Please Help Me - Page 2

Tommy Gun · 09-24-2006, 08:55 PM

Jay,

First thank you for your advice. I will certainly read more into the 'sticky' you have pointed me to.

I might have wrote my opinion on clearing out a tank with that medicine a little wrong. I never meant to imply that anyone should just give up, kill their fish, and start over. NO NO NO! I meant to say that if ALL of the fish are already gone, then it could be a good way to ensure the tank is safe to restock. I have heard many stories about people who have done this to a quarenteen tank or hospital tank after treating a parasite or something that could infect other fish or inverts if they continued to use the tank with even the same substrate in it. Under these curcumstances, I dont know why it would be wrong to completely clear out a tank, even if it meant recycling (to repeat, without any fish in it!)

Like I also said, I often will get older tanks that people I meet do not want anymore. Usually there is a problem with blue green algea or something that makes the water yellow or gold and these people simply do not want to deal with it. To me, the tank is still good, and so I rehome the fish, if any, and 'nuke' it. Four to six weeks later I have a new 'canvas' to start with. Until a couple weeks ago, I had a tank that was well over 20 years old and had held a lot of different fish in it until this guy at work just couldnt 'keep it clean' as he put it. I ran that tank for a year with nothing but crystal clear water and I had no other problems. This is what I meant by my last suggestion. Do you still disagree?

Jay · 09-25-2006, 08:07 AM

No I don't

I have been reading your posts and found your advice and comment for the most part to be spot on, creative, and well thought thru.

There is an incredible amount of misinformation about Ich floating around out there (Pun intended

) It is probably the #1 lfs ticket for expensive med sales and pushing the myth of "you didn't get it here".

FYI Everyone: ICH requires a host; In an empty water only tank the Ich will die. How soon? hard to say, in cold water maybe a month. Better to treat with salt and be done with it.

Regards,
Jay

thewebpop · 09-25-2006, 10:01 AM

THE SALT TREATMENT WORKED FOR ME! THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR HELP JAY,
Later, Pop's

Tommy Gun · 09-25-2006, 07:40 PM

Jay,
Thank your for your comments and while I try not to express myself as any sort of expert on fish or fish tanks, I felt I would have been much better off if someone had taken the time to explain the mistakes I was about to make before I made them. I only hope to share what I have learned since I have made some big assumptions and even bigger mistakes that cost me time, money, and a few fishes' lives. I also always re-read any thread that I have posted on in order to see what I can learn from other people's responses, and in this case, I am glad you are here to set us straight.

However, getting back to the real topic here, I feel pretty bad for anyone who is feeling hopeless in this hobby. Perhaps it is just my passion for fish and keeping them in my house, but most likely it is because I have felt like this in the past. Once I stopped trying to solve my aquaria problems over night and started reading threads and information on sites like this, I have been nearly 100% successful in doing everything I tried out, including cichlids (which I really went through hell with) and I am now working on my first saltwater tank (which I think is going great, but others may not agree).

My hope is to spread some hope (if that makes any sense at all) about keeping fish and while there may be A LOT to think about and do, none of it is really that hard that anyone should give up on his or her tank.

westsidediscus · 10-19-2006, 08:17 PM

if all your fish are now dead i would empty the tank and take it to the bathroom and add bleach and water and let it sit for a few hours then rinse out and then rinse with water and declorinator