Parasite Treatment - Help! - Page 2

Cichlids4Ever · 08-08-2006, 08:28 PM

Jay,
I added the salt as you said and I am surprised already!
I am trying not to get over confident, but I think “we” nailed this at the right time.
The spots are no longer visible on the fish and they have stopped scratching at the rocks. From what I read on some web sites, this means that the parasites are free floating at this point and are now vulnerable to treatment. Is this correct?
The fish “feel” better, I can tell. They even ate their pellets today. I only gave them a few bites. I’ll follow your instructions, and when I am all through with water changes, I’ll post the new readings and let you know how my fish are doing. You don’t know how much you have helped me here. I was ready to throw in the towel!
I really feel bad that I trusted the so-called fish experts here in town. They said with the amount of fish I had, I could easily get away with monthly water changes. Boy did I learn my lesson!
I’ll be back.

Jay · 08-08-2006, 08:49 PM

Good stuff here, you are learning

Jay

thewebpop · 08-08-2006, 09:49 PM

Wow, Sorry you are having all the problems Joe, but I sure am getting alot of Great information following all your post here. This is a Great forum, glad I surfed across it! Good luck with your Tank! Pop's

Cichlids4Ever · 08-09-2006, 06:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thewebpop

Wow, Sorry you are having all the problems Joe, but I sure am getting alot of Great information following all your post here. This is a Great forum, glad I surfed across it! Good luck with your Tank! Pop's

I am glad I surfed across this forum also.
Jay has been awesome here. It's sad how a lot of us that are not "experts" can be so mis-led by pet store owners.
I was unhappy with my filter system so I changed it, not realizing that it would cause my tank to go haywire!
I am pretty sure it is under control now, or at least on it's way to be stable. We'll see.

Cichlids4Ever · 08-11-2006, 08:42 AM

Jay,
I think we are on the road to success this time!
I did a test on my water today even with all the salt in it and things look much better.
PH 7.5
Nitrite is 0
Nitrate is 5.0
Ammonia is .25....MUCH better, no?
No spots on fish and no scraping at rocks!

Jay · 08-11-2006, 10:13 AM

I like those numbers, sounds like the bio filter is starting to improve. Keep an eye on the nitrItes, they will spike a little and then go to "0" and at the same time the nitrAtes should increase. When you get Ammonia "0"; NitrItes "0, and NitrAtes "Measurable at say 10 ppm" the tank has cycled.

Don't do a water change until the salt treatment has resulted in NO observation of Ich spots for a few days. The treatment can take up to 10 days, don't cut it short, be sure.

Jay

Cichlids4Ever · 08-11-2006, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay

I like those numbers, sounds like the bio filter is starting to improve. Keep an eye on the nitrItes, they will spike a little and then go to "0" and at the same time the nitrAtes should increase. When you get Ammonia "0"; NitrItes "0, and NitrAtes "Measurable at say 10 ppm" the tank has cycled.

Don't do a water change until the salt treatment has resulted in NO observation of Ich spots for a few days. The treatment can take up to 10 days, don't cut it short, be sure.

Jay

Jay, don't worry, after all I have gone through I wouldn't cut it short.
I will let this go for at LEAST 5 days without spots.
I'll continue to check levels, especially ammonia for now, then when I do the water changes, I'll post back any news on the other numbers.
Thanks for your patience with me.
I have the local pet shop people asking ME questions now :-)
Like, what do ceramic rings do?
Why do you want them?
Why NOT use charcoal?
I guess "we" have to school those fools :-)

Cichlids4Ever · 08-12-2006, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay

I like those numbers, sounds like the bio filter is starting to improve. Keep an eye on the nitrItes, they will spike a little and then go to "0" and at the same time the nitrAtes should increase. When you get Ammonia "0"; NitrItes "0, and NitrAtes "Measurable at say 10 ppm" the tank has cycled.

Don't do a water change until the salt treatment has resulted in NO observation of Ich spots for a few days. The treatment can take up to 10 days, don't cut it short, be sure.

Jay

Jay,
Everything is looking up. Numbers are a bit better than yesterday.
I mentioned to you that I had 2 non-cichlids in the tank that I was holding for my son till he fixes his setup. They are 2 very young tiger barbs. They apparently didn't like the salt because one of them died.
The "Big guys" are holding up good though.
Question about filtration during this salt treatment.
I picked up Fluval Ceramic rings. Should I wait to "re-do" my filter using foam, pillow stuffing and rings?
Is it OK to change the filter now, or should I wait till I am ready to do the water changes?

Jay · 08-14-2006, 03:00 PM

You can put them in any time. The Bacteria colonies will be more efficient if they are in the rapidly changing water of the filter, but you can toss the bag in the tank to get is started if you want.

Jay

Cichlids4Ever · 08-15-2006, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay

You can put them in any time. The Bacteria colonies will be more efficient if they are in the rapidly changing water of the filter, but you can toss the bag in the tank to get is started if you want.

Jay

Jay,
This should be the last few questions I have here.
Sorry for taking up so much of your time, but I have had fish for 30 years, and I guess for 30 years I have been miss-led till I came here.

Anyway, here we go.

Is it common for some of the fish to look a bit ?beat up? after a salt treatment, like their fins appear worn or shredded?

Also, these once pretty calm and docile fish are now darting around the tank every time I approach it. They
"scare? real easy.

Will this change after time? Will the fins get better?

P.S. You can disregard the private message I sent you since you already sent me that information in your previous posts.