anti bacterial med question ?

[anjum64]

hi all

I have a guppy exhibiting rapid resperation and red blotches on its skin, and it seems to be lathargic , not moving too much staying in one place generally.

went to LFS and purchased some Furanol by JBL (nifurpirinol).

It says on the instructions:

" Since JBL Furanol also destroys all filter bacteria, the filter should be disconnected and allowed to run on in a separate aquarium or container. If the aquarium cannot be sufficiently aerated without the filter, remove the filter material, rinse and store damp, before running the filter without filter material. Put the filter material back into the filter after treatment has ended"

Now correct me if i am wrong, i thought the filter was supposed to filter the water and balance/remove the waste material from the aquarium water via the biological process taking place via the bacteria in the filter.

I have swithced on my air pump which is pumping air into the aquarium via two air stones. The filter pump with sponge is sitting in water in a small goldifsh bowl(minus the goldfish!)

My main concern is that the pump filter is now no longer doing its job in the aquarium and the meds are to be used for 4 days.
Should I continue or am i making a fatal error.

Specs: 60litre aquarium, 7 platies, 7 guppys, 1 britsle nosed catfish,
plants: lemnofillia sesliflora and elodea densa
Aquarium started Jan 1st 2005

Thank you in advance for any help.
Regards
Aftab

Ps. Thanks to Sunflower in the chat room for advice earlier.

 

[Toadfish]

Personally I've never used the stuff but I doubt that a few days with out a filter are going to effect the fish to severely. What I would suggest is to seperate the effected fish into a quarintine tank and medicate there, that way if the main tank is fully stocked it won't have to deal with no filtration, but in quarintine the tank won't be heavily stocked thus the bioload won't effect the fish to much. I hope this makes sense, if you have to medicate in the maintank make sure there is lots of movement via airstones etc.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi anjum64

The medication you chose is a good one, but if it says it will kill your beneficial bacteria, it probably will.

The problem is that if you don't feed and aerate the beneficial bacteria, they will die anyway. The answer is your goldfish. If you can put them into a container that is large enough to run the filter, it will solve both problems.

Or, where are the goldfish now? If they are in, or if you have another aquarium, simply run that filter along with the regular one.

Another idea is to remove the guppy to another tank for treatment. This is called a quarantine tank and will be just fine with only an airstone to circulate the water.

Alternately, you could recycle the tank, but if you can save any of the bacteria, it would be best.

 

[Tolak]

Some medications will kill off the good bacteria in your filter, causing the tank to re-cycle. This seems to be one of them.

What you could do, if you don't have another tank to keep the mature media in while you medicate, is pull the old media, add new media to take care of filtration. You will have to do 50% water changes on the medicated tank, to eliminate ammonia.

Put the old, mature media in a bucket with water. Add a couple of drops of ammonia per day to the bucket. This will "feed" the bacteria in the mature media, allowing you to use it once you are done medicating the tank.

Tolak

 

[anjum64]

I am sorry, maybe i was not clear.

Do not have goldfish, just glodfish bowl. In which now sits the pump&filter,
put in some flake food, hopefully this will keep the bacteria fed.

As for the tank it has 2x air stones 3cm long , one each placed at each corner of the tank, connected to a Rena Air 100 (output of air pump 120L/hr , 26Gph).

The water test results have remianed the same at t=0, and t=6 hr :
NH4=0ppm , NH2-=0ppm , NH3-=40-80ppm , pH=8.0
These coincidentaly are my normal aquarium readings.

I can increase the air into the tank as i have a spare 60cm air pipe, and can replace one of the air sotones with this if you think it is necessary.

As for putting in the pump with new media I can do this tomorrow when the LFS opens.

Also, once I have finished with meds on day 4 , should I put in a carbon filter before introducing the old media(filter) back into the aquarium.

I hope the above clarifys issue, and thankyou all, you have given me peace of mind, as I do not want to ruin the aquarium.

Regards
Aftab

 

[Inchworm]

Hi anjum64

When treating any bacterial infection it is important to try to figure out why your fish became infected. If you don't, your other fish will be at risk too.

All aquariums usually contain a certain amount of potentially harmful bacteria, but the fish's natural immune system fights them off much like yours might fight off a cold. It is only when something weakens their immune systems that they become run down and become ill.

There are a number of factors that could cause this. First, if you used these fish to cycle your tank, they have most likely been terribly stressed. Other things can stress a fish with the same results. Some of them are high nitrites, overcrowding, aggressive tankmates, low oxygen content in the water, uneaten food in the tank, temperature fluctuations and infrequent or inadequate water changes.

Since your tank seems like it could be overstocked, you might want to think about how to relieve this condition. Your 60 liter tank is only 15.6 US gallons and you have quite a few fish in it.

How often do you do water changes and bottom vacuumings? Even though your water parameters might look normal, it is still necessary to do generous water changes no less than weekly. This removes some of the harmful bacteria and any uneaten food in the gravel that they might be feeding on.

Gradually lowering the temperature during treatment to 75 or 76 degrees F. during treatment will help to slow the reproduction of these bacteria, as will your airstones moving the water surface.

Do be sure to do a big water change and bottom cleaning before you start the treatment and again when it is finished. You can then add carbon to the filter to remove the remaining medicine.

Once you begin the treatment, continue with it for the full period of time the directions indicate, even if your fish with the symptoms appears cured or dies. This is to prevent a medication resistant strain of disease causing bacteria from developing in your tank.

Good luck and I hope your fish recovers soon.

 

[anjum64]

Thank you for your post Inchform.

In answer to your questions, I change the water twice a week, 25% and 10% water changes. Add conditioner and some plant grow liquid.
At the same time as changing the water the gravel is thouroughly siphoned, if i think there is too much waste in the gravel then i let it settle in my bucket and put the water back in the tank and then siphon another bucket of water and waste.

Also any loose or rotting plants are removed.

As for overstocking, I have followed the procedures in "Setting up an aquarium" by Peter Stadelmann. Pg 22. Stocking suggestions: 24x12x12 inch( 60x30x30 cm) Aquarium.

3 to 10 days after setting up tank: 3 flying foxes, 1 Britsle nosed catfish.
10 days after that: 7 Neon tetras, 5 Black Phantom, 5 Harlequin Rasboras, 2 Dwarf gourami, 3 Armoured catfish
After another 4 weeks: 4 guppies or 4 platy

I have taken longer to cycle my tank and introduce the fish but I definitely do not have as many as the above author suggests in 60litres of water.

I shall keep an eye on all by procedures and re-evaluate everything as you have suggested in order to find the root of my problems.

BTW, also added some salt to the aquarium after the anti-bac meds yesterday to help the fish produce mucus.

Regads
Aftab