Help, Newbie problems.

Hi folks,
I'm new to the aquarium thing, I've been reading all I could find on
the net before I started my tank. Here is what I have done. I got a
55G tank along with a Penguin bio wheel filter and all the other
things
you set up a tank with. I cycled the tank for 6 weeks with 3 Pink
Gouramis. Once all the chemistry readings came out like they should I
added a few fish and all the sudden my Gouramis got vicious with the
new fish. I gave them to a friend with an established tank and they
are doing fine there. Now in my tank are 2 Blue dwarf gouramis, 2
Angelfish, 2 plecos, 2 bala sharks, 3 green corys and 1 black
knifefish. all was good for about 2 weeks after they were all in, then
I noticed one of the corys not acting well. He died last night without
any visible signs of anything on his body. Now I notice that my black
Angelfish has some white stuff on its body, it is irregular shaped and
looks kind of fuzzy. This has me worried. Any ideas on what I should
do or look for? I do regular water changes and have add a small amount
of salt to the tank. Aside from that I don't know where to go with it.
If it matters the fish all came from Petsmart. I hope you all can help
me and thanks for your time reading this.

Duane Wible
Duane Wible

"Duane" wrote in message
...
Hi folks,
I'm new to the aquarium thing, I've been reading all I could find on
the net before I started my tank. Here is what I have done. I got a
55G tank along with a Penguin bio wheel filter and all the other
things
you set up a tank with. I cycled the tank for 6 weeks with 3 Pink
Gouramis. Once all the chemistry readings came out like they should I
added a few fish and all the sudden my Gouramis got vicious with the
new fish. I gave them to a friend with an established tank and they
are doing fine there. Now in my tank are 2 Blue dwarf gouramis, 2
Angelfish, 2 plecos, 2 bala sharks, 3 green corys and 1 black
knifefish. all was good for about 2 weeks after they were all in, then
I noticed one of the corys not acting well. He died last night without
any visible signs of anything on his body. Now I notice that my black
Angelfish has some white stuff on its body, it is irregular shaped and
looks kind of fuzzy. This has me worried. Any ideas on what I should
do or look for? I do regular water changes and have add a small amount
of salt to the tank. Aside from that I don't know where to go with it.
If it matters the fish all came from Petsmart. I hope you all can help
me and thanks for your time reading this.

Duane Wible
Duane Wible



Sounds like a fungus, and fungus is typically only a problem in thick water
(high in DOCs) or when the fish have had their slime-coat stripped off (any
various forms of stress). I would check to see that you're not having a
mini-cycle (measure the NH3/4, NO2 and NO3 again), that the water is stable
(pH and kH) and not to any extreme (gH). If everything checks out, then an
anti-fungal would be in order, though normally, fungus can be controlled
with quality water and healthy fish (varied diet and proper environment).
Melafix and Pimafix might be another alternative, though these are better as
preventatives than cures (I recommend them with more fragile fish). Check
if the anti-fungal has any effect on your bacterial culture (my experience
with anti-fungals is limited, and there is variation by brand and what would
be locally available to you).

All this advice is circumstantial. Fish bring all sorts of diseases with
them, either dormant or even just as carriers. I usually hold my breath (in
a manner of speaking) for about 3 months. In that time, most of what they
bring will manifest itself. The most experienced hobbyists can find
themselves in your situation.

Once you are past this 3 month threshold, and you have a good maintenance
plan in place, you begin wondering why you ever thought of fish as fragile
;~). hth
--
www.NetMax.tk

Sounds like a fungus, and fungus is typically only a problem in thick water
(high in DOCs) or when the fish have had their slime-coat stripped off (any
various forms of stress). I would check to see that you're not having a
mini-cycle (measure the NH3/4, NO2 and NO3 again), that the water is stable
(pH and kH) and not to any extreme (gH). If everything checks out, then an
anti-fungal would be in order, though normally, fungus can be controlled
with quality water and healthy fish (varied diet and proper environment).
Melafix and Pimafix might be another alternative, though these are better as
preventatives than cures (I recommend them with more fragile fish). Check
if the anti-fungal has any effect on your bacterial culture (my experience
with anti-fungals is limited, and there is variation by brand and what would
be locally available to you).

All this advice is circumstantial. Fish bring all sorts of diseases with
them, either dormant or even just as carriers. I usually hold my breath (in
a manner of speaking) for about 3 months. In that time, most of what they
bring will manifest itself. The most experienced hobbyists can find
themselves in your situation.

Once you are past this 3 month threshold, and you have a good maintenance
plan in place, you begin wondering why you ever thought of fish as fragile
;~). hth


Thanks for the quick reply Max, I went and picked up some anti-fungus
medicine and now I have more questions. The med says to remove
charcoal from my filters while using it, with the Penguin 350 it has
the charcoal built into the filters, what do I do? Also do you have
any ideas what I should watch for to tell if it is working. The med
contains Malachite Green, is this the right stuff to help my fish. I
also noticed early this morn that the other Angelfish is now starting
to show the same stuff so I really hope this stuff works. I would hate
to lose them. Thanks again for your help.

