Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics

Due to the swim bladder issues and now this I was considering treating the trio. You think I should treat Maracyn instead? Full five day treatment?

Nah, they weren’t there originally. 😅 I realized I didn’t post them and edited. Probably after you saw it.

She is never very cooperative with photos. My lone Sterba Corydora (I know, she needs friends. We’ve had her for a few years when we were told she would be fine with our Paleatus. I want more, but not until I beat these issues... and can find some). Yesterday I noticed she has a white patch on her back near her dorsal. I was close to treating my main tank with Maracyn due to several Mollies having swim bladder issues lately, but I held off due to everyone I hadn’t moved being fine the past few days (I have the four with issues in QT). I’m thinking I might treat the main tank with the med trio... but I wanted to check with the group to see if it might be something that requires a stronger med. Sigh. Tank Parameters temp: 74.4 ammonia: 0 nitrite: 0 nitrate: between 20 and 50. Kind of reddish, but still orange (API). A little light for ACCO strips 50. Ph: 8 GH: 300 KH: 120

@H.K.Luterman you are going to LOVE the algae scrubber. I recently bought one and it is night and day better than what I had been doing.

Me too Dawn! That’s why CO2 doesn’t interest me. I just want to find balance in my tank. Admittedly, the cup from a few weeks ago that I spread out doesn’t look like much. The cup that I planted together looks much better. I’m hoping it does well. I have the perfect water for crypts. I’ve never experienced crypt melt. Even when I’ve bought them from Aquarium Co-Op. But I do understand many aquarists experience it. My water is off the charts (per AC-CO’s new test strips).

It brought a smile to my face when I heard this news as well. Cory's determination to make the hobby better is the main reason why I spend money at Aquarium Co-Op when I can't get something local... and now that I think about it almost all of it is Aquarium Co-Op branded. Haha!

Great looking mollies! I love the documentation of the project. What is BAP? I haven't checked out your channel yet, but what led to this project? How did you become interested?

The Ink Bird temperature controller may be one of my favorite gadgets on my tank. I like that I was able to set up a day and night profile so that the tank is a little warmer during the day (75 degrees with a 1 degree variance) and cooler at night (74 at night with a 1 degree variance). I have had to move several mollies from the main tank to QT recently for swim bladder issues. I have treated aquarium salt (1 tbs per 2 gallons) and Maracyn. The Maracyn treatment ended a day ago. I did the water change on Tuesday. I will be watching them to see if they overcome the issue, but I've never experienced a fish come back from swim bladder issues. I am running my UV sterilizer in my main tank every couple of days right now to try to keep the water clean of bacteria. I will probably do larger water changes this week as well. The 32 gallon trash can on wheels and water pump have made water changes a breeze. Now if I could just find the right adapter to get water from my tap... I'm also thinking the Python hook or a pvc project might make life easier. I saw four of my otocinclus in the front of the tank today. The cryptocoryne and swords have gotten so thick that I have wondered if all eight are still in the tank. It has been a very long time since I saw all of them at one time. The Mollies are out of control. I have fry everywhere. I will be adding a new cup of cryptocoryne parva this week. It arrived in my ACCO delivery today, but I haven't planted it yet. I think I am going to plant it as a big group this time and see how it does. It definitely looks better that way. I did cut back the lighting period this week. I had to cut off several leaves from my amazon swords this week due to black beard algae on the edges of the leaves. I am no longer seeing green spot algae or any hair algae. I wish I could get rid of they black beard. I just lowered the time one hour, but I didn't look to see how long the light period is now. I'm guessing 8 hours total with only four or five hours of "full light" (35%). There is a ramp up and ramp down that lasts a couple of hours. Anyway, there is an update. Haha. That's where my tank is.

That is what I had been doing. I have a UV in my canister filter so it isn't taking up any space in my tank. Since I have been experiencing an issue lately, I have been running it about 8 hours every couple of days. Besides the five fish in quarantine I haven't seen any more Mollies living on the substrate... so hopefully it has helped keep the rest of my tank inhabitants healthy. The five in QT are currently enjoying some aquarium salt after a Maracyn treatment. Some may be doing better, and they may move back to the big tank in a few days. But sadly one of our favorites is still resting on the bottom. Anyway, I am hoping there is a recommended preventive use that can help me keep such diseases at bay. I could also do larger water changes, but I've always been worried about doing 50% water changes every week. Maybe that is what I need though, I do have a lot of Mollies.

Update, it's ALIVE! Also, I received a new shipment from Aquarium Co-Op today... Yep, I bought another cup of the parva. I am going to plant this cup grouped together instead of spreading it out.

I received a new Aquarium Co-Op delivery today!

I’m ready to see a stream at the new location!

Congratulations to the selected forum members! You help make this place great!

