What's Going On?

[Cinnebuns]

I am at the end of battling a crashed cycle so my parameters have been off for about 2 weeks

Parameters as of today:  

Ammonia:  0.25

Nitrite:  0

Nitrate:  20 ppm

PH:  8.2

 

So I've had this glo tetra for about 3 weeks. It has always looked smaller and thinner than the others I have. Shortly after getting him he had long, white, stringy poop so I treated him with general cure. 2 weeks later I treated again. The first treatment I took the carbon out of my filter but the 2nd time I didn't so it's possible the treatment wasn't effective. Either way he's still looking thin and has bad coloring. Today I noticed a longer poop. It's not white like before but idk.  I ran out of Gen cure and got some paracleanse. Should I treat 2 rounds of this again 2 weeks apart?  Maybe it's not worms or something else?

[Colu]

I would do another course of paracleanse if you notice no improvement after that and he's eating ok  and not putting on weight or has a sunken belly it could be wasting disease or another type of parasite that paracleanse won't treat in that case you want to treat with Expel p or flubendazole

[Fish Folk]

Very sorry to hear.

This triggers something in my mind I've been mulling over awhile: What are sound ethical guidelines for responsible but also reasonable fish care when it comes to illness?

Glofish Tetras cost $9.99 each at my local box store. A box of API General Cure + a full treatment of Paracleanse costs about  $28.

Now, it is hard for any aquarist to put a value on their own fish that they truly try to maintain well, genuinely find delight in, and treat with humane respect. I've got the utmost respect for anyone willing to invest so much in helping to heal a sick fish.

But in my own scenario, I've got about . . . 18x tanks . . . and (let me try to count here) . . . approximately 627 fish. I can tell you emphatically that not every fish is going to get a 200% retail price-value medical insurance plan from me.

I do think that it is the responsibility of each aquarist to reasonably do the best to properly care for the fish they've got. I do try hard to keep my fish fairly healthy. But there is a circumstantial spectrum between expenses and expedience that allows, on one extreme, for investing a lot of money in medicines to treat a single sick fish; while also allowing for another extreme that means sometimes just letting go of a chronically sick fish and then later buying a new one to replace it.

I think very highly of you for investing so much in your fish. But I would NOT think you were a terrible aquarist if you, instead, euthanized it and used your medicine money in another way.

By way of personal confession: I had to "evict" several ill guppies today from a densely stocked tank. They were ill, and I frankly was unwilling to treat with medicines costing 20x their full retail value.

Hope this musing makes sense . . . just thinking out loud . . .

 

Edited January 8, 2022 by Fish Folk

[Cinnebuns]

@Fish Folk that's actually a wise point. I do think there are times and situations in which humane euthanasia is the best choice for the tank or even the specific fish in question. This is making me consider this. I actually wonder if the store would even give me a free one considering it's been sick this whole time. I'll have to think on this. 

One thing it makes me think is if it hurts anything to not treat and see how it goes.  See if he just goes naturally or somehow comes around. The risk I can see is if it's something that can spread to the whole tank. Being new idk what the likelihood of that is. 

[Fish Folk]

On 1/7/2022 at 10:52 PM, Cinnebuns said:

@Fish Folk that's actually a wise point. I do think there are times and situations in which humane euthanasia is the best choice for the tank or even the specific fish in question. This is making me consider this. I actually wonder if the store would even give me a free one considering it's been sick this whole time. I'll have to think on this. 

One thing it makes me think is if it hurts anything to not treat and see how it goes.  See if he just goes naturally or somehow comes around. The risk I can see is if it's something that can spread to the whole tank. Being new idk what the likelihood of that is. 

It depends on all that you've got going on in there. Certain fish work through parasites better than others. 

[Cinnebuns]

On 1/7/2022 at 9:58 PM, Fish Folk said:

It depends on all that you've got going on in there. Certain fish work through parasites better than others. 

6 glo tetras, 5 panda cories, 2 guppies (and growing).  I lost 1 panda cory and planned on replacing it anyway. Maybe I can pick up a glo tetra then too. 

[laritheloud]

Hmmmm. The poop by itself wouldn't worry me that much. It's hard to say if it's parasites or something else because symptoms overlap. I guess I'd look at behavior: Is he acting sick? Is he worsening or improving? Does he swim with the school/shoal and does he eat vigorously, or does he swim off to hide by himself?

If he's acting 'off' and he's continuing to waste, you could consider treatment with another round of parasite meds or an antibiotic for an internal infection. If he's not acting off, keep up water changes and see if he improves on his own.

Full disclosure: I went through a huge circus of meds on my 55 gallon tank for a batch of 4 very ill pseudomugil signifer rainbowfish. They managed to get through 2 months of quarantine before worsening, and have been through all kinds of antibiotics and anti-parasite meds (including Levamisole). The only thing that stopped the disease was separating and euthanizing, when the time came.... and 'when the time came' was an easy but very sad decision to make, because they would be clearly suffering, wasting away, swimming weakly, and unable to feed or join the school properly.

@Fish Folk is right in that the reality is sometimes the fish and the tanks are better off with separation and humane euthanizing than bombing with meds blindly. In retrospect, that was probably the best choice for my tanks from the start. Only you can make this judgment.

Good luck ❤️

[Cinnebuns]

@laritheloud he eats and has been seen schooling but tbh I haven't seen any of the tetras schooling as much lately. He mostly just looks thin, small, and color is off. Very general symptoms. I do find lately he seems to be hiding more. Idk if this means he's worsening or maybe he's scared of being picked on. I think I'm just gonna let him be and let nature takes its course. It doesn't seem to be something infectious which is what I worried about last night. I think if he lives he lives. If he dies he dies. Not much more I can do about it.