

Thanks for responding, everyone. I have a Fluval Flex 32.5, so all the filtration is in a set of rear chambers, and I put the heater in the back middle compartment next to the circulation pump. There's not a ton of room back there, so it's positioned upright. I also have an airstone in the main part of the tank for extra circulation. I checked my temperature with multiple thermometers, just to make sure the one I was using wasn't a bad read. They both had the same temp. If you guys think the heater would do better in a different place, please let me know. I'll check out the Fluval E-Series and the Ink Bird. With regard to optimal temperatures for my fish, it's tricky because different sources say different things, although most agree that 78 is on the high side for zebra danios, which is why I kept trying to lower the heat, to no avail.

Tank is 32g long. I run the lights for about 4-6 hours per day because I have all low light plants and I don't want to freak out the loaches. We usually set the air to about 73-74, depending on how we feel. That said, we're in Florida and it's hellish outside right now. The tank isn't in a window, but there are windows relatively nearby. I have a thermometer in the tank at all times lately just so I can glance at it periodically when I'm in the room. I looked and didn't see an indicator light on the heater, but I might have missed it. If this is just the temperature it is because of being in Florida, I'm fine with that, and my danios will have to be too. I just wanted to make sure my heater wasn't doing something it wasn't supposed to. A heater failing and cooking my fish is one of my bigger aquarium fears. Thank you for responding!