xXInkedPhoenixX

HAPPY FORUMVERSARY AND BIRTHDAY HOBBIT!! This forum is definitely a nice outlet for us Nerms. Squidward's new home looks like fun. Glad they get special treatment (not that I'm surprised! 😃 )

Aww. @carefulest this totally sucks. It does happen but I understand why you're discouraged with a species. I had a similar thing happen with Otos- I bought 7 and lost 6 of them within a week. I ended up getting another 7 from a different source and eventhough those ended up having Ich as soon as I got them home (which of course I treated) they all survived. They're even breeding (I have a "million" of them now) There was a reason these passed, if you figure out why it may never happen again. Even Cory says this is a reality of the hobby- you are going to lose (even kill- accidentally of course) fish.

My condolences. Dropsy is a hard one. You tried and I'm sure Chamo was very happy with you.

Pretty fish. Are the rest of the inhabitants acting ok? I'd say when they come out try and snap a pic and test your ammonia when you can. Let us know when you're able maybe we can help pinpoint what's going on.

I feel like at least for me, tanks end up evolving and having their own unique personalities- none of my tanks are the same. I admire ALL types of tanks. I like the use of fake things as long as they have a realistic look to them- or like @Guppysnail said I like the use of pots for plants. I like marbles for color. I guess like art I'm attacted to Mixed Media. If you do it right it's a seamless thing of beauty.

fuzzy patches could be either fungus or loss of slime coat so pictures will be helpful.

I'd check the ammonia.

What a bummer. Are you seeing anything visual on the fish that could indicate what they might have? What are your current water parameters? (post pics of fish if you can)

Personally I cannot tell with your pic, it should be pretty obvious though. In this attached pic is an Oto I have that had Ich when I first got them. The Ich generally starts on fins but as you can also see it will also start to attack the body. The very clear white dots on fin and body are the parasite. It can start with a single dot and grow to hundreds quickly if not spotted and treated.

@Starnz can I borrow an SAE? 🙂

I'm one of those people who always asks WHY, WHY, WHY? The heat doesn't kill the ich btw, it just speeds up the life cycle- the hope is that you can kill it faster with the meds that way. The higher the temp in the tank the less available oxygen (ever have trouble breathing when you are really hot? yeah, that)- so make sure there is plenty of aeration if you use heat in conjunction with the treatment. This can be HOB, airstones, etc. The reason I bring this up is that I've treated Ich a few times and only 1x did I use heat. The other 2 times were just as sucessfully treated, just took a few days longer.

You can find them. I'd contact your source and ask them to either get one for you/special order or call you if one comes in.

What are you meaning by themed tank? As in decoration or as in a species only?

@Scapexghost kits are a great option too, they usually come with HOB so buying sponge or filter floss to go in there is something to consider as the activated carbon filters that come with the HOB remove medications typically- which honestly is great when you're done medicating though a lot of hobbyist poo-poo keeping premade filter media like that around- it does come in handy!

lt seems counterintutive doesn't it? That's the question. So I'll tell you 2 quick (as I can) situations I had recently. As I mentioned, I have 2 Imagitarium (Petco) "holding tanks" they are 2 gallons. SITUATION ONE (no cycled media): This summer I had an injured Black Neon Tetra in one of my tanks. I pulled them out of gen pop, and put them in a floating breeder box to keep an eye on them (floating breeders come in handy too but that's too much to go into now). He was swimming vertically which tells me a swim bladder issue but wasn't sure what it was yet. I could see a spot where he was injured. After a day or two of observation saw that spot become fuzzy, which is when I knew they needed QT. I put "Verti" which is their name now, in the 2 gallon QT. He was getting some hardcore meds so I actually only ran an airstone (kept him in the floating breeder- cause he had trouble even getting to the top of a 2 gallon). There was no cycled media in there- he was in the tank for more than 2 weeks, he graduated to another type of breeder box and then went back into gen pop fully healed! SITUATION TWO (at first no cycled, but then corrected): New fish. I got some new fish from the LFS. I don't use meds unless they are needed (meaning if I don't see signs of illness I don't treat). I made the mistake of NOT putting a cycled sponge in one of my tanks- for the first few days. Sadly I had 3 losses. I quickly remedied that and pulled a cycled sponge from one of my 20 gallon tanks. I had to start up a 2nd QT due to MORE new (unexpected) fish. So as not to make the same mistake I immediately pulled another cycled sponge and have run it in that QT. It has now been 15 days and I've had no losses from either tank since and no signs of illness- with healthy bacteria to HOPEFULLY support all these fish until I can release them into their new homes after 5 weeks is up.

