My first time posting here--lovely forum, wonderfully helpful folks.
I have a small (20 gallon) freshwater tank. I have 2 dwarf cory cats (about an inch long each), 2 swordtails (about two inches each), and six neon tetras (1/2 to one inch each). And a rather largish female apple snail that defies the odds and just keeps growing--she's about 3 inches in diameter right now.
My water is problematic--ammonia and nitrites 0, but my nitrates keep edging up to over 50 ppm. I've been able to keep it "down" to just below 40 ppm through water changes, but the green algae is keeping me cleaning pretty constantly. I do my water changes with a python and do work through the substrate in an attempt to keep things clean. Oxygenation is terrific. My water is on the very hard side, with PH optimal. I added the smallest amount of sea salt today, mostly to soothe my conscience, I think.
Four days ago, I had 2 fish just disappear--a swordtail and a tetra. I know, fish don't just disappear, but they were there at 8 am and gone at 9 am. Go figure--I guess the snail ate fast. Two days later, the remaining two swordtails began to act as though they were itching--you know, the agitated swimming, twitching, scraping against things. I looked them over closely and could see nothing--no redness, nothing looking inflamed. At that time, all the fish were eating well.
Yesterday, the younger of the two swordtails became very lethargic. Began alternating between lying at the bottom of the tank and hanging out at the surface, gasping. At the same time, both of the swordtails stopped eating, and the older of the two began swimming with a very exaggerated side to side "swish." Last night, another examination showed small white specks on the older of the two.
At the same time, I noticed that most of my neons are suddenly (very suddenly) looking paler, less vibrant. All but one seem to be off their feed, and I'm seeing what could be very small white spots.
I'm at a total loss here. If I go the "salt and heat" route, I have to find a place for the cories and the snail. My concern is this: if I move them to my five gallon tank, won't they just reintroduce the ich when I put them back? I know that the malachite green and most others are not okay for invertabrates. What about cories? And tetras? I've only been doing fish for a few years, and I've never had anything go wrong before. I am totally clueless as to how to best treat this tank without killing my fish or my snail. I don't know how long before I can reintroduce those creatures that I shunt off to my secondary tank, and I don't know how to keep them from reintroducing this. If it is Ich.
Any help/advice/step-by-step guiding my poor, silly self through this would be greatly appreciated. I love my poor fish.
Kris
Edited to say that the cories seem fine--very active, happy, moving about.
I have a small (20 gallon) freshwater tank. I have 2 dwarf cory cats (about an inch long each), 2 swordtails (about two inches each), and six neon tetras (1/2 to one inch each). And a rather largish female apple snail that defies the odds and just keeps growing--she's about 3 inches in diameter right now.
My water is problematic--ammonia and nitrites 0, but my nitrates keep edging up to over 50 ppm. I've been able to keep it "down" to just below 40 ppm through water changes, but the green algae is keeping me cleaning pretty constantly. I do my water changes with a python and do work through the substrate in an attempt to keep things clean. Oxygenation is terrific. My water is on the very hard side, with PH optimal. I added the smallest amount of sea salt today, mostly to soothe my conscience, I think.
Four days ago, I had 2 fish just disappear--a swordtail and a tetra. I know, fish don't just disappear, but they were there at 8 am and gone at 9 am. Go figure--I guess the snail ate fast. Two days later, the remaining two swordtails began to act as though they were itching--you know, the agitated swimming, twitching, scraping against things. I looked them over closely and could see nothing--no redness, nothing looking inflamed. At that time, all the fish were eating well.
Yesterday, the younger of the two swordtails became very lethargic. Began alternating between lying at the bottom of the tank and hanging out at the surface, gasping. At the same time, both of the swordtails stopped eating, and the older of the two began swimming with a very exaggerated side to side "swish." Last night, another examination showed small white specks on the older of the two.
At the same time, I noticed that most of my neons are suddenly (very suddenly) looking paler, less vibrant. All but one seem to be off their feed, and I'm seeing what could be very small white spots.
I'm at a total loss here. If I go the "salt and heat" route, I have to find a place for the cories and the snail. My concern is this: if I move them to my five gallon tank, won't they just reintroduce the ich when I put them back? I know that the malachite green and most others are not okay for invertabrates. What about cories? And tetras? I've only been doing fish for a few years, and I've never had anything go wrong before. I am totally clueless as to how to best treat this tank without killing my fish or my snail. I don't know how long before I can reintroduce those creatures that I shunt off to my secondary tank, and I don't know how to keep them from reintroducing this. If it is Ich.
Any help/advice/step-by-step guiding my poor, silly self through this would be greatly appreciated. I love my poor fish.
Kris
Edited to say that the cories seem fine--very active, happy, moving about.
/www.fishjunkies.com/Medications/
