hospital tank help

[dancinns]

Hi, I have a Twin Bar Platy and a Bumblebee Goby who appear to be suffering from tail rot/Septicaemia - they were both being bitten on the tail by a mean danio but the tails look really bad now & neither are eating. The Platy has what appears to be a blood blister on its side & may have a similar blister on its back. I am adding melafix to the tank (10 gallon w/trace amounts of salt for goby) and have these two in a small container (all other fish, two danios, two tetras appear fine). Need help/ideas on a more fitting hospital tank, but do not have another tank to put them in. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

Have done %25 water change yesterday & today. These two fish were bought approx 7 days ago, other fish in tank are veterans of the tank.

Ph - 7.2
Ammonia - .25
Nitrite - .05

 

[Tolak]

Anything that holds water, and is clean can be used as a tank in a pinch. Large plastic storage bins are the first thing that come to mind.

If it is fin rot, and especially septicemia, melafix won't do a thing. I would start with a round of Maracyn & Maracyn II, as it sounds like bacterial fin rot. If that doesn't work, go with tetracycline.

Another concern is the presence of ammonia & nitrites. In a cycled tank these should not be present. These will weaken fish, letting diseases take over more easily. What other fish are in the tank, what type of filtration, and what are your water change procedures?

Tolak

 

[dancinns]

When we got these two new fish, the ammonia & nitirites were zero, amounts have increased slightly over the past week, but seem to be on the way back to zero. The filter is a Whisper 10, we rinse/change the filter regularly. We typically do a %25 water change weekly. The other fish are: zebra danio, leopard danio, red eye tetra, and a pristella tetra. Right now we have the two ill fish in a tuper-ware like container, floating it in the main tank for temp reasons, not letting the water mix right now. Just afraid this is not large enough for them for the duration. If we put them in something large, any ideas on keeping the temp up?

 

[Tolak]

You could pick up a small heater to keep it warm. The main thing is to keep the heater from touching the sides or bottom of a plastic bin. It would suck to melt a hole in it, and these things happen at the most inconvenient times, like the middle of the night, or as you are getting ready to leave for work. If you put a piece of wood across the top, & hang the filter from that with anything non-toxic, that should work.

If you can't get another heater, try a warmer place in the house. If you get it up to 72F that way you should be fine. Bacteria multiply faster at warmer temps, a little cooler is actually better.

Tolak

 

[dancinns]

I woke up this morning to a dead platy. I'm not sure what he had but the organs on his right side were all black. So sad since this is the first fish I've lost.

 

[dancinns]

And the poor bumblebee goby is no longer with us now.

We plan on treating our 10 gallon tank with Melafix for the remainder of the week as a precaution. The other fish (tetras and platys) in the tank are doing well (swimming around and eating).

 

[WILDER]

Sorry for your loss, R.I.P.

 

[JacopoFishy]

sorry. the first fish you lose...it's awful.
although I almost think it's worse when you get used to it.
*sigh* why couldn't we all just have collected stamps or something?