As I've been flooding the board with my tank woes over the past week, I'm sure you all are both annoyed and familiar with my story.
Anyway, I'm giving myself an ultimatum. Treat or not treat? Should I add maracyn-2 to my tank (gram-negative) and hope for the best (could kill filter and is expensive) or should I just keep up the water changes and hope for the best?
Here is a brief review for those not familiar:
-July 17 -> Added 2 angels, 6 corys, 2 rams
-July 21 -> Everything good, so added 5 cardinals, 1 bristlenose, 1 ram
-July 22 -> 1 Ram (white mouth) and 1 cardinal (white back) died (Start adding melafix). 30% water change
-July 23 -> 1 Cory gets white growth on dorsal fin
-July 25 -> 1 Cory (no signs) dies, cory with white growth still alive (spot larger). Bristlenose appears to have slight tail degradation. 30% water change
-July 26 -> Cory with white spot given "salt bath" in 1tsp per 1 US gallon water, and with "Quick Cure" (can treat lymphocystis, but this probably wasn't what it was). 30% water change
-Today -> No new deaths. Bristlenose may have slight discolorations along its body, but i can't tell if thats his natural coloring or not. He is a deep brown, and along his body (not his head are) are slightly lighter brown spots which might mean he's sick? I don't know anything abot bristle illness. 50% water change this morning. Still dosing with melafix each morning.
So what do you think? Should I risk treating the whole tank with maracyn-2, a gram-negative antibiotic, hoping to rid the tank of what I think may columnaris? Or should I stop dosing with melafix, continue the 30-50% daily water changes, and hope for the best? (Pimafix is also an option, but I'm afraid it may be too weak)
I'm desperately looking for someone to point me in either direction. I know neither is fool proof, only that I'm always scared of using harder medications on an entire tank. I can't remove the fish to put in a hospital tank, becase I read that the disease may be dormant for 24 hours-14 days, so I would want to reat everyone if I treated anyone. The catfish with the white growth is the most bothering to me, but he is constantly schooling with the others, eats well, and is very active. He's had the same looking fin for 3 days now.
Anyway, I'm giving myself an ultimatum. Treat or not treat? Should I add maracyn-2 to my tank (gram-negative) and hope for the best (could kill filter and is expensive) or should I just keep up the water changes and hope for the best?
Here is a brief review for those not familiar:
-July 17 -> Added 2 angels, 6 corys, 2 rams
-July 21 -> Everything good, so added 5 cardinals, 1 bristlenose, 1 ram
-July 22 -> 1 Ram (white mouth) and 1 cardinal (white back) died (Start adding melafix). 30% water change
-July 23 -> 1 Cory gets white growth on dorsal fin
-July 25 -> 1 Cory (no signs) dies, cory with white growth still alive (spot larger). Bristlenose appears to have slight tail degradation. 30% water change
-July 26 -> Cory with white spot given "salt bath" in 1tsp per 1 US gallon water, and with "Quick Cure" (can treat lymphocystis, but this probably wasn't what it was). 30% water change
-Today -> No new deaths. Bristlenose may have slight discolorations along its body, but i can't tell if thats his natural coloring or not. He is a deep brown, and along his body (not his head are) are slightly lighter brown spots which might mean he's sick? I don't know anything abot bristle illness. 50% water change this morning. Still dosing with melafix each morning.
So what do you think? Should I risk treating the whole tank with maracyn-2, a gram-negative antibiotic, hoping to rid the tank of what I think may columnaris? Or should I stop dosing with melafix, continue the 30-50% daily water changes, and hope for the best? (Pimafix is also an option, but I'm afraid it may be too weak)
I'm desperately looking for someone to point me in either direction. I know neither is fool proof, only that I'm always scared of using harder medications on an entire tank. I can't remove the fish to put in a hospital tank, becase I read that the disease may be dormant for 24 hours-14 days, so I would want to reat everyone if I treated anyone. The catfish with the white growth is the most bothering to me, but he is constantly schooling with the others, eats well, and is very active. He's had the same looking fin for 3 days now.
