Chaos has ensued, how to go forward?!

[Superjoepez]

Hi everyone, 

So I know I should have a quarantine tank and trust me, after this I will but I need some advice in the mean time. 

Long story short I have been dying to get some new fish for my 29 gallon tank pretty much since the COVID quarantine started back in March (I had to rehome my goldfish as I was temporarily living with family to help out and could not keep up with their water changes). I recently bought 10 Rummynosed Tetras and 3 Balloon Mollys to add to my 4 Corydoras in a 29 gallon. The store I got them from was far from as clean as anyone would hope but I knew I had enough meds to an Aquarium Co-Op style "quarantine" in my tank. 

Initially 2 of the Rummynose died almost immediately and another 6 had died by the next morning, I took this as poor quality from the shop as well as water hardness differences (I have a TDS of 200 from the tap and the shop is in a coastal town on the water so they most likely have very soft water) but added the meds that morning. I started with a full dose of API General Cure and API E.M. Erythromycin. The day after I added a full dose of Herbtana Microb-Lift. Everything was going great, no more deaths and the only visible issue was one Molly showing what looked like a bacterial infection. After almost a week of fasting and being in the medicated tank I realized the issue with the Molly was going to need another round of meds to fully cure it. So I ordered the Quarantine Trio from Aquarium Co-Op.

This is where the chaos comes. I did a 50% water change and added a full dose of Fritz Maracyn, Fritz Para Clean, and Ich-X. Everything was going fine until the next morning when I realized I had cloudy water. At first I figured it was from my hard water, as I live on the east coast in the DC area and I have seen that happen before since I switched to sponge filters. Half way through the day I noticed it got worse and realized it was probably something else and started doing water tests. 

My current Water Parameters are:

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: between 40 and 80 ppm
PH: 7.4
TDS: 400ppm (Water from tap is 200ppm)

So I think I may have killed a lot of my beneficial bacteria in my sponge filters by mixing all of the anti-bacterial medicines which would explain the bacteria bloom I am now seeing. Here is my dilemma, I know I need to do some water changes to lower my Nitrates and TDS but I dont want to re-dose any antibacterial medicine. Should I let the bloom settle down first and let the plants hopefully mitigate the Nitrates or should I start doing small water changes now? What would you do?

I have attached an image of the Molly with the infection (notice it on its lip and gills) and a picture of the tank. 

Thanks for the help. 

 

[Cory]

Lots going on there. First TDS isn't a useful measurement to compare to another body of water. It will say meds, dechlorinator, fertilizer and other compounds are TDS. 

 

My best advice is to slow down. With all those moving parts, it's gonna be impossible to keep on top of. If this were my tank, I would do a 50% water change, use dechlor to fill it back up, an ddose erythromycin or maracyn and ich x and it it sits for a week while monitoring nitrite and ammonia. I wouldn't feed during this time so your plants can have some time to catch up on the remaining nitrates. 

[Superjoepez]

7 minutes ago, Cory said:

Lots going on there. First TDS isn't a useful measurement to compare to another body of water. It will say meds, dechlorinator, fertilizer and other compounds are TDS. 

 

My best advice is to slow down. With all those moving parts, it's gonna be impossible to keep on top of. If this were my tank, I would do a 50% water change, use dechlor to fill it back up, an ddose erythromycin or maracyn and ich x and it it sits for a week while monitoring nitrite and ammonia. I wouldn't feed during this time so your plants can have some time to catch up on the remaining nitrates. 

Thanks for the help, i figured thats what i should do but i have another question.

After i do a water change today should i add a full dose of meds or should I account for the meds added 36 hours ago and only add a 50-65% dose?

[Cory]

You should do the full dose after the water change. Ich x and Erythro or maracyn. 

[Wel-Don Tanks]

We all have mishaps that we can learn from.  I have a 90 gallon display in my studio that I had to recently just add a massive amount of salt to in attempts to fight off a bacterial infection.  And the first thing I had to remind myself of is that this happens to everyone no matter how experienced they are.

I would recommend a water change, 50% is a number that my mind can easily track and kind of eye ball as I am draining water.  Make sure to dechlorinate the water as you refill, I typically just add a couple squirts (following instructions) as I am refiling the tank.  

Next, lets forget about the TDS for now, I have honestly never measured the TDS of any of my tanks besides for good fun and wanting to know what this little gadget could do.  TDS is going to go up and down and I have seen some good experiments on how even dechlorinator will affect TDS.

Now lets focus on the fish and getting them healthy.  I prefer the trio of meds that the Co-Op has put together as they are easy to dose and follow the instructions on.  I see that you have live plants and we do not want to kill those with salt and the med trio will not harm them.  Probably focus on the maracyn and the ich-x as this does not seem to be an internal issue; both meds will help with bacterial.  Let that stew for a week and then get back into regular maintenance and let the plants catch up on the nitrates.