HH Morant

Congo tetras

Welcome, Nik! Sounds like you need a really big blue gourami tank.

Welcome! I sense the early onset of MTS.

Made me look!

I don't think there is any way to be sure. But I understand that hexamita, a kind of internal parasite, is very common in Discus. The usual treatment is metronidazole. Medicated food is generally recognized to be more effective than dosing the water column, so if the fish is eating, that is the way to go. Of course, if the fish was treated with metronidazole a month ago, hexamita would be less likely. I am not sure whether that treatment was with medicated food (more effective) or dosing the water column (less effective). If a bacterial infection is suspected and the fish is still eating, antibiotics can also be administered more effectively through medicated food. There are different methods of medicating the food: 1. Using Seachem Metroplex and Seachem Focus, with Garlic-Guard as a flavor enhancer. There are videos on YouTube showing how to do this. The Focus is said to "bind" the medication to the food. I have used this method with Metroplex, metronidazole powder, and also with Paracleanse, API General Cure, praziquantel, and levamisole. 2. Using the medication and Garlic-Guard or water without Focus. There are Jack Wattley Discus videos on YouTube showing how they do this with "100%" metronidazole powder that they sell. The guy who does the video for Jack Wattley Discus does not think Focus is needed. He says ingesting the medication is 10 times stronger than putting it into the water. I have also used this method (with Garlic-Guard, not water) of making medicated food with all of the medications mentioned above. 3. On the aquariumscience.org website under the title "Making Medicated Food" a method of making medicated food is described using hot water and gelatin. I have not used this method yet, but I intend to try it. The author of this website does not believe that dosing the water column has any effect on internal parasites (see his article "Fish Don't Drink" on the website), so he says the only effective way to kill internal parasites is with medicated food. I'm sure those are not the only ways to make medicated food, but they are the ones I know of. I feed medicated food as a prophylactic to protect against internal parasites. I have not been able to save fish which have stopped eating by dosing the water column. Generally, not eating is the first symptom I notice, and it is already too late.

When you have ammonia and nitrites, big water changes are good. More than 50% is okay. I have done 80% water changes before. It does not hurt the fish. It takes two 50% water changes to reduce the ammonia/nitrite concentration as much as one 75% water change. More than one water change in a day is alright if the ammonia/nitrite concentration remains high. I would not feed the fish until the ammonia/nitrite problem shows signs of abating. You need to keep testing so that you know when that is. I do not know anything about ammo-lock. I tend to doubt that any product really detoxifies ammonia/nitrite. But I know you want to do everything you can to keep the fish alive. After this emergency And your cycle is over, I think it would be better to feed the fish just once per day.

If he has already had food medicated with metronidazole and then praziquantel, that leaves levamisole.

Sorry, wasn't aware that you used medicated food. Assumed you dosed the water column.

Looks like internal parasites to me. Will he eat medicated food? If so try food medicated with metronidazole.

I'm not sure. On the outside or the inside?

"I have 1 tank with a dark burgundy or oxblood background." I would really like to see it. Picture?

I'm sorry that I don't remember what I used. I went on Youtube and watched a few videos and used the paint recommended there. While I was painting I thought I was doing a poor job because the paint dripped and ran. But it really looked fine from the front even if it looked sloppy from the back. You just have to be sure to get complete coverage. One of the guys on Youtube turned the aquarium on its side to paint the back, and that eliminates a lot of the dripping and running that comes with painting a vertical surface. That was just not an option for me because of the size of the aquarium.

Oops. Here is a picture without the glare from the room lights.

Here is my black background on the 120. It is so full of plants now - getting some plants ready for the new aquarium - it is hard to get a picture of the background.

I like black. the background on my 120 is painted black. If I had it to do over again I might try Plasti-Dipping it black. The black plastic coating might come off easier if I want to change the background. Platinum angels and green/red plants look good against the black background. I am working on a new peninsula aquarium between the dining room and kitchen, so that will be different. Thinking about trying the dark orange "ultimate coverage" koi angels for the peninsula set-up.