Over the past couple of years I’ve lost several Corydora to a bacterial infection. I’ve treated the tank with Maracyn, I’ve varied their diet (and added Vitachem), and I am running a UV sterilizer ever now and then. I’ve recently had several Mollies show symptoms of swim bladder issues, and I’m back to researching what I can do to protect my tank’s inhabitants. I do water changes weekly, typically 20% to reduce nitrates. The tank is heavily stocked and heavily planted so I change the water to reduce nitrates and allow me to fertilize with Easy Green (although I am thinking it may be time to go the Flourish route of dosing to meet my tank’s needs). All of that to ask, for those who use their UV sterilizers to help with disease, how often do you run your UV lights when you don’t see problems in the tank?

You do win for highest water! Mine reads very close to the 300 mark at one minute, but it doesn’t take long for the pad to begin changing to a similar color around the edges. The pic below is closer to 2.5 minutes when I decided to grab my phone and try a picture. At one minute it was spot on the 300’s color.

I started treatment. Yesterday was day 5. I have had another fish in the main tank begin resting in the bottom. I ordered two large boxes of Maracyn from Aquarium Co-Op this weekend and it should arrive today. I guess I am treating the main tank.

Make sure you feed them your best food. Whatever that is. And when you can grab some frozen foods to supplement their diet. They love the frozen brine shrimp.

Oh! And since your water is soft I would add the crushed coral to the QT when you get it. Livebearers prefer hard water.

Maracyn and Ich-X should help with the fungal, but you said you had a QT tank. I would remove this fish from your larger tank and treat it with salt in a qt tank. I have never heard of dosing Maracyn every other day. I believe the box says one packet of Maracyn per 10g once per day for five days and then a water change. Here is what I would do. If you have the equipment for a QT tank I would set it up. Obviously with dechlorinared water. I would treat with salt 1 Tbs per 2 gallons (it’s very cheap at your local fish store $5 for a pound). I would feed either live baby brine or frozen brine shrimp. In the qt tank either throw in a small handful of gravel from your main tank (just a little pile, not the whole bottom) or a decoration or sponge or something to help cycle the qt tank. See if things start looking better. I really can’t tell from those pictures if it is Ich or not. Salt can take care of many hobby diseases, but it will kill your plants. if you see Ich come up on any other fish in your main tank then you will need to treat with Ich-x. If you’ve already dosed it once today that is fine. I wouldn’t put any more in the main tank and I would treat the quarantine tank with salt instead. great blog on awuarium salt: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-salt-for-sick-fish

Like @Fish Folksaid, make sure to use dechlorinator to treat your water. And try to match the water temperature as perfectly as possible. With sick fish a sudden change in temp can cause issues.

Can you share a picture of the fish? Are you sure it is Ich? Does it look like salt on the fish? And does the fish have them in the fins? There is such a thing as “stress Ich” and we don’t want you having to medicate something that you don’t need to.

It does help. Ok. So the plants help. They will be happy with nitrates around 10-20 ppm. I see some algae growing in the plants and the back glass. The water changes should help keep that at bay by removing excess nutrients that the plants aren’t using. Here is another blog on how to determine water changes. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/how-to-change-aquarium-water-correctly During the med treatment you will need to do water changes based on those meds. You said you have ich, I would treat that first. Do a larger water change, about 30% to lower the nitrates. Ich-x is going to instruct you to change 30% every day during treatment. This med can stain silicone blue, but in my experience it mostly faded with time. A lot of people will say to raise the temperature in your tank, but Cory from Aquarium Co-Op told me that he does not recommend that. It doesn’t treat the Ich, it just gets rid of it faster by speeding up the parasites life cycle while stressing out your fish. I have treated Ich with Ich-x in less than a week without turning up my temps. I would consider finding crushed coral (you can buy online from the co-op) to increase water hardness. I don’t think it would interact with the Ich-x, but maybe someone else can chime in. I have hard water and have never needed to use it.

Livebearers can be a little messy. It depends on some factors in your tank. A lot of people will do weekly 15-25% water changes to make sure they are replacing minerals and remove toxins from the water. If it has been a long time since you’ve performed a water change you should definitely consider a schedule. Do you have live plants? If you do not have live plants, weekly water changes go from maybe being necessary to essential. Your fish waste is building up, and the only way to get rid of it without plants is to remove it by water changes. 40 ppm nitrates isn’t dangerous, but it isn’t exactly comfortable for the fish either. It could be causing some stress especially without hard water. It’s possible your ph could be swinging during the day as well due to the low KH. Plants or regular water changes will help with this.

Looks like your KH and GH may be a little low for Livebearers. Check out this article on them (which also covers pH which is affected by your water hardness). I would probably add some crushed coral for the water, and pick up the med trio to treat the current sickness https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/ph-gh-kh What else is in the tank?

I ordered some and can’t wait to try them out!