laritheloud

@Anitab Have you noticed any other symptoms? Weakness, hanging near the surface? Do you see any obstruction inside the mouth? This happened to one of my endlers and it turned out he had a growth that blocked his entire mouth and forced it open.

That's exactly what happened. The sponge filter is new, but I am also putting in a seeded HOB off my 55 gallon tank. I'm going to be quarantining some larger fish (cichlids, managebly-sized plecos) in this tank and I'm overfiltering so it can handle meds/a slightly overstocked bioload.

Here to provide an update! @Colu thank you very much, the oxytetracycline is doing the trick. Damaged fins are healing and the bloody gill spot has healed. They're halfway through the round of medicated feed. Tomorrow I'll administer round 3 of levamisole and change the water again Saturday evening. Should I do a fourth week or is three weeks considered 'safe'? I'll be moving my adult rabbits, too, who are both seemingly still alive (no one is eating them and they respond to light and pecking from fish) but not moving around.

Glad to hear that @Vincentius Indra! I hope you love your thicklip!

Crisis averted! I opened up the filter and put it back together underwater and it's sinking properly now. Thank you! @Cory I got it working, thanks for checking in 🙂

I have plant weights so I'll try that, thanks. I think I did? I squeezed the sponge, I opened it up and closed it....

I ordered a new small sized sponge filter for my 20 gallon quarantine to work in addition to an HOB... And when I placed it into the tank, it floated. 😳 I have Aquarium Co-op sponge filters in all of my tanks and this is the first time I've had a problem with floating. Did anyone else have this issue?? Can I fix it with anything other than wedging it in with a decoration?

I love Prime Time Aquatics, but this video actually depicts Thicklipped Gouramis and not Honey Gouramis!

One or two honey gouramis can live quite happily in a ten gallon tank. I have a sweet lady honey in a 10 gallon quarantine right now, and happy as a clam. Honey gouramis do not get to be very large. They are small, reserved, sweet little fish, and their favorite treats tend to have daphnia in them. If you'd like the honey gourami to be the star, I'd get a pretty gold male honey gourami and maybe some celestial pearl danios, emerald dwarf rasboras, or pygmy corydoras for company. Maybe even ember tetras for a schooler. They'd do really nicely in a 10 gallon! You can probably get away with neocaridina shrimp, though don't be surprised if the honey picks a few of the babies off. Amano shrimp and snails would be safer.

I'm going to prior to the last treatment! So long as they're still hanging in they can live in my quarantine tank. 20 gallon is still getting set up but my 10 gallon is doing great, I didn't move them over yet because all except 1 of my tanks went through levamisole treatment. The quarantine finished 3 rounds first.

Thank you 😅 I'm prepared for all disasters and when disaster strikes, I'm frightened! Also, I wanted to update, @Colu, that though my Colombian Giant Ramshorn snail did not make it, my rabbit snails are still alive. They're lethargic but still alive. The babies are active and doing just fine. Fingers crossed they're just kinda hybernating until treatment is over.

I really hope this ends my problems. I'm so sad these pretty little fish have had difficulties.

Thanks, as always, for calming me down. I can start a course of the oxytetracycline feed tomorrow. Is that for 7 to 10 days?

Here are the antibiotic meds I have, just to make it easier: Oxytetracycline (medicated feed) Kanaplex AND Kanamycin medicated feed Furan-2 Nitrofurazone medicated feed Erythromycin Ciproflaxin 500 mg Sulfa/Trim 800mg/160mg Other meds: PraziPro General Cure Levamisole HCL Metronidazole/Metro Medicated Feed ICH-X There is currently Levamisole in the water, and I'm doing a PWC tonight. I discontinued Metro medicated feed after about 9 days; yesterday was the last dose.

Taking a closer look and the fish looks red and bloody on one side. 😞 @Colu is there any chance I can just separate the rainbowfish out for antibiotic treatment or do I have to treat the whole tank and expose everyone to stress?

