RM

there are no fish in the trays in the LFS, they are small unheated
plastic trays on the floor (sounds terrible but it is actually a
really nice shop) if the cold water slowed the life cycle down enough
then maybe the parasites survived long enough there? i think it could
have been less than 24 hrs

I am treating the upside down catfish with interpet anti slime and
velvet - he has fewer spots than yesterday, he looks paler than his
healthy companion but otherwise he is acting fine - dare i say it but
he might be the only fish to have got ill and recovered

No need to worry about the loaches in the main tank as they are all
dead now
had them for five years - a little sad really

I have spent every spare minute for the last few weeks googling velvet
and ick, you may not apreciate it being in the US but most of the
content on the web originates there. which means that a lot of what i
am reading talks about US-only medication which i can't buy, but i am
learning quite a lot all the same. I emailed the federation of british
aquatic societies and they were extremely helpful, i hope they dont
mind me sharing.......

Here is his reply to my original post with my further questions and
his further answers

1. Occasional flicking is normal.

didn't know that - thanks




2. The cory possibly had "red blotch disease". Not sure of cause - I
reckon bacterial. Cory expert Ian Fuller treats this using Melafix
(made by API).

I had read about a bacterial infection called red pest,
possibly the same thing - i will buy some melafix asap




3. Bleeding heart tetras get a specfic viral infection that looks like
Lymphocystis (small whitish blobs)- no cure, and prob. triggered by
stress.

Didn't know that either, it would explain why my congo
tetras have been unaffected by the white spots and why it didn't
respond to white spot treatments - does it look exactly like white
spot?

See attached picture taken by myself.




4. Amoxycillin isnt much use on fish as it treats gram-positive
bacteria, whereas most major bacterial problems of ornamental fish are
gram-negative. Be aware that antibiotics sold for humans can be
different formats as those sold for use on fish. Some formats contain
additional chemicals that can be toxic to fish.

Wasn't sure about doing this, it was a bit of desparation



5. Sudden emergence of snails plus fast gill beats in fish suggests to
me low oxygen problems, which could be root cause of the latter
deaths.
I had attributed the increase in snails to the clown
loaches no longer eating them - could lack of oxygen be due to the
illnesses / medication in the water?

I guess the treatments may have upset the bacterial flora of the
aquarium, causing a proliferation of oxygen-consuming bacteria? But
low oxygen might reflect accumulating organic wastes in the gravel,
resulting in increasing "BOD" (biological oxygen demand) which
eventually reached a critical level. Hard to say.








The picture of bleeding heart tetra virus looked like a fluffy fungus
- not what mine had, i think it was ick. perhaps i just treated it too
late

Thanks for your help - i genuinely apreciate it


chris