The thing with some meds is that they do kill off the good bacteria anyway so sometimes even having a cycled sponge on hand isn't what you need. I usually look up whether that will happen with a medication. Some people just keep the same sponge in their QT tank and have a handful of bladder snails in them- putting food in from time to time and keeping it cycled that way therefore never use a sponge from or putting into a main tank. Because the sponges I use are about $5 I have 5 of them, one of which is still new in the box. So the chance of the sponges being back in one of the main tanks is many months down the line. Lucky me too, both the QTs I have running don't seem to have any illnesses or medication needs so far so (knock on wood) I'm not hesitant to use them in the main tanks after cleaning. Hiding spots are easy- just as you said something simple. Even a terracotta pot tipped on its side. I have some fake plants, some old decor I'm not using anymore, etc.

You could do the same with a sponge potentially, @Colu's method might be better. My "used" sponges are cleaned with super hot water and put out of commission for so long (usually many months) before going back into the rotation- I've yet to have an issue. But if you're really nervous...they're pretty inexpensive.

@Colu is right. That's a very good way. Some use soap or white vinegar but you must make sure you rinse really really well. I usually use Dawn, rinse (really well) and leave it out to dry in the sun for a day or so. I run 2 sponges in my 20 gallon tanks so I always have options to pull one and "jump start" a QT- I have 2 QTs going on right now- NO meds- just making sure the fish are safe to go in my established tanks. They are working into 3 weeks of QT (aiming for 5). Because they're only 2 gallon tanks they require daily cleaning and small water changes.

Yes you don't want to cross contaminate even if you had several "healthy" tanks. Always want separate tools (I even use a different towel for different tanks, I have 5 "healthy" tanks and 2 small QT) just in case.

Hope he continues to improve!

I remember KGTropicals did a video about this....

The whole cycle may have been reset for some reason if the tank was already cycled. This could have been because of water change I suppose or the bioload too heavy too fast?? I'm not sure. Maybe your filters weren't working properly? I've had that happen. I would treat it as if it were a fish-in cycle and do daily small water changes and water treatment until the levels come back to where they should be and your aquatic friends are safe.

Nah, QT tanks can be easy if you want the glass kind, a lot of people use storage bins but I personally don't like you can't see into them well. People like storage bins because they feel like they will turn the glass tank into a permanent tank hehe. You can put wood in there if you want but if you treat anybody you might want to consider boiling it inbetween patients to sanitize. Any light would work because fish don't need them only we do to observe- stressed fish often do best without them and most QT tanks you're not going to keep plants in. The only other things you might consider is a net used exclusively for the tank, maybe a water changer- but you can get a turkey baster cheap to clean out the bottom of debris and scoop out water with a bowl in the meantime. That's what I do.

Aqueon tank 10-20 dollars (I see petco has them on sale for 9.99- buy online/pick up in store). Lid $12-14. Sponge filter 3-10 Lights? Don't really need one but you can buy a clip on at petstores (or a desk lamp) 10-30 Heater Aqueon 100w $15. but there are others you can get crazy here. Go bare bottom. Might want a place for sick fish to hide/hang out but you might have stuff on hand for that. If you can place it close but not TOO close to your main tank if you already run air you can split airlines to run a pump. Tetra Whispers are 10 bucks usually at Petco if you have to keep them in separate places entirely. About $63 plus or minus if you don't need much more and going low level.