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Before he started paracleanse he was at 8 tbs of salt in a 10 gallon tank. He went through multiple water changes to get the salinity down before he started his paracleanse. His last course finished last Friday (Mar 29) and he's been sitting in quarantine without extra additives (salt, meds, etc) since then. Based off of what my coworker has told me he's getting at least a 10% water change daily because she knows that meds can upset the nitrogen cycle and the quarantine had a seeded sponge but definitely isn't what we'd consider established. I tested his water during his first course of paracleanse (early March) and there was a low amount of nitrite but that has not happened again since that treatment. He hovers around low (under 20ppm) to zero nitrate now. I'm definitely open to the idea of treating with peroxide. He's definitely had some dead flesh slough off here and I don't expect him to look the same as he did pre-injury.

One of my coworkers moved and her rainbow fish got pretty beat up in the bucket. He was alone, but panicked and definitely hit the sides multiple times and I think that the physical trauma made him susceptible to other issues. Over the last month my coworker gave him 2 full courses of para cleanse due to blood spots that we both assumed were from flukes. Is there anything that we can do to encourage the tissue to heal? He has been in a quarantine setup with 2 females (who were not injured) ever since the injury and aside from aquarium salt I'm at a loss regarding what else could help him heal. The first three photos are from today and he's much more inflamed than previous times during his treatment. The last four photos are from late February when he was first injured.

I was surprised with some new eggs during lunch. I'm doubtful that many will hatch

I wound up keeping him in and I'm glad that I did. As of this morning, the eye is definitely gone. It was likely gone beforehand but under all of the gunk I couldn't tell. He's going to get a full course of Maracyn while this heals and may need to live the rest of his life solo. Luckily his other eye is looking good! This is definitely in the extreme regarding how far popeye goes. Sometimes healing doesn't set you back to the original state, just like for people.

I would not personally be concerned about either unless they are on a stand where the bottom could potentially be compromised (ex: those metal Imagitarium stands). Adding weight at the bottom of the stand (cinderblocks are great for this) to stabilize would be what I do. Aquariums tend to weight roughly 10x their capacity, as in a 39g will weigh around 390lbs before you think about the stand. That alone helps it to stay in place.

It's been a busy season! Here are some photo updates (plus a bonus of one of my tanks at work) from Tuesday this week. Swelling is far down, but the eye appears to be lost. This is definitely one of the toughest cases that I've treated without complications from infection. This weekend I plan to put him back in the main tank.

I missed the 3 week check-in by a few days but here's where we're at now. We've done an additional 50% water change and added 4 tablespoons of salt back in. His diet is the same, baby brine shrimp and Walter worms. At this moment in time I'd guess that there's an okay change that he keeps the eye, albeit with some funk. He's eating well! Regarding the angelfish at work who (coincidentally) got her eye beat up as well. She's doing much better even though she was initially in worse condition. Our quarantine tanks are not good for taking photos so I unfortunately don't have any.

This definitely seems the way to go. My best pair of parents had similar fry survival rates in the long run to indifferent parents. Even the best pair I've ever had averaged lower survival rates than human intervention, and that's with them as the only fish in the tank. Babies fall and mom/dad might not scoop them up. Babies have a hard time finding food in a big tank. Eggs are more prone to fungus, even with parents picking off the literal bad eggs. I like to let nature take its course because the fun is in observing.

We're starting to see a slight change in presentation. His eye is clouding, so there's definitely more damage than just the swelling. It's the most visible from the front. Luckily he's been eating well. He finished the last of my brine shrimp hatchery today so I've started a fresh batch. Depending on how he progresses from here I may start on tubifex worms soaked in VitaChem (nutrition) to give him a little extra. I don't intend to medicate unless there are symptoms of infection. So far there are none. The second photo appears clamped, but that's due to movement. He's every bit the fish that he was back when he was in the big tank.

It's okay to fully submerge the roots. Every time I've grown any kind of dracaena in water (directly) I've kept the nodes above water. Even though the size is quite different, the concept is pretty similar to people who put pothos or other aroids in their tanks. Roots go under water, nodes go above.

Did the water change + got some significantly better photos. The fourth and fifth also illustrate why I love this guy so much. He's easily the vivid of my sparkling gouramis. To summarize the changes so far: Nov 16 - Started treatment. 10 gallon aquarium, 3 tablespoons of salt. Nov 18 - 25% water change. Added 1 tablespoon of salt. Nov 24 - 50% water change. Added 3 tablespoons of salt. In other news, we may see some other photo additions to this thread. Two of the angelfish at my workplace have become exceptionally territorial and caused some eye trauma to one of the others. We've isolated the two, as the female is bulging with eggs. If the pair can cohabitate well I'll seriously consider proposing that we rehome the other two. It's a difficult situation because I don't have much control over the stocking even though I manage our aquatic living exhibits.

It's time for our 1 week check-in on our poor guy. We're currently at a salt content of about 1.25 tablespoons per 3 gallons. He's been eating a mix of baby brine, Walter worms, and daphnia and as the picture shows, his eye is nowhere near better. Due to the holiday I won't be making adjustments tonight, but I intend to do a 50% water change and add 4 tablespoons of salt to the tank tomorrow. An unintended consequence of separating him is that the other sparkling gouramis have shown themselves far more often. He was definitely the tank boss and it seems that I've disrupted the pecking order.

