Albino Bristlenose Pleco has red sores on his head
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Let's start at the beginning. When aquarium filters are allowed to run for a period of time they develop colonies of beneficial bacteria that help keep the tank water clean. There are a number of good bacteria that live in a filter and some eat ammonia and convert it into nitrite, and more bacteria that eat nitrite and convert it into nitrate. You get rid of nitrates by doing a partial water change and gravel cleaning the substrate every week or two.
Zeolite removes ammonia from the water and if there is no ammonia in the water, the beneficial filter bacteria don't grow. When the Zeolite has adsorbed as much as it can, it is considered full and cannot remove any more ammonia from the water. If this happens, you can get an ammonia level in the water and this can poison the fish. If you replace/ recharge the Zeolite every week, you should be fine, however if it becomes full during that week, you could get an ammonia level and poison the fish.
Zeolite can be recharged by soaking it in salt water for 24-48 hours.
If you don't have Zeolite in the tank or filter, the filter will develop the colonies of beneficial bacteria over a course of 4-6 weeks (sometimes longer), and these will keep the ammonia and nitrite levels at 0ppm permanently. The only time they won't keep ammonia and nitrite at 0ppm is when the filter is developing the good bacteria, or if you replace the filter media/ materials.
Most companies that sell power filters suggest replacing the media/ materials every month. This is bad for your wallet and bad for the fish, but good for the company's bank account. If you replace the media, you get rid of the good bacteria and the filter has to develop more good bacteria, which takes around 4-6 weeks.
The filter media does not normally need to be changed unless it starts to fall apart. To clean the media, simply squeeze it out in a bucket of aquarium water, and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the lawn or garden.
You can buy sponges for various brands of power filter and these sponges can be cut with a pair of scissors. You can cut them to fit into your filter and sponges will last for 10+ years. Sponges get squeezed out in a bucket of tank water like normal filter media does and re-used.
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Yes I copy & paste stuff I have written previously. I do this because a lot of people have the same problem/ question and it is easier for me to copy & paste, rather than rewrite everything over and over again.
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Snails did not do this.
This is not Trichodina either. Trichodina causes cream, white or grey patches on the body.
These are small round holes that look like burn blisters that have popped. It might have been caused by the fish sleeping under the aquarium heater. When the heater turns on, the glass can get very hot and the fish don't always move straight away. Subsequently they get burnt. It happens a lot with bristlenose catfish, which is the fish in the picture.
The red area in the head under the skin could be from a virus, bacterial or protozoan infection. I doubt it's bacterial or protozoan, and it's probably related to the circles on the skin. Because I am unsure of what the circles are, I am suggesting basic fish first aid (water changes, gravel cleaning, cleaning the filter and adding salt).
Basic first aid will provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. There will be fewer disease organisms in the water and filter and this will allow the fish's immune system a chance to heal the fish.
Salt will kill off a lot of the harmful disease organisms in the water and on the fish and this will help prevent secondary infections and treat any that have already started. Salt can cause fish to produce a bit more mucous over their body and this can help protect the damaged area and stop pathogens from getting into the damaged tissue.
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Poor water quality is simply dirty aquarium water. It is caused by uneaten food, something rotting in the tank, dirty gravel or a dirty filter.
Time for another copy & paste.
You do water changes and gravel cleans for 2 main reasons.
1) to reduce nutrients like ammonia, nitrite & nitrate.
2) to dilute disease organisms in the water.
Fish live in a soup of microscopic organisms including bacteria, fungus, viruses, protozoans, worms, flukes and various other things that make your skin crawl. Doing a big water change and gravel cleaning the substrate on a regular basis will dilute these organisms and reduce their numbers in the water, thus making it a safer and healthier environment for the fish.
If you do a 25% water change each week you leave behind 75% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 50% water change each week you leave behind 50% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 75% water change each week you leave behind 25% of the bad stuff in the water.
Imagine living in your house with no windows, doors, toilet, bathroom or anything. You eat and poop in the environment and have no clean air. Eventually you end up living in your own filth, which would probably be made worse by you throwing up due to the smell. You would get sick very quickly and probably die unless someone came to clean up regularly and open the place up to let in fresh air.
Fish live in their own waste. Their tank and filter is full of fish poop. The water they breath is filtered through fish poop. Cleaning filters, gravel and doing big regular water changes, removes a lot of this poop and makes the environment cleaner and healthier for the fish.
