xXInkedPhoenixX

Follow the General Cure instructions and do another round 2 weeks later. However keep in mind if the illness persists you may need to try Expel P

Hi @AJL. I've had similar concerns with my solo Hillstream in a 9 gallon tank with 1 Nerite and a bunch of piggie guppies and endlers. I leave out Repashy, bottom feeder wafers of a few types. I've never witnessed "Kirby" eating that but they seem perfectly fine. However I don't get crazy about cleaning or getting rid of algae. Kirby keeps my Anubias plants in this tank very clean. You can try feeding at night, some of our bottom feeders prefer to eat then. Over time, if they are hungry they'll find the commercial foods- this transition sometimes takes a while.

Looking forward to your updates. They can absolutely be great therapy.

OH- And DON'T let the pet store employees talk you into anything else(they try). Just look for these 2 active ingredients metronidazole and praziquantel (or the alternatives as in Expel P -levamisole or flubendazole ) or just one of the 3 meds mentioned in this post. 😁

I sure hope so buddy, I don't like it when fish friends die!! Good luck!

CT! I was just helping Henry Li with wasting disease....yours aren't skinny but I wonder...could your guppys have gotten some sort of worm? Disregard, you mentioned the poop isn't wiggling but I still wonder, tapeworms grow rather quickly....

Henry, I pulled this from the Aquarium Co-op blog post: Disease or Skinny Disease A typical example of wasting disease looks like this: you buy 20 fish and a month later, five of them look very skinny while the rest are acting fine. Eventually those five fish pass away, and then a couple of months later, you notice five more fish are getting thinner and are also starting to die one by one. This type of livebearer disease is usually caused by internal parasites, such as tapeworms or camallanus red worms. The parasites steal nutrients from the fish’s body, causing weight loss and organ damage in the long term. Tapeworms infest a fish’s digestive system and can cause intestinal blockages. Some symptoms include stringy poop and weight loss, but the disease can be hard to accurately diagnose without examining the feces under a microscope. That’s why we recommend that every fish gets a preventative treatment of ParaCleanse, which contains an antiparasitic drug called metronidazole and a dewormer called praziquantel. Two to three weeks after the initial treatment, you should use another round of ParaCleanse to ensure that all newly hatched eggs are also eliminated. Tapeworms can be difficult to identify unless you use a microscope to examine the fish's waste. If ParaCleanse does not stop the wasting disease, you may need to try another kind of dewormer. Fritz Expel-P is very effective for treating roundworms, camallanus red worms, hookworms, and even planaria in your aquarium. While most internal parasites are invisible to the naked eye, camallanus worms are easier to spot since you can visually see small, red worms sticking out of the fish’s anus. Medications like Expel-P that contain the active ingredient of levamisole or flubendazole work by paralyzing the adult worms so that they can be expelled by the fish and removed using an aquarium siphon. Two to three weeks after the initial treatment, dose the tank again with the dewormer to deal with any remaining parasites. Worms are particularly easy to spread because their eggs are passed through fish waste and livebearers are excellent scavengers that tend to consume infected feces. While worms also affect other species like angelfish, they usually don’t kill them because the parasites are so tiny in comparison to the large cichlids. However, when a guppy or other small livebearer gets infected, they are much smaller in size, and it only takes a few worms to wreak havoc on their health. And yes, skinny/wasting disease is the same thing, I googled it. 🙃 *****SO YOU CAN BUY GENERAL CURE AS IT HAS THE SAME INGREDIENTS AS PARACLEANSE IF PETCO OR PETSMART DOESN'T HAVE IT*** YAY!

Though fyi @Henry Li the General Cure package says it DOES treat wasting disease if that's what you mean. @WhitecloudDynastyis probably only remembering that it has Praziquantel which is a dewormer/anti parasitic BUT it also contains Metronidazole which IS an antibiotic.

Hope he loves it!

I'm crossing my fingers for you friend.

I think you'll be fine without the bacteria supplement. Just be diligent about the water changes.

Andrea if you haven't already maybe try Repashy's Morning Wood for Gary that will be a nice "replacement" food for not being able to rasp. At least I think I might. 🙃

