My Pepper! Update: He's Showing Improvement

[jollysue]

Thank you all for your good thoughts and well wishes. Rocky is still just maintaining. He isn't getting worse, but if he is getting better it is very slow. I don't see any blackworms, so maybe he ate. He acts well, but there is still the q-tip fin.

Inchworm told me he needed fishy tea and toast, but not what that translates to in fish food So I have dropped a worm occasionally. It looks like I see him wrestle one every once in a while but I'm not sure. My glasses are 2 years old and need up grading.

I have a good feeling about Rocky. I am going to go give him a worm now.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi jollysue

I'm glad Rocky is holding his own. Sometimes the best thing to do is go along with what you feel. If he's eating, give him whatever he wants. Live blackworms are probably the most tempting thing you can give him, and they are high in protein which he will need to regrow lost tissue.

Will the apartment complex let you get in a week, or so, ahead of time so you can set up your tanks? Mine said only a couple of days early, but when I told them what I needed to do, they said OK. It's a big help if you can get that chore out of the way before your actual moving date so that you don't find yourself having to decide whether to save your beneficial bacteria or rummage around in packed boxes to find dishes and toilet paper!

 

[jollysue]

Well, actually I have leased the apartment now. I have at least until the 15th of Dec. to get out of the house. The electricity is in my name there. I have to get pet insurance, get telephone service, get TV service of whichever I chose, etc, before I will actually stay there. And of course I must do the pet insursnce I suppose to protect the landlord before I more any pets in. Otherwise as soon as I can find the man power I'm good to go. I suppose I will move everyone in a day. I will probably leave the substrates in the tank and even fish in some cases. Pack the most important bio matter in tank water in buckets.... I'm really just open to wisdom from any source.

I think there is more of the cartilage showing on the cory at the top and less cotton. It doesn't look like a q-tip any more, and it has not advanced down the shaft any more. I increased very slightly the salt and I let the water be a little warmer. He could only take a few minutes of it. But I just felt that cottony stuff needed a stronger hit. I also cleaned and changed some water.

 

[WILDER]

Good luck hope he pulls through.

 

[jollysue]

Thanks Wilder. I appreciate that you are always there to help.

I have been fighting this infection for a long, long time. I wasn't ready to do anything else. You and Inchworm and the Daddies helped get me to steo up one more time. I did it a little different, but the Mela/Pimafix seems to have stabalized the big tank. I stopped losing fish as soon as I started that treatment. So many of te fish were so weak from the constant strong medication that some didn't make it. Somehow little Rocky got the fungus branch of the stick. But he's a keeper! He's doing better every day.

One of the aeneus is very suspiciously pot bellied. She's a pretty copper color. She has at least two slim youg pink fellows tumbling all over themselves to tumble all over her and her pot belly. I noticed before that she looked like she might be holding eggs. Hope they enjoy themselve, because it is doubtful that I will be able to play grandma to cory eggs at this time.

Wilder, nice fish. Yours? A sparkling Gourami pumila?

 

[Inchworm]

I think there is more of the cartilage showing on the cory at the top and less cotton. It doesn't look like a q-tip any more, and it has not advanced down the shaft any more. I increased very slightly the salt and I let the water be a little warmer. He could only take a few minutes of it. But I just felt that cottony stuff needed a stronger hit. I also cleaned and changed some water.

... but the Mela/Pimafix seems to have stabalized the big tank. I stopped losing fish as soon as I started that treatment. So many of te fish were so weak from the constant strong medication that some didn't make it. Somehow little Rocky got the fungus branch of the stick. But he's a keeper! He's doing better every day.

One of the aeneus is very suspiciously pot bellied. She's a pretty copper color. She has at least two slim youg pink fellows tumbling all over themselves to tumble all over her and her pot belly. I noticed before that she looked like she might be holding eggs. Hope they enjoy themselve, because it is doubtful that I will be able to play grandma to cory eggs at this time.

Hi jollysue

Does the infection seem to look like it is no longer active, or are you still fighting to keep it at bay? I would watch out with temperature changes at this point. The thing to do is try to keep stress to a minimum, and that's hard enough to do with just moving him in and out of the salt water baths. Sudden temperacture changes, especially going from cool to warm, can be very bad for them under any circumstances.

I wonder if your cory will spawn. It's just what you need when you are moving! My blacks (the one in the thread about them spawning) spawned just at that time. Since I kept moving the eggs and fry into one tank, I lost a lot of them, but since they were in a 10 gallon tank, I just dropped the water level and moved the whole thing. The ones in the thread are what's left of them.

As for moving the fish, don't even try to bag them. I moved mine in some of those Rubbermaid (or other brand) plastic storage containers. It worked out fine since I was only moving a few miles away. Gravel and/or sand can be moved in them too. I found some on sale just before I moved and they made quite a few trips back and forth with different things.

 

[jollysue]

Yes, I was concerned about the temp change too. I had an hour to heat and disolve the salt in the tank water dip and then to cool it. I ran out of time and had to decide to do it or not. I decided to do it, hoping the warmth would be positive. I have kept the temp low because culimnaris prospers at higher temps. He did have a difficult time with that one. I can't honestly swear that Rocky is improving, other than by his behavior. It is a slow moving infection, but tenacious. My bigest problem is getting clear in my head what 3/10 of 5 miligrams looks like for dosing the 3 usg tank.

The odd thing about the aeneus is that the tank went cloudy overnight last weekend. I finally figured it must be from the nylon I put on the intake to protect the betta, because he got stuck.

I tested the water and the ammonia was 0, but the nitrites were just under 25 and the nitrites were rising sharply. I put more carbon in the filter and did a 30% water change. This morning I saw dances, tonight I found eggs on the plastic philadendron. I just can't deal with another distraction, as much as I appreciate the offering from the sweet cories. If I took the project on I would be running around trying to get baby food, etc., and being totally off track with moving. The clutch wasn't large. Such are the ways.

 

[jollysue]

The Q-Tip is almost shut of it's cotton.

The strong salt bath almost did him in; I had to hold him and cuddle him, keeping him upright after the second dose, but he struggled back. I think he had a near death experience.

BUT the cotton started showing marked improvement after that. I also increased slightly the Mela/PimaFix daily dosage. He is looking very spry, although he always is a little stressed after his bath. I have reduced the salt again.

Just thought you would like an update.

As to the bronze cories: I saw a second little clutch on the glass. all the eggs have one by one disapeared. I will try a fry tank after the move and settling.

I have stopped the Maracyn2 treatment of the one bronze with the swollen/poped eye. It seems clear to me that he can't see well: he is always running into stuff, and it looks like it hurts him from his reaction. But he has always eaten and been very active. I still don't know for sure what caused it. But if it were a disease, it seems he would be ill by now. It has been a week.

When I get Rocky out and into a regular tank or when I moved the tanks, I can try to get her into quarintine and treat her w/Mela/Pimafix.