Zeolite removes ammonia from the water and if there is no ammonia in the water, the beneficial filter bacteria don't grow. When the Zeolite has adsorbed as much as it can, it is considered full and cannot remove any more ammonia from the water. If this happens, you can get an ammonia level in the water and this can poison the fish. If you replace/ recharge the Zeolite every week, you should be fine, however if it becomes full during that week, you could get an ammonia level and poison the fish.
Zeolite can be recharged by soaking it in salt water for 24-48 hours.
If you don't have Zeolite in the tank or filter, the filter will develop the colonies of beneficial bacteria over a course of 4-6 weeks (sometimes longer), and these will keep the ammonia and nitrite levels at 0ppm permanently. The only time they won't keep ammonia and nitrite at 0ppm is when the filter is developing the good bacteria, or if you replace the filter media/ materials.
Most companies that sell power filters suggest replacing the media/ materials every month. This is bad for your wallet and bad for the fish, but good for the company's bank account. If you replace the media, you get rid of the good bacteria and the filter has to develop more good bacteria, which takes around 4-6 weeks.
The filter media does not normally need to be changed unless it starts to fall apart. To clean the media, simply squeeze it out in a bucket of aquarium water, and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the lawn or garden.
You can buy sponges for various brands of power filter and these sponges can be cut with a pair of scissors. You can cut them to fit into your filter and sponges will last for 10+ years. Sponges get squeezed out in a bucket of tank water like normal filter media does and re-used.
---------------------
Yes I copy & paste stuff I have written previously. I do this because a lot of people have the same problem/ question and it is easier for me to copy & paste, rather than rewrite everything over and over again.
---------------------
Snails did not do this.
This is not Trichodina either. Trichodina causes cream, white or grey patches on the body.
These are small round holes that look like burn blisters that have popped. It might have been caused by the fish sleeping under the aquarium heater. When the heater turns on, the glass can get very hot and the fish don't always move straight away. Subsequently they get burnt. It happens a lot with bristlenose catfish, which is the fish in the picture.
The red area in the head under the skin could be from a virus, bacterial or protozoan infection. I doubt it's bacterial or protozoan, and it's probably related to the circles on the skin. Because I am unsure of what the circles are, I am suggesting basic fish first aid (water changes, gravel cleaning, cleaning the filter and adding salt).
Basic first aid will provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. There will be fewer disease organisms in the water and filter and this will allow the fish's immune system a chance to heal the fish.
Salt will kill off a lot of the harmful disease organisms in the water and on the fish and this will help prevent secondary infections and treat any that have already started. Salt can cause fish to produce a bit more mucous over their body and this can help protect the damaged area and stop pathogens from getting into the damaged tissue.
---------------------
Poor water quality is simply dirty aquarium water. It is caused by uneaten food, something rotting in the tank, dirty gravel or a dirty filter.
Time for another copy & paste.
You do water changes and gravel cleans for 2 main reasons.
1) to reduce nutrients like ammonia, nitrite & nitrate.
2) to dilute disease organisms in the water.
Fish live in a soup of microscopic organisms including bacteria, fungus, viruses, protozoans, worms, flukes and various other things that make your skin crawl. Doing a big water change and gravel cleaning the substrate on a regular basis will dilute these organisms and reduce their numbers in the water, thus making it a safer and healthier environment for the fish.
If you do a 25% water change each week you leave behind 75% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 50% water change each week you leave behind 50% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 75% water change each week you leave behind 25% of the bad stuff in the water.
Imagine living in your house with no windows, doors, toilet, bathroom or anything. You eat and poop in the environment and have no clean air. Eventually you end up living in your own filth, which would probably be made worse by you throwing up due to the smell. You would get sick very quickly and probably die unless someone came to clean up regularly and open the place up to let in fresh air.
Fish live in their own waste. Their tank and filter is full of fish poop. The water they breath is filtered through fish poop. Cleaning filters, gravel and doing big regular water changes, removes a lot of this poop and makes the environment cleaner and healthier for the fish.
Last edited:
Copy and paste all you want, sir, excellent advice and info.
Sadly, my 3 remaining fish passed away after I added the salt. I think the tank is cursed (not really cursed just bad bacteria). I just got rid of the entire tank, the filter, & everything in it. I don't want to reuse anything from it because I don't want to transfer any disease. I've had several fish die in that tank with different cycles so I'm not going to risk it. Thank you all for your help though, I really appreciate all of your knowledge.
Maybe if he was still alive
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