Most of your beneficial bacteria live on surfaces within the tank. Keeping your substrate, sponge filter, and other filter media in de-chlorinated water during the transition can go a long way to minimizing the impact. Whenever I transport larger fish, I keep them in 5 gallon buckets with a sponge filter. You can even cut a hole in the lid (if you are using one) to get a complete seal/minimize spills while having a spot to thread the airline tubing through. I've transported several fish this way (including moving houses) without casualty. Since you just need a space to hold them in, leaving them in the bucket with a sponge filter while you're working on their tank sounds fine and will help to keep your bacteria healthy. The main danger to your bacteria comes if they are left in tap water that has not been de-chlorinated or those surfaces are allowed to dry out during the transition.

I got to enjoy a new fish day! These licorice gouramis are from AquaHuna and I was initially nervous because my water is definitely not at the pH that people throw around for these guys, but a few are already coloring up. They're chilling in my 15 cube (that I even gave two cute little caves for them 🥺) until they're done with observation. After that 2 are going into the family aquarium and 4 are staying in the cube for long-term residence.

So as a disclaimer, I have not used PolyGuard. It is (per Seachem) not safe for invertebrates so that's already a core difference. Malachite green (one of the active ingredients in Ich-X) is the only common ingredient. Aside from the quinacrine dihydrochloride I'm not seeing any actives that would treat internal parasites either, and I don't believe that quinacrine is able to kill nematodes. Since internal parasites are the most common cause of illness that I experience that is also not effectively treated by salt, I would personally not buy it as I prefer to use Prazi Pro (praziquantel) and Expel P (levamisole hydrochloride). Given limited information about the other actives, sulfathiazole and nitrofurantoin are very likely their replacement for erythromycin. I've actually used quinacrine to treat giardia in dogs (unfortunately unsure if it was dihydrochloride or another form) so I would assume that it is also a part of the treatment for ich and other protozoan parasites in tandem with the malachite green. I'm interested to see if anyone else on the forum has used this as now you've gotten me curious.

Surprise babies in the bucket are one of the simple joys of the hobby. It's been awhile since I saw any.

Update on the swelling, he has not gone down at all (which is pretty normal in my experience) but isn't exhibiting any signs of stress so I'm about to do a 25% water change (and suck up the tank gunk that has come from the sponge filter) and add another tablespoon of aquarium salt. This will slightly increase the salinity. When treating with salt I always track my water changes and salt additions so that I can still track my concentration.

I'm back with a tardigrade at 300x magnification for comparison. The translucent silhouette is an exoskeleton with eggs. My creek water didn't have rotifers today but I can try to get some photos within the next few weeks if there is interest.

Hi all, one of my lil guys got bonked pretty hard within the last few weeks and he's not gotten better so he's starting treatment today. Here are some photos of his "starting point" for documentation. My treatment setup is a 10 gallon with 3 tbs of aquarium salt, a seeded sponge filter, and silk plants. This tank doesn't have lighting but does get ambient light from an open window. He's always been incredibly lively compared to my other sparkling gouramis and his behavior hasn't changed so I'm sure that he'll bounce back with minimal long-term harm. Whenever I find a disease, I try to log progress so that it's available as a reference to others. Hopefully someone is able to learn something here. If he gets worse I do intend to add antibiotics for potential infection, but I always start with salt for popeye as it helps the fish with osmotic regulation and relieves the pressure on their corneas.

It's very worthwhile! I go to Aqua Dome more often because they're generous enough to give my employer a discount but Aquatek is what I prefer for personal shopping. They're one of the only brick and mortars in the state that I've seen carrying Repashy (aside from South Seas Aquatics in San Antonio).

Hello fellow Texan! I'm not sure which part of the state you're in or your nearest major metro, but some of my favorite local stores in the state for aquascaping are Aqua Dome (Austin), Aquatek (Austin), 360 Aquatic (Houston), and Elegant Reef (San Antonio). Aquatek has a ton of amazing supplies and is worth the trip, even if you're from out of town (which I am). If you are around San Antonio, Polly's and Fintique are also awesome! I'm lucky I've been able to travel around the state quite a bit for work so I've gotten to sample what's available in most major cities.

This is so cool! I have access to some printers and now I'm tempted to make one for myself 👀

The additional blocks are mainly for height. The #1 tip for maintaining strength in a cinderblock stand is to make sure that the holes are oriented vertically, which it seems you've already done. Enjoy your new stand!

I have a few worm feeders that I can use. Don't know why I hadn't thought of that!

The Repashy itself is fine! I make it float by dipping it into floating resuable ice cubes (the fruit looking things in my photo). The issue is that once fish start to nibble on it the whole thing slips off and goes straight to the bottom of my tank. I like to have some Repashy floating and some sinking so that there's less competition for food. I use 2 parts boiling water to 1 part Repashy. My Community Plus also gets freeze dried daphnia in the mix.