So I’m still concerned about the virulence in this tank. Administered second round of levamisole last night. There’s one male that’s VERY SLIGHTLY paler and has a stringy white poo. I’m not sure if I’m hyper analyzing or if his full plate looks a bit pinker than the others. other symptoms I’ve noticed in other fish: wasting, pallor, weak swimming. One female bloated up and had very stringy white poo then weakened rapidly. I separated before they declined further. is this a sign the levamisole is working through their symptoms or is it a virulent, chronic bacterial infection? This is only affecting some of my rainbows and I’d hate to expose the rest of the tank to more meds. I’m getting really tired and despondent about it, regretting picking up these pseudomugils to begin with. They’re just seemingly super sensitive. I had kept these fish isolated for two full months, went through general cure several rounds, and fed them 10 days of kanaplex in food. More recently it’s been two rounds of levamisole one week apart and metronidazole in food, just finished the course. I am reluctant to keep throwing meds at this but I’m at a loss, especially when my thicklip gouramis and my synodontis petricola look fine… I circled the fish having stringy poo. I want to relax and stop feeling so anxious and this is frustrating me. When these fish go I’m going to get rosy barbs or Some kind of tetras instead. Rainbows are not working out.

Nerite snails don't eat algae tabs and live strictly off of biofilm and algae in the tank. No need to feed the nerite separately! If you ever get a Mystery Snail or another fancy snail, they're more likely to need supplemental food. 🙂 Enjoy!

Welcome! I'm in south Jersey, so if you're anywhere in that vicinity, I have an LFS recommendations for you. If you're more central or northern in the state, well, I tried. 😅 Your betta tank is adorable! I learned a lot from these forums, and I hope you do, too.

I’ve learned my lesson. It’s not a deficiency because their shells are perfect. I’ll be using levamisole in my quarantine procedure from now on I think…

They were still for the day of treatment, then moved around maybe one day after, then stopped moving and flailed their antennae for 4 days. I found my Giant Colombian Ramshorn this morning, after he hadn't moved for three days straight (he let his antennae out a few times and I tried to hold out hope), with the small ramshorn and bladder snails starting to eat him. EDIT: I also erred on the side of caution and slightly underdosed according to instructions. I bought my levamisole from Greg Sage and used the included spoon in the kit. Just under 10 gallon measure for a 10 gallon tank, scant 50 gallon measure for my 55 gallon tank.

I'm going to continue the treatment for another 2 courses. The Endler tank is really looking good and I am almost certain it helped them. Just thought I'd caution folks to remove their mystery snails and related snails -- From my observations ALL my small ramshorns, bladder snails, shrimp, nerites, trapdoor, and baby rabbit snails are moving around and behaving fine. The adult rabbits and the Colombian Giant Ramshorn aren't making it.

I just want to put out a warning about Levamisole being marketed as invert-safe. I've noticed in several tanks that it is not. Nerites, shrimp, and 'pest' snails, along with Japanese Trapdoor Snails, will survive the treatment okay. Mystery snails, giant ramshorn snails, and rabbit snails will not. This is just a heads up to only use this medication if you're absolutely sure of a nematode diagnosis, or it's in a quarantine tank before adding to your display. I'm pretty sure I poisoned most of my favorite snails, and the only tank it's seemed to have a positive effect on is my endler tank. That said, should I do a follow-up treatment on the tank where I don't think it made a difference? I don't want to discontinue a course if it will do more harm than good but I have seen absolutely no worms anywhere, and all I did was kill my snails.

Hi, OP. I feel your pain. I was convinced for months our municipal well water was quite hard (GH 10/KH10) and stable. I stocked my tanks and maintained them with the assumption that we have hard water. Well, a couple of months ago, we switched to a different well for the season with GH 0/1. Almost undetectable on all tests. It's been extremely challenging to handle. I'd pick up some crushed coral to add to your filter and/or some wondershells to help stabilize and remineralize your water gradually without having to make calculations.

As Colu mentioned, it migiht be Dwarf Gourami Iridovirus (also called Dwarf Gourami Disease). If it is, prognosis is poor. I really hope your little fish is treatable, and it's always worth a shot unless she declines rapidly.

I can definitely attempt to move her after I’m finished the treatment just in case. I tried to net the fish out before and the little bugger swam under the sponge filter and hid from my net!