Help. Poorly Gourami!

[FishBlast]

Not tonight's job. RIGHT AWAY.
Also get aquarium salt or chlorine salt. Else the little guy will die.

why is salt a necessity in this situation?

Nitrite poisoning? Allowing the blood to carry the oxygen properly?

 

[ZoddyZod]

Nitrite poisoning? Allowing the blood to carry the oxygen properly?

and salt fixes this issue directly?

You'll have to excuse me, fish medication/treatments is something I know very little about.

 

[akfox18]

Nitrite poisoning? Allowing the blood to carry the oxygen properly?

and salt fixes this issue directly?

You'll have to excuse me, fish medication/treatments is something I know very little about.

Me neither

 

[ZoddyZod]

Just had a quick google and found this.....

http/freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/nitritepoison.htm

 

[akfox18]

Just had a quick google and found this.....

http/freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/nitritepoison.htm

Thanks for your help. Now know what to look out for and how to solve the issue

 

[FishBlast]

Nitrite poisoning? Allowing the blood to carry the oxygen properly?

and salt fixes this issue directly?

You'll have to excuse me, fish medication/treatments is something I know very little about.

Water change removes the cause, salt removes the effect.

 

[afremont]

Nitrite poisoning? Allowing the blood to carry the oxygen properly?

and salt fixes this issue directly?

You'll have to excuse me, fish medication/treatments is something I know very little about.

No, salt doesn't fix it, acts as a blocker for the problem. Salt, when dissolved in water, splits into two ions, one being a chloride ion. The chloride ion competes with nitrites that are trying to get into the blood stream thru the gills. Nitrites that get in convert the hemoglobin to methemoglobin which will not transfer oxygen to the cells from the blood. This is also called brown blood disease since the blood will not be bright red, but a subdued browning color is often observed in the gills. The fish slowly suffocates though the water has plenty of oxygen. Salt prevents further damage to the hemoglobin, but does little to nothing to reverse it.

If you fix the nitrIte problem, the fish will eventually replace the damaged hemoglobin and recover, but this takes time. Methylene Blue has the ability to convert methemoglobin immediately back to hemoglobin without waiting for it to be replaced naturally. It also increases the ability of the gills to transfer oxygen.

 

[FishBlast]

Nitrite poisoning? Allowing the blood to carry the oxygen properly?

and salt fixes this issue directly?

You'll have to excuse me, fish medication/treatments is something I know very little about.

No, salt doesn't fix it, acts as a blocker for the problem. Salt, when dissolved in water, splits into two ions, one being a chloride ion. The chloride ion competes with nitrites that are trying to get into the blood stream thru the gills. Nitrites that get in convert the hemoglobin to methemoglobin which will not transfer oxygen to the cells from the blood. This is also called brown blood disease since the blood will not be bright red, but a subdued browning color is often observed in the gills. The fish slowly suffocates though the water has plenty of oxygen. Salt prevents further damage to the hemoglobin, but does little to nothing to reverse it.

If you fix the nitrIte problem, the fish will eventually replace the damaged hemoglobin and recover, but this takes time. Methylene Blue has the ability to convert methemoglobin immediately back to hemoglobin without waiting for it to be replaced naturally. It also increases the ability of the gills to transfer oxygen.

Yeah, but Methylene Blue can also be risky with weakened fish, especially if left too long in it.

 

[afremont]

Nitrite poisoning? Allowing the blood to carry the oxygen properly?

and salt fixes this issue directly?

You'll have to excuse me, fish medication/treatments is something I know very little about.

No, salt doesn't fix it, acts as a blocker for the problem. Salt, when dissolved in water, splits into two ions, one being a chloride ion. The chloride ion competes with nitrites that are trying to get into the blood stream thru the gills. Nitrites that get in convert the hemoglobin to methemoglobin which will not transfer oxygen to the cells from the blood. This is also called brown blood disease since the blood will not be bright red, but a subdued browning color is often observed in the gills. The fish slowly suffocates though the water has plenty of oxygen. Salt prevents further damage to the hemoglobin, but does little to nothing to reverse it.

If you fix the nitrIte problem, the fish will eventually replace the damaged hemoglobin and recover, but this takes time. Methylene Blue has the ability to convert methemoglobin immediately back to hemoglobin without waiting for it to be replaced naturally. It also increases the ability of the gills to transfer oxygen.

