laritheloud

Nitrates increasing throughout the day (from 5 ppm to 10ppm), nitrites approaching 0.25, ammonia around 0.25-0.5. At least I'm seeing some cycling activity. I'll go ahead with the water change and prime/stability dosing. Is the activated carbon in my filter affecting my cycle at all, since it's absorbed the leftover antibiotics? I feel very silly asking these questions, but I'm trying to cover all my bases.

Thank you again for your patience and helpfulness. Fingers crossed that this doesn't spike horrifically and it won't last too long. I'll do another water change tonight and continue to add prime and stability. Switching to very light feedings for now.

Another quick question, since I added Prime last night, these levels are still detectable but not toxic to my fish, is that correct?

Thanks, @Colu. I'll change out some more of the water tonight and add more prime/stability. I'm keeping a close eye on water parameters in the meantime. Hopefully it bounces back quickly! I'll change the feeding schedule to light feedings every other day until parameters are back to normal.

Morning Update! I'm checking water parameters after a water change and I'm seeing 0.25 ppm Ammonia. Nitrite is still zero but I'm worried I'm starting to see a slight color change in the light blue. Last night when I changed the water, I swirled all my media in dechlorinated tap water and algae-sponged the rocks and other decor. I added prime to the water (a full cap for a 29 gallon), added a carbon filter to my HOB Aquaclear 50, added a full dose of Seachem stability, and fed them a light snack afterwards. I have not fed them today yet. Should I continue to dose Prime and Stability daily? When should the parameters worry me? Will the cycle recover quickly???

Update: Changed the water today, cleaned up the tank, did some substrate-vaccing around the plants, rinsed off residue from my tank decor and rocks in dechlorinated water, and everything is looking pretty good. Diamond Tetra boy's face isn't 'normal'-looking yet, but he's eating, schooling, and behaving like a normal tetra. No other signs of disease in any of his tank mates, save for a tiny bit of a swollen eye in one of the females (it's really minor and hard to see unless you're looking for it, I'm thinking she bonked it on something -- only on one side and again, acting normal). I'm taking a wait-and-see approach now and hopefully he'll continue to improve without further treatment!

Hi There! I recently cycled my 29 gallon with lots of plants (15 plants to start) and Dr. Tim's Ammonia. At this point in the cycle -- where you're at now -- I added bottled bacteria (Tetra SafeStart, full bottle), and kept monitoring nitrites. They're spiking in your tank right now, and what helped me measure if they were dropping was doing a 50% measure (by mixing with my 0-nitrite tap) and taking the reading, or doing a roughly 25% measure of tank water to tap water. That way you can see the true value. Your PH is about the same as mine, too (8.0), and I also used eco-complete substrate. Even if you don't add bottled bacteria, I think you're getting pretty close. The Nitrite spike stage took more than twice as long as the initial Ammonia spike stage. Once you start noticing the nitrite dropping -- which it should be, if you're getting nitrates -- it could start dropping really quickly over the next few days. I would wait until Ammonia drops to 0 before adding ammonia to feed the bacteria if you can help it. For what it's worth, my 29 gallon fully cycled in 10 days, processing 2 to 4 ppm of ammonia straight to nitrates in less than 24 hours. 🙂 Good luck! You're almost there! NOTE: I also had to change 50% of my water twice in succession to get the nitrates dropped to a reasonable level once I finished cycling my tank. This is normal! Just test your nitrates after your first water change and perform a second one if necessary to get the levels below 20 ppm.

Perfect, thank you so much! I monitor these guys like my babies. I really appreciate the confidence this community has given me to calm down and take it one step at a time.

The best pics I could get of master wiggler zoomed guy

Hello again, everyone! I have another question. @Colu you've been tremendously helpful and thank you so much! I can't get a picture of the little guy this morning because he's incredibly active and zipping everywhere. He ate with the rest of the tetra just fine, though I'm noticing my alpha male chasing him around a bit (to be fair, the alpha male chases all of them when he's in a mood). I'm not sure if he's healing a bit more or if I'm seeing things. There have been 3 out of 5 maracyn doses so far, and since then I've gotten in Kanaplex and Jungle Fungus Clear tabs. I'm still waiting on Furan-2 and API Fungus Cure. I intend to wait 24 hours after changing the tank water on Saturday (which is 24 hours after the last dose of maracyn) before attempting any other treatment. Is it necessary to treat with something else if the wound on his face is still there, or do I wait a few days and see if it heals post-treatment? I'm not sure if it's something I have to keep treating until fully healed or if, after the fungus/bacteria is gone, it should continue healing.

