Now I'm really worried!

"Gill Passman" gillspamattaylorpassmanspam.co.uk wrote in message
.. .
Hi Oz,

Just one thing, which isn't really important at the moment...I tried
taking
the plants out of their pots and got into a total mess (especially with
the
clowns digging them up). Also makes it a bit harder when cleaning the
gravel - a job normally reserved for "hubby" as he's got more strength in
his arms than I do these days - plants go everywhere - (wish he was as
vigourous with the vaccuum cleaner in the house - lol)....at least it is
easier to reposition them if they are contained in pots....

I don't find an issue with potted plants in my tank. The root systems seem
to really take off in this tank.

I lifted (or tried to one of my giant Hygro. this evening and I couldn't
get it out of the gravel. What roots I did see where a brilliant white, so
that's a good thing - my plants are very healthy generally it seems. They
were all pearling away again today, so I think it's all about right on the
aqua-flora front

I find with plants in substrate, the sooner and better their root balls
develop the less chance they have of being up-rooted by accident or digging
fish. Most of my plants have been there long enough to have developed
natural anchoring, except the newest additions, which were the Dwarf Blue
Strica, Hygrophilia polysperma and a plant that looks like a large leafed
Pennywort (the name escapes me atm).

They have up-rooted at various times during the last few days from gravel
siphoning, but what has lifted has revealed root balls well on their way. I
also figure that if I am going to replant then the transplant shock will be
less on these newer plants than on the quite established ones.

I had to cut the polysperma back this evening actually because it was
starting to grow out of the top of the tank I am amazed at how easy and
rewarding aquatic gardening can be as lonng as you properly light, fertilize
and plant in the first place.

It's actually funny in a way - I thought I would have the most trouble with
the plants, but it's actually the reverse - trouble with the fish and
success with the plants.


When it comes to adding chemicals pH has to be a major
concern....chemicals
can react differently depending on whether added to acid, alkaline or
neutral substances. I would research very carefully before going down this
route. Yours is borderline acid/neutral at the moment in the tank and your
tap water is alkaline as far as I can tell from your postings....I'm not a
chemist so I'm not sure of the exact implications of adding the Potassium
Permanganate but I know someone who is...too late to phone them now but I
should be able to talk to them tomorrow if it would help....

I can't get PP atm, so the lovely lady at the LFS I frequent most (LFS#1 I
call it) gave me a bottle each of MelaFix and PimaFix on credit.

I have performed a 30% water change and gravel vacuuming, and I rinsed the
the sponges and changed to new filter floss in the filters before a dosing
of Tri-sulfur medication which I already had.

This turned the water white milky for an hour or so and no-one seemed to be
bothered by it. When I moved the second filter to get the basket off it I
also discovered the dead Neon I haven't been able to find for the last 24
hours, trapped behind the bracket.

I then waited another hour or so and I dosed with a combination of MelaFix
and PimaFix at the recommended dose (5ml per 40L). The fish did something
quite amazing - they all got into their species and shoaled around the tank.
The MelaFix really stank of Tea Tree and I thought I may have over dosed, in
combination with the Tri-sulfur a few hours before.

I noticed about 30 minutes later after the shoaling behaviour stopped a
couple of the Serpaes and both female Swordtails dashing themselves on the
substrate breifly - I was actually glad to see this - I think it was
behaviour indicative of ridding themselves of parasites, flukes or other
pests. I haven't seen anything come out of the fish, and at lights out all
of their coats looked very healthy. The Serpae males are the darkest orange
I've ever seen them and they fluttering about the place and "dancing" around
the females. The male Black Phantoms were doing the same thing but they were
almost jet black - a blue black - beautiful to see and watch.

I then topped the remainder of the tank up with about 15% of it's water with
an ammonia neutralising water conditioner for my peace of mind.

Then I noticed my lone Mystery Snail having resparitory problems at the
front of the tank on the substrate, so I removed it immediately and washed
it in some of the prechange tank water and placed it in the tank with the
BATs. I may lose it because it wasn't that active in the smaller tank. I
think the Tri-Sulfur may have had an effect on it because I'm pretty sure
the XXXXfix meds didn't do it.

Perhaps I should have waited for a day before dosing with the XXXXfix
solutions, but apart from the snail there is nothing more than a white
covering on the glass surfaces (I expected this because the filters would
have been knocked out by the Tri-Sulfur and the XXXXfix add organics to the
water - so any bacteria I would expect to turn white).

I'll actually leave it for now as the deaths seem to have stopped and there
are no visible symptoms at all on any of the remaining fish, and seeing the
glass turned cloudy white, I am pretty sure all bacteria in the tank was
actually gotten at by these combo meds.

Time will tell now. I'll do a water change in 3 days time and keep my eye on
the creatures. The pH was measured at hourly intervals over about 5 hours
and never went off neutral (7.0) the whole time. I didn't measure hardness
this time beacuse I was too busy freaking out about over-dosing

If after the water change, in 3 day, I notice any more symptoms then I have
enough XXXXfix solutions to apply the recommended dosages for 7 days as
advised on the bottles.

I could do another tri-sulfur too, but I am hesitant to use that stuff
because it's pretty severe.

I don't fancy turning the tank pink with PP and then oxidising/neutralising
it with Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2)/ Too much messing with quite dangerous
chemicals for my liking - there is too much at stake atm.

Just waiting and monitoring for now....


If this is always present in the water - which seems to be what everyone
is
saying - maybe it is down to treating the symptoms right now to sort the
fish and then taking a step back and review to stopping it happening
again....maybe it isn't possible to get rid of permanently, maybe we all
have it in our tanks..... Anyway see what your LFS says...

LFS lady tells me it's always in every tank and in almost every fish. It's a
matter of providing the right seeding conditions for it to break out. She
assures me that applying the tri-sulfur in combination with the XXXXfix'es
will kill it everywhere it is in the tank atm, but warns me that it could
return if I don't keep my gravel clean, water changed and stable or I
introduce stressed fish without quaranting them. She also states that most
Flex comes on fish from a LFS and really drummed it into me that I should be
quarantining all of the fish, even the ones from her for a minimum of 3
weeks, if I don't want it to break out again.

She also pointed out that none of the sale tanks had any substrate in them
because she has had a store wide Flex outbreak - I'd never considered that
was why

I guess, I could personally say that all this carry on about tank
maintinence is actually for a reason, and a very good reason. I also can't
stress enough to people now, that an appropriate gravel cleaner is
imperative for each tank you have.

You live and learn


Good Luck and best wishes

Thanks so much.

I hope the worst is now over and I can get on with a more balanced tank. I'm
sure more aware now of possible problems which can occur if certain
conditions are presented.

Regards,

Oz

--
My Aquatic web Blog is at http://members.optusnet.com.au/ivan.smith