I need help, some of you will remember me

[silver]

I think I have my first case of disease in my tank!! One of my silver's has a patch of whitish fuzzy stuff on his side. Also, my gold gourami has a spot on his back that looks like some of his scales are gone and it's white there.

PLEASE HELP ME, I'M DESPERATE!!!!

I haven't tried anything yet and do not want to use anything that may jeopardize the health of my other fish. I want to use medication that is well known and works good.

Please help,

Silver

 

[CFC]

Silver? hmmmm name seems vaguely familiar

Sounds like a case of fungus which shouldnt be too hard to beat. First off do a large water change of 40 to 50 % and remove any carbon or chemical removers from the filter. Then start a course of melafix along side using a anti fungus treatment (cant tell you which one as the meds are different here to the ones you have). The melafix is a natural product so can be combined with the stronger chemical medications to improve their effect.

 

[silver]

Hey Catfish, you are the only one who responded to me so far!

THANKS!!

But, as always I'm a little confused.....so I need to put the treatment in my filter? Is that right? So nothing goes in the water, right?? I'm just so d*mn afraid I'm gonna lose my fish ya'know!!
So lets say I have, because I do, charcoal and that white round stuff with the holes in the center in my filter compartments now for media. Would I take those out as if I'm changing the media and then put the medicine ONLY in there!???

And you said the melafix can be used along other medications.....like which one? And would that go in the water?? As you can see I have NEVER had to deal with disease and it has me totally FREAKED !!!

HELP ME ONE MORE TIME.........please!

Silver


P.S.
I was hoping that it would be you )

 

[cation]

* Remove your charcoal filter, if you leave it in it will absorb the medications. You can store it in a tupperware container with some dechlorinated water, or tank water if you have a healthy tank.

* You want to put your medications into the tank water, not into the filter. What I like to do is put some tank water into a bowl or bucket, then put the medicine into the bowl or bucket to dilute it, then return the medicated water to the tank.


* Jungle products makes a decent antifungal. You can get it in traditional form, or in fizzy tabs you just drop in the water. You can use Melafix with this, and I know it is available in lfs in washington state, at least western washington.


Good luck. You should be able to nip this in the bud!

 

[cation]

And by the way, I think we're neighbors....I live in Seattle!

 

[silver]

Thanks a TON!!!

Yes we are, I'm in Spokane. Nice to see another Washingtonian on the board. I've been off for about 6 months now.

But, I"M BACK! 8)

One more question:

How long do I run the nat. media in there before returning my Charcoal??


Silver

 

[cation]

How old is the charcoal filter?

 

[cation]

Rose, who moderates the plant section of the board, is a fellow Washingtonian as well!

 

[silver]

Well,
If you are asking whether or not it's time to change it anyways then YES!! It's a few months old and I'm sure that is why my fish are getting this fungus thing, but what if it's ICK?? Then what?

Anyhow, it's 2 or 3 months old....time to throw it out and replace it.

I guess this is a prime example of how a little neglect will start to show it's coarse. Man, I feel so bad....I've just been sooooooo busy, but I know that's not an excuse so I will just have to face my DEVILISH ways and try and be better. I have been doing water changes, but that just isn't good enough.

?

Silver

 

[gadazobe]

If you use charcol filters, then you must change them regularly otherwise they will leach the toxins gathered back into the tank.

Welcome back silver - nice to see you and hope you stay. Do you still keep silver dollars?

I'm sure that you can beat this outbreak easily - good luck

 

[cation]

I recently changed to filter floss from charcoal, because of some of these issues. Filter floss is more forgiving, in my opinion. Plus, way cheaper in the long run.

 

[cation]

Also, in many cases, Ich starts on the fins, the moves to the body. Ich spots looks small and uniformly round, like specks of sand or salt. This doesn't sound like what your fish have, however.

 

[silver]

Thanks for the welcome back Gadazobe and for the advice!!

And Cation,
I will maybe try that kind instead of charcoal. Charcoal is really messy as well!! What other media should I use??? I have room for 3 media + I use the spongey strips as well. I don't know the name of the stuff I use, but they are like little round cream colored, hard things with holes in the middle. Is this a good media to be using along with the Charcoal or a new media that I may choose?? Should I be using 3 medias?

And, how long should I keep the natural media in the filter before taking it out?? Or should I just start using it instead of the Charcoal?? So many questions so little time!!

I am off the my LFS

Thanks guys!!

Silver

 

[cation]

I guess I don't know what you mean by "natural media". I am NO expert on filtering (and there definitely are some here...) but I have filter floss in both of my tanks - in the smaller one its the only filter media I add, in the bigger one I have filterfloss crammed on top of a sponge. both of my tanks are currently doing fine (knock wood) except for a bit of brown algae - but that's a lighting issue, not a filter issue...

 

[justethe]

ohh boy that sounds bad