The water sprite is a wicked fast grower. I'm a total beginner, can't grow plants outside in the ground to save my life, got myself a water sprite, got scared I killed it by being rough with removing it from the rock wool and transplanting it to my aquarium... And in 3 weeks it's offrooted at least 4 times. It's out of control. It's enormous and beautiful. My fish love it, though. I have some juvenile corydora elegans that will sit and rest on its tendrilly branches, and my tetras love playing with it/zooming in and out.

That's the plan! Thanks, everyone, for sticking with me through the anxieties. At least I'm fully stocked for any more emergencies now! 🙂 And I'll be picking up a cheap 10 gallon tank kit for a quarantine tank, so I can properly quarantine any new fish I purchase for a few weeks to a month.

How he looks now. Also, my lights are a little bit different for 'dawn' and a little red/orange-tinted (I use the Finnex Planted+ 24/7 light). So that's the warm glow you're seeing!

Morning update! The fungal spot hasn't spread, and there's no fuzzy fungus on it anymore. I can see his little teeth where it ate at his top jaw a little, but again, it doesn't look inflamed to my untrained eye. I'm not seeing any spots on any other fish. He ate voraciously along with the others and he is swimming normally. Hopefully things continue to move in a positive direction!

Hi quikv6, thank you for the tips. I considered doing a salt bath earlier but felt insecure about how to proceed. I did add 1 tablespoon of salt to the entire tank but felt wary about adding more. API Fungus Cure is not in stock at any store near me so I have to wait until Friday for it to arrive at my door. Furan-2 should be here on Thursday, and I got Kanaplex as well that should also arrive on Friday. Can you tell I panicked? As I mentioned above, I'm not sure if he's doing better or worse, but he's still eating and it looks less white. There hasn't been any spreading. I just added my second dose of Maracyn and I'll continue to monitor water parameters. I am not changing the water if I can help it, and I'm not adding any more Ich-X until I change the water (if necessary). I have bottled bacteria on the way, and it should also arrive sometime between tomorrow and Friday. I'm hoping that I won't see signs on more fish. I've already got a 10 gallon quarantine tank sitting in my cart on Amazon, along with an extra filter to run alongside my main one in the display tank for quick cycling. I'm feeling incredibly bad about myself with all of my scrambling and trying to maintain hope that I won't kill all my fish within the first two weeks.

So what do I do?

How he looks now

So I honestly can't tell if my fish is getting better or worse. The scales around the mouth lesion are flaking a bit, but the lesion itself is a little less white. It is not red. I'm not sure if this is improvement or not. We are nearing 24 hours after the first dose. Ammonia is reading .25 ppm. Nitrites are 0, nitrates are still around 10 ppm. Is it safe to control ammonia with Seachem Prime during antibiotic treatment? Is this something to be concerned about? I'm so new to this, I'm very sorry for all the questions!

Okay, I have both Furan-2 and Fungus Cure on the way! I'll try to stay optimistic for my little guys. If the first round doesn't help, I'll do a water change and start Furan-2 (with a bottle of bacteria close at hand while I watch the water parameters). Thank you!

Unfortunately no store near me has API Fungus Cure in stock, so again, I have to order and wait. 😕 I have Ich-X along with maracyn so i went ahead and dosed the tank with ich-x in combination with the maracyn........ How quickly will I know if my fish are getting better? How do these sorts of lesions heal? He's swimming pretty quickly and still eating (I fed a VERY small amount this morning), but unfortunately I do not have a quarantine tank, and I'm not sure if a quarantine tank at this stage of the game will prevent the need to treat all of my other fish. I'm worried I will lose my entire tank, and I just got started with this hobby! When I called my LFS, they said to try salt and general cure, and that the rest of their tetra tanks look fine... I'm beside myself.

Thank you Colu. Can I treat API Fungus Cure alongside Maracyn, since I started the Maracyn treatment?

Hi, Colu! I called my LFS about the fish and they said the rest of the Diamond Tetra tank doesn't have these symptoms. They suggested I pick up aquarium salt and add it to my tank. I am going to get some Aquarium Salt this afternoon and add a little bit to help healing. Any recommendations for how much is safe to add for 29 gallon planted tank with 3 snails?

I cycled my planted tank fishlessly and added my fish a little over a week ago. It’s a 29 gal. I added a sixth tetra on Sunday and yesterday I noticed white cotton mouth appearing on my fish and now I’m panicking. I dosed with Maracyn but from what I’m reading that won’t be enough. I ordered more meds but they won’t be here until Thursday... water parameters: 75 degrees (lowering temperature steadily) ph 8.0 kh 12 gh 12 amm 0 nitrite 0 nitrate around 10 to 20ppm (hard to read) I am scared and new to the hobby and feeling incredibly disheartened. Is it safe to wait two days and start kanaplex? I have three snails in the tank and some Cory cats too.