Hi,
I'm new to this forum but I've noticed that there seems to be a few people here that know about medication.
I have a Rio 240 heavily planted tank that has been set up for about 3 months. After fishless cycling about 6-8 weeks back I put in half a dozen pristella tetras, a very small Siamese Algae Eater and a couple of nerite snails. I also had a fair number of pest snails - although not enough to cause a problem.
About 3 weeks after putting the fish in one had become very emaciated and I noticed that he was producing long stringy white faeces with lumps in. After a lot of reading I decided that this was likely to be a nematode infection - possibly capillaria. There was no way of catching the tetras in the tank (tried two nets, three nets, fish trap etc with no luck). After much faffing around and treating with inadequate stuff recommended by LFS (melafix) another fish showed first symptoms of dodgy poo, and I really needed to treat the whole tank so I took the nerites out into my now cycled quarantine tank (which I wish I'd had before I put the original fish in), hacked back the plants and hand removed as many of the pest snails as I could before treating with Nematol.
Two days later I did the 80% water change (over a number of days because I don't have the facilities to treat and heat 200l of water) and put the carbon back in and turned the small UV steriliser that I had purchased back on. As per instructions I am planning to treat again after 3 weeks to get any larvae that hatch from eggs.
So now I have a quarantine tank with two nerite (and a few pest) snails in it and my main tank which has been treated once. Some of the pest snails in there that I had missed survived as well - interestingly nearly all the lake limpets got it though. Sick tetra is a whole lot better - he wasn't eating and was just lying in one place when I first treated and is now swimming around and eating for England although he's still very emaciated.
Does anyone know if the two treatments of Nematol will completely nuke the infection? Or simply supress it temporarily? Can the nerites carry anything - will I ever be safe to put them back in - some sources say that if you keep them separate for 6 weeks any nematode eggs that may have come with them will hatch out and die off with no fish host. Capillaria seems to have a straight fish - larvae - fish cycle. But then again I'm not 100% sure that this is what it is. Is the remaining nematol after the 80% water change likely to kill the nerites if I put them back in anyhow or will the carbon sponge get it all out/the levels be low enough?
After the second treatment how long should I leave it before getting any more fish? I will need to quarantine them and the quarantine tank has the nerites in at the moment (and will probably need re fishless cycling when they are out).
The photo below shows the tank before all the hacking and nuking - few less plants and a bit more algae now but it is starting to settle and I think I can get it back to it's former glory.
Totally depressed about the whole thing - nearly 4 months since I bought the tank, over a grand spent and half a dozen fish and no possibility of buying more in sight.
I really, really don't want to have to kill my snails, or my fish as one alternative would be to rip everything out - euthanase all the livestock, sterilise the tank and start again. But honestly if I had to do that I'd just sell up and accept that it was just one of life's mistakes.
Paula
I'm new to this forum but I've noticed that there seems to be a few people here that know about medication.
I have a Rio 240 heavily planted tank that has been set up for about 3 months. After fishless cycling about 6-8 weeks back I put in half a dozen pristella tetras, a very small Siamese Algae Eater and a couple of nerite snails. I also had a fair number of pest snails - although not enough to cause a problem.
About 3 weeks after putting the fish in one had become very emaciated and I noticed that he was producing long stringy white faeces with lumps in. After a lot of reading I decided that this was likely to be a nematode infection - possibly capillaria. There was no way of catching the tetras in the tank (tried two nets, three nets, fish trap etc with no luck). After much faffing around and treating with inadequate stuff recommended by LFS (melafix) another fish showed first symptoms of dodgy poo, and I really needed to treat the whole tank so I took the nerites out into my now cycled quarantine tank (which I wish I'd had before I put the original fish in), hacked back the plants and hand removed as many of the pest snails as I could before treating with Nematol.
Two days later I did the 80% water change (over a number of days because I don't have the facilities to treat and heat 200l of water) and put the carbon back in and turned the small UV steriliser that I had purchased back on. As per instructions I am planning to treat again after 3 weeks to get any larvae that hatch from eggs.
So now I have a quarantine tank with two nerite (and a few pest) snails in it and my main tank which has been treated once. Some of the pest snails in there that I had missed survived as well - interestingly nearly all the lake limpets got it though. Sick tetra is a whole lot better - he wasn't eating and was just lying in one place when I first treated and is now swimming around and eating for England although he's still very emaciated.
Does anyone know if the two treatments of Nematol will completely nuke the infection? Or simply supress it temporarily? Can the nerites carry anything - will I ever be safe to put them back in - some sources say that if you keep them separate for 6 weeks any nematode eggs that may have come with them will hatch out and die off with no fish host. Capillaria seems to have a straight fish - larvae - fish cycle. But then again I'm not 100% sure that this is what it is. Is the remaining nematol after the 80% water change likely to kill the nerites if I put them back in anyhow or will the carbon sponge get it all out/the levels be low enough?
After the second treatment how long should I leave it before getting any more fish? I will need to quarantine them and the quarantine tank has the nerites in at the moment (and will probably need re fishless cycling when they are out).
The photo below shows the tank before all the hacking and nuking - few less plants and a bit more algae now but it is starting to settle and I think I can get it back to it's former glory.
Totally depressed about the whole thing - nearly 4 months since I bought the tank, over a grand spent and half a dozen fish and no possibility of buying more in sight.
I really, really don't want to have to kill my snails, or my fish as one alternative would be to rip everything out - euthanase all the livestock, sterilise the tank and start again. But honestly if I had to do that I'd just sell up and accept that it was just one of life's mistakes.
Paula
