FredF

I have a 10 gallon where I am quarantining some gold white clouds at the moment. I am curious how people set up their QT tanks and what is best practice. In my 10g I am running a sponge filter and a mini HOB designed for 2-5G tanks. 1. bare bottom? Gravel? 2. plants? i have a major overflow of Christmas moss in my QT. Not sure if this causes any harm or if it should be relatively sterile. Plants can be kind of dirty especially in a bare bottom tank. White clouds are relatively problem free but I bought some angels from local fish stores and they died off in consecutive days. They said I needed to buy live brine to help their survival. I suspect they may not have been healthy to begin with. Any QT tank advice appreciated.

Sounds like ICH X might work. Attaching a couple of pictures of my tank. I’m pretty sure I am not overfeeding, but maybe there is some stressor I am not aware of.

I have several cardinal tetras that seem to have fungal infections. Right now I am treating with medicated kanaplex food to see if that helps. But my question is more general, about why this is coming up. Here are the water parameters. ph 6.8-7.0, Ammonia and Nitrite 0 ppm, Nitrate 10-15 PPM, KH 40-60 PPM, GH above 150PPM, but below 300PPM The above parameters, don't change. I keep the water at 78. I have a fluval 407 cannister filter, and I run an airstone in the tank. I have fluval stratum in the background for plants, and sand in the foreground. The tank has been established for nearly 6 months. It's heavily planted in the background and midground. Current inhabitants are: 12 cardinal tetras 10 rummynose tetras, 9 bronze corys, 1 SAE, 1 Bristlenose Pleco, some amano shrimp and 3 otos. None of the other fish are affected, and all seem to be doing quite well. I have a couple theories that I wanted to banter as to why this might be a problem and get some educated thoughts. 1. The water is simply too hard for the cardinal tetras, even with the low pH, causing long term health problems 2. I'm changing too much water. I change 50% 1x a week, and the pH comes out of the tap in the 7.4 range, but my straturm brings the pH down to 6.8, I am very careful with the temperatures, but perhaps I am causing too much of a temporary swing? 3. Some unknown aggression, but I don't see it. However these are small areas on the fish body with a single white fungal growth. 4. Something with the manzanita wood and blue petrified wood could be causing an issue? Thanks,

Ich works for fungal infections too? I got a 10 gallon after the last ordeal and it’s ready to go. Wondering if I should feed the kanaplex and a precaution for main tank. thanks

Thanks for the replies. The tank has been up since early July so the fish have been in there for a few months. Fish is swimming and eating but the color and the shape is off and the head and fill area are enlarged. Water quality is good. Less than 5ppm Nitrate or ammonia or nitrite ph 6.9

Was wondering if anyone could identify this? No other fish appear to be affected. Aside from the obvious white patch there is a tuft or something protruding from it as well. Thanks

And maybe I found my answer as to why it was so hard to treat with medications (ICH-x and API Super Ick Cure) in my display tank. Was the fluval stratum messing with the medication? I think then the bags with some stratum makes a lot of sense. Keep them in there, but if need to medicate pull them out. Thanks,

That's a great idea. Thanks!

Greetings, I am looking to set up a quarantine tank, after dealing with the consequences of not having one. I know many people tend to use a bare substrate, and perhaps a sponge filter. I plan on seeding a sponge filter for this tank. My issue is the fish are going into a tank that has fluval stratum, and well planted. Fluval stratum definitely alters the water chemistry. It clearly reduces the pH and the kH of the water, it also can be picked up with a magnet so clearly contains a ton of iron as well. The other complicating factor is that my whole 75 gallon tank, is not actually using a ton of stratum it is a 2 inch layer on top of a 5 inch layer of coarse gravel in the back third of the tank, which is held back by a bunch of rock and then a coarse sand foreground. However, it is still enough Stratum to drop the pH from 7.2-7.4 to 6.8, and the kH to 40 from 80. For setting up the quarantine tank, should I set it up with a stratum substrate, maybe a thin layer. I would like to avoid plants in QT, maybe just floating only, otherwise more maintenance. I am worried about shocking the fish too much when adding to the main tank from the QT tank. I would be quarantining Angels, probably quarter size bodies, possibly juvenile discus. I'm not looking for a ton of quarantine tank maintenance either. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks,

Thank you everyone. Everything is now under control. I think the combination of the Kanaplex and using the ICH-X without prime helped, and the fish that passed on were just too far gone. The remaining fish have cleared up. I lost 10 Cardinals, 5 angels, two platies and one rummynose. My 2 SAE's were unaffected and are much larger and fatter, the two otos were fine, all 9 corys survived as well as my bristlenose pleco. I have 12 cardinals and 9 Rummynose remaining overall. Its a 75 gallon tank. I still do not really know what caused it and whenever I tested the water, the quality always seemed spot on. I can't rule out a problem because I did not test daily. My lights which were at 90% are now at 30%. Maybe too much lighting stress the fish out, but that seems unlikely. The Seachem ammonia monitor I have has never read anything other than zero. Current results with API test kits are: 1. ORP Meter - Redox 202 2. PH 7.0 3. Ammonia 0 4. Nitrite 0 5. Nitrate - Virtually 0 on API test kit, definitely lower than 5 6. P04 - at most .5 ppm Maybe I either added to many fish too soon, or the petsmart fish I added brought it in. I did use API Quick Start as well. The tank was also heavy planted, so I think that would mitigate water problems as well. I bought a 10 gallon, and a sponge filter which I have in my small 5 gallon tank simply to get seeded so I can use it in a Quarantine tank. I am never adding any fish directly again after this ordeal. I'm hoping by the time the sponge filter has sufficient beneficial bacteria, I can start adding fish again and try this out slowly. I feel like a tank this size could house some angelfish in addition to what I current have with no huge deal? Any thoughts on what could have gone wrong or if there was any else I can do would be appreciated.

I have not seen anything passed here are the pics. I was going to put the fish down with Clove oil because he is unable to swim, but he seems to have a lot of kick left. Not sure what else I can do. Outwardly the fish does not look too bad

Thanks for this info. I have reviewed this in detail. I have been continuing to treat with Kanaplex (in food) and Ich-X, using Stress Coat instead of Prime as the dechlorinater The results have been mixed. The remaining fish (cardinal tetras) seem to be clearing up and getting better or not getting worse, they eat ravenously, even those with visible symptoms. However, my last angelfish is probably going to pass. It is unable to swim at this point, and has refused to eat even with adding garlic guard to the medicated food. The angel, had no visible symptoms of white spot. A follow up question is how long should I treat with the medicated food? I noticed the Kanaplex directions indicate 3 doses, but I suspect that is for direct medication, but I wanted to confirm.

I am still feeding the kanaplex food per the recipe. Here are the latest pics. Still looks like ICH. If you think it is something else please let me know. I suppose it could be multiple items, hence why I am also using the kanaplex.

Thanks, I tend to add 2 caps when I change 50+ percent the water in the tank 75g. Prime is 1 cap per 50g, so I could be overdosing prime which in the case could be causing a problem. I will get stress coat and use that going forward.

I just came across some information that ICH-X does not recommend Seachem Prime as a water conditioner when treating. Also I found this same information on Seachem's website as well. Could this be the issue? I have always used Prime as a water conditioner.