Whether the aeration is enough depends upon the stocking level and how long it takes to discover and solve the problem with the canister filter. When my power went out in the Big Freeze in February I am pretty sure the air pump saved my fish because it was the difference between no aeration and just enough. It runs one large aquarium co-op sponge filter and a bubble wand at the back of the tank. It gave me time to discover the problem and put in two more air stones attached to another battery-operated pump, which was enough for my fish at the time. Sponge filters, although they don't create the flow that canisters do, are quite efficient at aeration. I think Cory has done a video about that. The more fish in the tank, the less time you have to discover the problem and fix it. One hundred fish in a 120 gallon tank sounds like a lot, depending on their size of course. So even with two sponge filters running there was not enough aeration to keep all the fish alive long enough for the problem to be discovered and fixed. If your electric power is interrupted, and the canister and the sponge filters stop running, you will have much less time. I hope you find a solution that works for you.

One way to protect against a recurrence is to have a sponge filter in the tank. It takes up space and it is not pretty, but you can generally find an unobtrusive place for it in a 120 gallon tank. Mine is behind a piece of driftwood. If your filter stops functioning for some reason, the sponge filter keeps the tank aerated and saves the fish. My sponge filter is run by an air pump containing a lithium battery back-up, so if the power goes out the air pump and sponge filter will automatically continue to aerate the tank for 9-10 hours.

I think Prime is a perfectly good product for dealing with chlorine and chloramines.

How can Seachem say they do not understand how their product does what they claim it does? They appear to say that nobody understands it (it is "not well understood"). They say it was "unexpected chemically" and Seachem did not know about it until its customers gave it anecdotal evidence that Prime detoxifies nitrites and nitrates. Anecdotal evidence can be cited for practically any claim. If I use Prime to detoxify ammonia and then my fish don't die, that is not really proof that Prime detoxified ammonia. In essence Seachem says there is no scientific explanation for how their product could possibly do what they claim. I believe that part. Of course, Prime probably does no harm when used in the hope that it will detoxify ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. As I mentioned, I tried it in the past in an emergency. I spent money and Seachem made money. For a lengthy explanation from a chemist, search for "aquariumscience.org Prime." The writer argues that Prime does not detoxify ammonia, nitrites or nitrates, and that Seachem is knowingly making a false claim. He describes tests which can be done to demonstrate this. To me (a non-chemist), his arguments seem sound, although I have not replicated the tests. If I were Seachem and I believed my own claims. I would sue this guy for defamation.

With my 120, I took everything out of the tank and put wood, fish, and plants in a large plastic container while I took the old substrate out and replaced it. I did not have a choice, since I was moving the tank across the room and took advantage of that opportunity to change the substrate. With a smaller tank, it might be practical to remove and replace the substrate while leaving the fish in and just removing everything else, I have never done that. If you stick with the same filter you should not have a problem with the cycle, but you need to monitor water quality closely after the substrate change. With the bacteria in your filter and on the other things in the aquarium, you should be fine. Your plants will also help with any ammonia/nitrite problem. Gravel looks like corn. I can say that because I know you are changing it.

If you go to Youtube and search for "zebra and guppies" you can see a few tanks that have both.

Great looking fry! So sorry it turned out to be false! Who would play a trick like that? He looks so real!

I know some of the water conditioners claim to detoxify ammonia and nitrites temporarily - for 24 hours I thought. I truly do not believe that, but I confess I have tried it in an emergency. I would not rely on a water conditioner to save my fish from ammonia or nitrites. I did not know a water conditioner claimed to temporarily detoxify nitrates. I am not even sure what that means. I don't think nitrates can be fatal in 24 hours, or at least not at any concentration I have seen in an aquarium.

Don't leave them in the bags, but leaving them in the pots is OK. I have done it a lot (I'm doing it right now). I just take them out of the pot, take the rock wool off (gently) and put them in the tank. Especially if they have already been in the pot in the tank, I figure that has to be OK. Rinsing them is OK, but I admit I don't even do that. Am I a bad man?

They look great! But too snake-like for me!