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Post by parker002 on Nov 6, 2019 11:20:31 GMT -5
Long story short, we had a saprolegnia outbreak with our axolotl's. We're new to them and unfortunately, it appears one of them was probably infected when we purchased him.
I've since found a different source with healthier specimens but they have recommended that I nuke (with bleach) my tank and start over since sapro can be so persistent. This means I can't reuse my already cycled sponge filters to cycle the tank.
I don't really want to use the fish food method since it introduces the risk for the same fungus I'm trying to eradicate.
Should I just buy some Fritz #7, will that work?
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Post by parker002 on Nov 6, 2019 11:40:27 GMT -5
Looks like it is out of stock. I have an 8oz bottle of Stability on-hand, will that work for a 20G tank?
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Nov 7, 2019 13:35:10 GMT -5
We've have been having some problems getting some Fritz stuff.
Stability is better in my opinion.
I've had saprolegnia and it's not usually that hard to get rid off. Usually the fish heals themselves with just good mineralization and when I've had it on plants and wood it just cycled out, not to come back.
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Post by parker002 on Nov 7, 2019 13:57:02 GMT -5
I've had it with fish before without disaster but apparently it's particularly harmful to axolotols. I'm still learning. These things are not at all like fish.
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Post by parker002 on Nov 8, 2019 1:21:25 GMT -5
So I read Carl's article here: www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Disease.html#sterilizeTomorrow will be 48 hours of running my tank with 20G water / 1G bleach solution. I'm gonna drain it and then my plan was to add 20G of fresh tap water, Start Right (since I have a couple of cheap bottles), run it for a while, drain it again and repeat the Start Right process. After doing the rinse cycle twice, I intend to fill the tank and treat with Seachem Prime and then start cycling with Stability and a little bit of fish food. Does that sound like a plan?
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Nov 8, 2019 13:38:20 GMT -5
So I read Carl's article here: www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Disease.html#sterilizeTomorrow will be 48 hours of running my tank with 20G water / 1G bleach solution. I'm gonna drain it and then my plan was to add 20G of fresh tap water, Start Right (since I have a couple of cheap bottles), run it for a while, drain it again and repeat the Start Right process. After doing the rinse cycle twice, I intend to fill the tank and treat with Seachem Prime and then start cycling with Stability and a little bit of fish food. Does that sound like a plan? Sounds like going above to me. Better safe though.
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Post by parker002 on Nov 8, 2019 14:02:06 GMT -5
Yeah, given what I've been through and I have two new axies coming next week, I do want to be safe.
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Post by Carl on Nov 13, 2019 12:19:33 GMT -5
So I read Carl's article here: www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Disease.html#sterilizeTomorrow will be 48 hours of running my tank with 20G water / 1G bleach solution. I'm gonna drain it and then my plan was to add 20G of fresh tap water, Start Right (since I have a couple of cheap bottles), run it for a while, drain it again and repeat the Start Right process. After doing the rinse cycle twice, I intend to fill the tank and treat with Seachem Prime and then start cycling with Stability and a little bit of fish food. Does that sound like a plan? Yes! Make sure to liquiefy the fish food Carl
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Post by parker002 on Nov 13, 2019 14:59:44 GMT -5
I have been. I actually have used just a tiny bit of liquified fish food and a little bit of ammonia, combining the two methods. It seems to be working well, I have my nitrates already at about 15ppm.
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Post by parker002 on Dec 2, 2019 11:12:28 GMT -5
I'm about at my wits end. Last week, the free ammonia dropped to zero and the nitrites maxed out. I was entering the last stage of the cycle. Then the next day, the pH had dropped below 6 and my alkalinity was at zero. My cycle crashed and ammonia shot back up. I did a 50% water change and started adding Stability again. Now it appears to be stuck. Not progressing at all but not going up either.
What should I do?
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Post by Carl on Dec 2, 2019 16:57:44 GMT -5
Can you provide a timeline of what you have done to this point (including water changes and parameters there of too)
At low pH, ammonium NH4 will be ammonia NH3 too
Carl
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Post by parker002 on Dec 2, 2019 17:14:59 GMT -5
I bought a whole new tank on November 10th and started from scratch with new filter media and everything. 20G long. Filled it with water treated with Prime and added a bit of liquified Spirulina 20. Added 4 capfuls of Stability, then 2 capfuls of Stability for 6 days thereafter. I added a pinch of food each day until posting here on the 13th when I switched to liquid ammonia (to avoid saprolegnia).
I stopped the Stability and ammonia after a week, added some plants and let it go. I checked parameters with a 5-in-1 test strip every day. Watched pH and alkalinity go down as expected every day as ammonia went down and nitrites/nitrates went up. Unfortunately we have VERY hard water here but not very high kH. So even though there's a lot of minerals in the water, it's not great buffering.
It progressed towards zero ammonia with both nitrites and nitrates rising until last Thursday (the 28th) when I noticed the familiar white haze of the cycling again. Checked the ammonia alert and sure enough ammonia had gone from almost in the yellow to back into the light blue. I immediately got a test strip - pH was below 6 (off the charts basically), alkalinity was zero, and nitrites/nitrates were kind of stuck at 20ppm. I did a 50% water change at this point.
I already had a mini sponge on the outflow of my pump so I added an airstone driven min sponge as well. Waited a week and no parameters have changed at all really. Last night I replaced one of the sponge inserts in my inflow pre-filter with Seachem Matrix. Still no change today. Ammonia is light blue and nitrites/nitrates are stuck.
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Post by parker002 on Dec 2, 2019 17:17:19 GMT -5
Oh I forget. A week ago, about the same time as the crash, I added plants back to the tank. They're all still there although the anacharis is melting.
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Post by parker002 on Dec 2, 2019 17:20:02 GMT -5
And if I seem stressed, it's because I am. LOL
My little axolotls are still in Tupperware tubs, almost 3 weeks later. They're eating good and appetite is actually increasing, so everything seems fine but I would love to get them into a tank sooner rather than later.
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Dec 3, 2019 12:28:02 GMT -5
I wonder if the plants or the water change could have stalled the process.
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Post by parker002 on Dec 3, 2019 14:25:14 GMT -5
I did the water change after the stall started. It definitely could have been the plants. I just don't know what to do to get it started again. I want it to finish!
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Post by Carl on Dec 3, 2019 17:22:33 GMT -5
I wonder if the plants or the water change could have stalled the process. This would be my guess too. I would also add buffers to keep ammonium from going into ammonia Finally, while I have not experimented with mixing of methods, I have found in observations that it is usually best to stick with one method. In other words, just Stability, just fish food, or just pure ammonia Carl
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Post by parker002 on Dec 3, 2019 17:28:06 GMT -5
So what would you recommend? A water change? Add buffers and stay the course? Add more Stability?
I'm almost too the point of pulling the plants and starting over doing a 90% water change and pure ammonia.
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Post by parker002 on Dec 3, 2019 17:28:42 GMT -5
To clarify, other than the plants, there's nothing living in the tank. The axolotls are in tubs right now.
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Post by parker002 on Dec 3, 2019 20:48:20 GMT -5
I just removed the anubias plants even though they didn't seem adversely affected. I also removed what was left of the anacharis and threw away the melted parts. The tank is now bare except for the sand and sponge filters. I haven't done anything else regarding water chemistry just yet. I don't want to overreact and make it worse.
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