Recent content by Kerf

Having NH and NO2 at 0 is a must for a hospital tank, if you are not medicating yet I personally wouldn't even run a filter I'd just change 30-50% water twice a day, once in the AM and once in PM. It shouldn't take but a few minutes on a 10 gallon tank. As for the cycle of the new tank I'd...

Tank size: 120 Gallon pH: 8.2 ammonia: 0 nitrite: 0 nitrate: 30 kH: N/A gH: N/A tank temp: 79F Fish Symptoms: No noticeable symptoms, fish are dying at a rapid pace Tuesday I lost a Molly, Wednesday I lost two more Mollies and a Tetra, Today I noticed a Cory dead this morning, and just pulled a...

I am pretty sure that the first picture I posted was just a wound, but I think the wound gave the infection a chance to take hold. Since my water quality was very poor with the large NO2 spike surly all my fish were stressed, and therefore had a reduced immune systems. When both Plecos got...

If it is constipation driftwood may help, sometimes Pleco's will chew on driftwood and get extra fiber from it. I am not sure when you are adding the food but Plecos are nocturnal and unless they are starving only feed at night. I know I can put a few brussels sprouts in mid-afternoon and...

Well heres an update, I went away last weekend and when I returned my fish were much worse, it was clearly columnaris and covered nearly 40% of the largest Pleco's body. I immediately quarantined the two affected Plecos and started a treatment with both Maracyn and Maracyn Two. In less than...

The vast majority of my life I had treated city water from Lake Erie, I remember I had a friend as a kid who had well water, and I remember his softened water tasted just like the stuff I have at the house now, which tastes like flippin' sea water to me. Back then he always told me, and my wife...

I used "Seachem Prime for Freshwater and Saltwater", but I only treated and added about 20 gallons of tap water, the rest (apx 30 gallons) I used our softened water since you told me adding salt to the aquarium helps reduce the effects of high nitrites.

Thank you all for your help and advice, here is an update on my status. I did a 40% water change last night, I am going to do another 30-40% water change this afternoon, however the pleco situation has continued to worsen. The wound on the large pleco I posted yesterday looks about the same...

Would chloramines show up on a chlorine test strip? I just got back from the fish store and they told me my chlorine count was zero, also how easy is it to remove chloramines via filtration? I use filtered tap when I fill my jugs, the filter is a 2 micron nominal 5 micron absolute solid carbon...

Well I just changed 10% water again, that makes 20% in three days, I'll have to find a better way to do it as our water is so nasty I have to treat it for around 12-24h with the clarifying chemical, what I've been doing is filling up jugs with a friends tap water then waiting 3-4 days for the...

I noticed last night that my largest pleco has a large whiteish almost clear spot on his head. Until yesterday I did not notice any afflictions or odd behavior. He still seems to be acting normal this morning, swimming about as much as he normally does and the food I dropped in before going to...