Duane Wible

"Duane" wrote in message
...

Sounds like a fungus, and fungus is typically only a problem in thick
water
(high in DOCs) or when the fish have had their slime-coat stripped off
(any
various forms of stress). I would check to see that you're not having a
mini-cycle (measure the NH3/4, NO2 and NO3 again), that the water is
stable
(pH and kH) and not to any extreme (gH). If everything checks out, then
an
anti-fungal would be in order, though normally, fungus can be controlled
with quality water and healthy fish (varied diet and proper environment).
Melafix and Pimafix might be another alternative, though these are better
as
preventatives than cures (I recommend them with more fragile fish). Check
if the anti-fungal has any effect on your bacterial culture (my experience
with anti-fungals is limited, and there is variation by brand and what
would
be locally available to you).

All this advice is circumstantial. Fish bring all sorts of diseases with
them, either dormant or even just as carriers. I usually hold my breath
(in
a manner of speaking) for about 3 months. In that time, most of what they
bring will manifest itself. The most experienced hobbyists can find
themselves in your situation.

Once you are past this 3 month threshold, and you have a good maintenance
plan in place, you begin wondering why you ever thought of fish as fragile
;~). hth


Thanks for the quick reply Max, I went and picked up some anti-fungus
medicine and now I have more questions. The med says to remove
charcoal from my filters while using it, with the Penguin 350 it has
the charcoal built into the filters, what do I do? Also do you have
any ideas what I should watch for to tell if it is working. The med
contains Malachite Green, is this the right stuff to help my fish. I
also noticed early this morn that the other Angelfish is now starting
to show the same stuff so I really hope this stuff works. I would hate
to lose them. Thanks again for your help.

Duane Wible


The general consensus on carbon filtration is that after a few weeks, it
loses much of its capability, so its effect on medication might be
negligible.

It's very inaccurate to make predictions without seeing the symptoms, and
even then, I'm not the best person to ask. In alt.aquaria, Frank is quite
knowledgeable treating fish. There are also many web sites which have
diagnostic flowcharts for symptoms=disease=treatment, but I'm at work and
don't have access to my bookmarks here. There might be some on my website
which are still current.
http://www.2cah.com/netmax/Links/links.shtml#fother

Fungus is typically not difficult to treat, so there should be an
improvement within 2 days. Bacterial infections may take longer, and
anti-fungal may or may not be effective (some sulphur based anti-fungals are
good for treating some bacterias).

Malachite green is a carrier dye often used with formalin-based products to
treat external parasites. It will make your water green, though most
anti-fungals I've seen tend to make your water a lovely shade of fluorescent
yellow ;~).
--
www.NetMax.tk

Flavobacterium columnare (flexibacter) is common too. It looks like a
fungus but is bacterial so Malachite Green won't help. In that case you
would need an antibiotic. It can be hard to tell the difference without
a microscope but true fungus is more common in cooler water while flex
is more common in warmer water. True fungus will often grow over an
open wound or sore too.

Either way, I would only treat the sick fish in a hospital tank. Both
the anti-fungal meds and the antibiotics and be pretty harsh and can
stress healthy fish.

This seems to be accurate, the first Angelfish died after 1 day of
treatment with fungus med. and the second Angel is showing more fuzzy
growth. Now also my Dwarf Gouramis are showing up with small spots of
it also. Does anyone know how long I should wait before dosing the
tank with antibiotics (Maracyn) after the last dose of Anti-Fungus.
Its been about 36 hrs, and the bottle of anti fungus says to wait 48
between dosings. With no signs of improvement from that med I really
hope the antibiotics will help my poor fish. Also can anyone tell me
if Maracyn will kill of my good bacteria in my tank. Thanks for all
your help.


On 1 Feb 2006 10:05:37 -0800, "IDzine01"
wrote:

Flavobacterium columnare (flexibacter) is common too. It looks like a
fungus but is bacterial so Malachite Green won't help. In that case you
would need an antibiotic. It can be hard to tell the difference without
a microscope but true fungus is more common in cooler water while flex
is more common in warmer water. True fungus will often grow over an
open wound or sore too.

Either way, I would only treat the sick fish in a hospital tank. Both
the anti-fungal meds and the antibiotics and be pretty harsh and can
stress healthy fish.

Duane Wible

NetMax wrote:

All this advice is circumstantial. Fish bring all sorts of diseases with
them, either dormant or even just as carriers. I usually hold my breath (in
a manner of speaking) for about 3 months. In that time, most of what they
bring will manifest itself. The most experienced hobbyists can find
themselves in your situation.

Once you are past this 3 month threshold, and you have a good maintenance
plan in place, you begin wondering why you ever thought of fish as fragile
;~). hth

Yes, indeed. It does help to use medicated food like TetraMedica for the
first week, to limit the chances of opportunistic bacteria. But that
isn't a cure-all either, you'd have to control the handling of the
fishes in the entire supply chain.