@Thomas Wolf I read your post and I sat here for a very long time trying to picture your set up and trying to figure out anything that might make this easier for you. Lots of people with permanent disabilities participate in this hobby so I hope they can pipe in. Then there's the (hopefully) temporary ones like yours. Our @Brandon p recently suffered a heart attack so I know he has restrictions and I know from my sister having had heart surgery she could only lift 5lbs and there was a list of things she was told not to do. So we adapt. I thankfully have none of these things at the moment but I think about them a lot because I do live alone and I think of my future self. I also type for a living (but I'm not a writer). I got an upright mouse, work with a wrist pad and sit as ergonomically correct as possible so as to hopefully avoid what those in my profession ultimately suffer from. For home I even bought a step ladder that was expensive but only weighs 5lbs so my present self doesn't fall off of stools and chairs and my future self same but also can even carry the step ladder. All of this to say I sympathize totally with your situation- sounds to me you might have surgery in your future so the restrictions will only get a little more strict. (please don't grammar edit me lol) So when I started back in the hobby there were considerations. My 2 biggest tanks are 20 gallons, all told I have just under 60 gallons in tanks. I do daily tank maintenance and 1x a week I water change. I don't really have to but I find my tanks react well to this routine. You know what I've found? I only need one dominant arm. In fact I take my smart watch off one arm and put it on the one I don't use. Granted the non dominant arm helps but it does none of the heavy lifting- mostly just guiding. Because my tanks are small I can really only work with one arm at a time in there. Get yourself a razor blade algae cleaner if you don't have one- I have one that attaches to a rod that can be helpful but half the time I pull it off and use it one handed in my tanks- though my tanks are smaller than yours I think. The only thing I do that I thought could help was this (um but not the 500g?!!): Like you I don't have (nor do I in particular need) access to a Python or sink system. I use nano water pumps and a 3 gallon bucket. Water goes out, then into the garden. You have a greater distance to walk so this won't help you any- sounds like the pumping out wasn't the problem. What did peak my interest is the fresh water into the tanks. Where do you pump it from? My water is suspect not necessarily because of city water (though it is a little) but because I live in a very old house with very old pipes- no idea what is leaching into it. So I only drink and cook with delivered water and use a shower filter- but my fish have to stick with tap. SO. I use one gallon water jugs. I know you have bigger tanks so this may not even be useful- but one gallon weighs 8.3lbs and is easy to carry (unlike buckets that can be awkward and slosh about). After I empty my bottles on water change day I just refill them all, treat them, leave the caps off until the next day and then cap and store them until I need them again. It sounds like a lot of work but I've been doing it so long it's just easy, meditative and mindless. I currently have 10, one gallon jugs and they all fit on one of my kitchen carts at the bottom- the great thing about them too is it doesn't cost much to buy another jug (they're just crystal geyser plastic) so low cost investment (I'm trying to keep in mind your potential financial situation). Like I said this may not be helpful to you with bigger tanks but if more modification in the future- I realize it would be more physical work body-wise but your disabled arm would not have to participate in most of it. If nothing else just know that I'm sorry for your situation and we'll root for you.

Are those salamanders and frogs or toads of some kind?

Some serious organizational skills you have there. Do you make your own tables? I see there's a quilter in the family.

I pulled this post for you from another thread. You can visit that thread too, sadly 2 forum members there lost their bettas to it. I'm not discouraging treatment but be prepared. You should move Betta to a Quarantine tank and:

I see where you replied to another thread, but it was the start here first thread- you're good- that wasn't a bad place to start. 🙂

Welcome to the forum @Choogie. You'll get the hang of things. 🙂

Oh my. I'm sorry to break this to you it appears your Betta fish has a symptom of Dropsy which sadly is just about 100% fatal. What you see with the bloat if you zoom in is what is called "pineconing" which is a symptom of the disease. It's basically kidney failure and by the time you see symtoms treatment can be done but prognosis is not good.

It will be nice for him to have a small victory. 🙂

The Ammonia is a HUGE issue. This is also after a water change- so it was likely much higher. Your Betta likely has Ammonia poisoning. I would do another water change immediately and try and get ammonia to 0. What you are probably seeing is redness caused from ammonia, it can also cause finrot. You may consider adding Aquarium Salt as well to prevent bacterial infection due to the ammonia poisoning and help gill function in all your fish. You'll have to figure out what is causing the ammonia. Check all your inhabitants- have you seen them all? Could be death, rotting plants or food something is causing it. 78 isn't terrible and yes he's probably "fine" but the more I've read and seen about Bettas here on the forum (just search sick and/or dying betta) the more I've modified how I would keep one (and I won't anymore because they are extremely delicate) and keep them from getting sick- higher temperatures, high humidity and tannins- from Indian Almond Leaf (Catappa) most preferably always present in their tanks. Things to consider.

It can. ANYTHING you do to change something in your tank *can* cause a problem. Most of the time you'll never see it manifest as an issue if your tank is stable. I think your tank could have been stable you just did too many things at one time causing an imbalance hence the spikes.

I'm always learning too, I guess this is why I like the hobby. Some lessons are hard ones (like when we lose fish) but others despite possible dangers are actually kind of fun (I like figuring out what's going on with water parameters and tinkering a bit). If you want to vacuum, by allllll means keep vacuuming. If you're diligent about it you're not likely to have an issue. It's when you don't then suddenly do that it can be an issue- at least in my experience. I've had everything from bare bottom, 1" to 3 like you. All of it is ok. Not that this is your experience but were you using root tabs when your Nitrate spiked? I used some root tabs when I started back in the hobby (not from ACO) and it did such crappy things to my water parameters (including a scary spike) I swore them all off- I've not had an issue since. (I have a GIGANTIC amazon sword that I grew out from a baby plant- does just fine without root tabs)

LOL, yeah maybe too much at once my friend. Only squeeze out ONE filter at a time never both- that's overcleaning and can cause these issues. It's ok, learning experience. 🙂 I hardly ever squeeze out my sponge filters TBH- I run 2 as well. I might do it once every 3 months in most of my tanks. This often depends on stocking and I do frequent visual inspections. I squeeze out my Accidental Oto sponge much more often since it's a 10 gallon and my 50+ otos are messy as... If you want to be less like me I'd say squeezing ONE filter out a month and going back and forth between the two is probably good hygiene/practice. Yes, vaccuum substrate by all means if it brings you joy but know that it can cause issues- it can also prevent them. This to me is a style thing and neither right nor wrong. At least for now if you continue I'd recommend doing only small sections. Then the next time you do another section. This is just how I would do it. Honestly most of my tanks I leave the substrate alone. The only one I don't has bigger gravel and is easier to vacuum however I only vacuum the front area where I can see and leave behind the plants and pots. Mulm isn't a bad thing and that's what is back there.

I don't disagree with @Streetwise but I tend to lean more fantastical and it looks like the Fremont Troll to me 🙃