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I didn’t notice any patches. As mentioned earlier that one who has rubbed her scales off was flashing a bit and rubbing herself on things. I thought it was ich coming back or possibly stress because all of these are really nervous/skittish fish. The girls all freak out when you turn the light off, if you walk past the tank with the light off etc. the boys in the larger tank, are sociable and come up as soon as they see you, will eat out your hand, nibble your fingers etc. it’s really strange.Did the fish have the cream grey patches on them before this started
I would add a heap of salt and see what happens. They definitely don't look well though.
Do a big (75%) water change and complete gravel clean before adding salt. Clean the filter too if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine or chloramine before it's added to the tank.
If there's no improvement after a week with salt, post another video and some more pictures.
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You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt, swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.
If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.
Big water changes won't affect beneficial filter bacteria as long as the new water is free of chlorine or chloramine before it's added to the tank.If I do a massive water change as well as filter clean etc will I not then get an ammonia spike? And am I treating the whole tank not just quarantining the symptomatic?
Thankyou! Very helpfulBig water changes won't affect beneficial filter bacteria as long as the new water is free of chlorine or chloramine before it's added to the tank.
Cleaning the filter and doing a water change won't affect anything either because you normally clean the filter media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. the dirty water gets poured on the garden or lawn outside.
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Yes, you need to treat the main tank because the disease (pretty sure it's an external protozoan infection like Costia, Chilodonella or Trichodina) will be in the main tank.
I am using Prime® to control ammonia but my test kit says it is not doing anything, in fact it looks like it added ammonia! What is going on?
A: A Nessler based kit will not read ammonia properly if you are using Prime®... it will look "off scale", sort of a muddy brown (incidentally a Nessler kit will not work with any other products similar to Prime®). A salicylate based kit can be used, but with caution. Under the conditions of a salicylate kit the ammonia-Prime® complex will be broken down eventually giving a false reading of ammonia (same as with other products like Prime®), so the key with a salicylate kit is to take the reading right away. However, the best solution ;-) is to use our MultiTest™ Ammonia kit; it uses a gas exchange sensor system which is not affected by the presence of Prime® or other similar products. It also has the added advantage that it can detect the more dangerous free ammonia and distinguish it from total ammonia (total ammonia is both free ammonia and non-toxic ionized forms of ammonia).
Just an update for anyone who may be following this, and apologies for the delay! I lost the two that were really gasping, and a third who wasn’t actively showing any signs when I started the treatment suggested, I’m guessing that could have been stress related though after such a large change etc. but the one with the patchy colours who was swimming a tad weird, she survived! As did the others after following the advice on the forum. So a big thankyou for everyone’s help, I’m quarantining some plants so I can plant the tank, but on the whole much happier girls now! Thankyou!