Post by bettafishfriend on Mar 21, 2017 6:35:04 GMT -5
Hello Everyone,
I am so thankful for this blog and this site. I have learned so much from this site and continue to learn a lot each time I visit. My question today is kind of long but I’m at a loss about how to deal with it currently. Also I hope this is on the right tread section of this site. Please let me know if this should be posted somewhere else. Thank you!
I have a 2.5-3 gallon planted tank (a Fluval Spec III using the stock light, filter, filter media etc.) and had 1 betta. Due to my lack of knowledge before finding this site and probably some weak genetics I have had many disease problems with the tank. Discovering this site was a blessing but most of the damage had been done by that point.
Anyway the most recent problem is presumably ich. I say presumably since the parasite looks like silvery/white salt and is attached to the drift wood and a lot of it seems to go through a free swimming stage every week or so but some always stay attached to the driftwood. Not much of it seemed attached to the fish but the few that did was too much for my poor fishy friend within a couple days. (RIP Colby! ) All that to say based on the ich article on this blog it seems to be ich but I truly don’t know (if some other parasite that I am unaware of sounds more like this description rather than ich please let me know so I can learn for the future.)
I was halfway through treatment when my betta fishy friend passed away so now I have a fishless planted tank infested with what I can only assume is ich. Not knowing what to do I have continued with the in-tank treatment (tank at 80 degrees, salt, and daily paraguard.) Today is day 20 with little to no effect on the parasite and the plants (anubias nana and java fern) are yellowing from the medications.
All of this leads me to my question. How would you deal with this plight? Would you continue with treatment or switch/adjust to another treatment? Would you forgo further treatment and tear the tank down and start over? I want to save the plants and the driftwood but obviously don’t want to infect another future fish. The other factor is I am planning to move sometime probably next month so I am not at all opposed to tearing the tank down to rid it of the parasite but the problem is the plants and driftwood. I don’t want the parasite simply existing on the plants (biding their time) then moving to the new clean (relocated) tank. Currently the plants are in an eco-complete filled dish and sitting in the tank.
My thought was to take the plants out, do an ammonia dip and put them in another temporary tank (planted in the dish and new eco-complete substrate.) Then boil the driftwood and let it sit outside the tank until after I move. The tank, I thought of also cleaning with ammonia (running some ammonia-water through the filter) but am concerned about the filter media and sponge part of the filter. Do I have to throw it out? I would love to keep it but don’t know if it’s possible to clean. The reason I thought of using ammonia instead of bleach was I thought if some was accidentally left over in the tank it would not be as detrimental since it could add to the next cycling process. Since all of this is just an assumption please correct me if I am wrong. That being said do you think ammonia will kill the parasite?
Sorry again this was so long. Honestly if this all had to happen, this is a great time before I move. It is very hard to move between states with a fish.
I truly appreciate and am thankful for any input.
Thanks so much! – BettaFishFriend
I am so thankful for this blog and this site. I have learned so much from this site and continue to learn a lot each time I visit. My question today is kind of long but I’m at a loss about how to deal with it currently. Also I hope this is on the right tread section of this site. Please let me know if this should be posted somewhere else. Thank you!
I have a 2.5-3 gallon planted tank (a Fluval Spec III using the stock light, filter, filter media etc.) and had 1 betta. Due to my lack of knowledge before finding this site and probably some weak genetics I have had many disease problems with the tank. Discovering this site was a blessing but most of the damage had been done by that point.
Anyway the most recent problem is presumably ich. I say presumably since the parasite looks like silvery/white salt and is attached to the drift wood and a lot of it seems to go through a free swimming stage every week or so but some always stay attached to the driftwood. Not much of it seemed attached to the fish but the few that did was too much for my poor fishy friend within a couple days. (RIP Colby! ) All that to say based on the ich article on this blog it seems to be ich but I truly don’t know (if some other parasite that I am unaware of sounds more like this description rather than ich please let me know so I can learn for the future.)
I was halfway through treatment when my betta fishy friend passed away so now I have a fishless planted tank infested with what I can only assume is ich. Not knowing what to do I have continued with the in-tank treatment (tank at 80 degrees, salt, and daily paraguard.) Today is day 20 with little to no effect on the parasite and the plants (anubias nana and java fern) are yellowing from the medications.
All of this leads me to my question. How would you deal with this plight? Would you continue with treatment or switch/adjust to another treatment? Would you forgo further treatment and tear the tank down and start over? I want to save the plants and the driftwood but obviously don’t want to infect another future fish. The other factor is I am planning to move sometime probably next month so I am not at all opposed to tearing the tank down to rid it of the parasite but the problem is the plants and driftwood. I don’t want the parasite simply existing on the plants (biding their time) then moving to the new clean (relocated) tank. Currently the plants are in an eco-complete filled dish and sitting in the tank.
My thought was to take the plants out, do an ammonia dip and put them in another temporary tank (planted in the dish and new eco-complete substrate.) Then boil the driftwood and let it sit outside the tank until after I move. The tank, I thought of also cleaning with ammonia (running some ammonia-water through the filter) but am concerned about the filter media and sponge part of the filter. Do I have to throw it out? I would love to keep it but don’t know if it’s possible to clean. The reason I thought of using ammonia instead of bleach was I thought if some was accidentally left over in the tank it would not be as detrimental since it could add to the next cycling process. Since all of this is just an assumption please correct me if I am wrong. That being said do you think ammonia will kill the parasite?
Sorry again this was so long. Honestly if this all had to happen, this is a great time before I move. It is very hard to move between states with a fish.
I truly appreciate and am thankful for any input.
Thanks so much! – BettaFishFriend