Yeah, but Methylene Blue can also be risky with weakened fish, especially if left too long in it.

Methylene Blue is basically harmless unless massively overdosed. Now potassium permanganate that's another story. You could keep fish in 3ppm of MB for a very long time.

 

[akfox18]

Nitrite poisoning? Allowing the blood to carry the oxygen properly?

and salt fixes this issue directly?

You'll have to excuse me, fish medication/treatments is something I know very little about.

No, salt doesn't fix it, acts as a blocker for the problem. Salt, when dissolved in water, splits into two ions, one being a chloride ion. The chloride ion competes with nitrites that are trying to get into the blood stream thru the gills. Nitrites that get in convert the hemoglobin to methemoglobin which will not transfer oxygen to the cells from the blood. This is also called brown blood disease since the blood will not be bright red, but a subdued browning color is often observed in the gills. The fish slowly suffocates though the water has plenty of oxygen. Salt prevents further damage to the hemoglobin, but does little to nothing to reverse it.

If you fix the nitrIte problem, the fish will eventually replace the damaged hemoglobin and recover, but this takes time. Methylene Blue has the ability to convert methemoglobin immediately back to hemoglobin without waiting for it to be replaced naturally. It also increases the ability of the gills to transfer oxygen.

Yeah, but Methylene Blue can also be risky with weakened fish, especially if left too long in it.

Methylene Blue is basically harmless unless massively overdosed. Now potassium permanganate that's another story. You could keep fish in 3ppm of MB for a very long time.

now you've really lost me lol

 

[FishBlast]

Methylene Blue is basically harmless unless massively overdosed. Now potassium permanganate that's another story. You could keep fish in 3ppm of MB for a very long time.

Well, the friend I got my first fish from said that when she tried to use that on a fish for whatever illness I don't remember, she said that she might have held the fish too long in it and it died.

 

[afremont]

Methylene Blue is basically harmless unless massively overdosed. Now potassium permanganate that's another story. You could keep fish in 3ppm of MB for a very long time.

Well, the friend I got my first fish from said that when she tried to use that on a fish for whatever illness I don't remember, she said that she might have held the fish too long in it and it died.

Maybe they were doing a dip at approx 50ppm, only 10 seconds is the limit. I've done that and the fish was fine afterwards. The problem with nitrIte poisoning is that the fish hangs on just like someone with cystic fibrosis. As long as the fish rests, it gets enough oxygen to survive. As soon as it stresses (like when being caught) it can die suddenly from lack of oxygen. I use MB in combination with other meds, it's nice like that and doesn't react with any other medications.

 

[FishBlast]

Methylene Blue is basically harmless unless massively overdosed. Now potassium permanganate that's another story. You could keep fish in 3ppm of MB for a very long time.

Well, the friend I got my first fish from said that when she tried to use that on a fish for whatever illness I don't remember, she said that she might have held the fish too long in it and it died.

Maybe they were doing a dip at approx 50ppm, only 10 seconds is the limit. I've done that and the fish was fine afterwards. The problem with nitrIte poisoning is that the fish hangs on just like someone with cystic fibrosis. As long as the fish rests, it gets enough oxygen to survive. As soon as it stresses (like when being caught) it can die suddenly from lack of oxygen. I use MB in combination with other meds, it's nice like that and doesn't react with any other medications.

I don't know the quantity she added, just that she put the fish in a big, half-filled bowl and then she put the MB and water turned all blue (I saw the water, it was pretty darkish, I didn't ask how much she put in it but it looked like someone poured a tub of ink in it...)
The fish was a big betta, don't remember what the problem was though, definitely not related to nitrite but more like fungus or something. It was still swimming when I arrived there, but died pretty quick and she said it was swimming fine before the dip.

 

[afremont]

Nitrite poisoning? Allowing the blood to carry the oxygen properly?

and salt fixes this issue directly?

You'll have to excuse me, fish medication/treatments is something I know very little about.

No, salt doesn't fix it, acts as a blocker for the problem. Salt, when dissolved in water, splits into two ions, one being a chloride ion. The chloride ion competes with nitrites that are trying to get into the blood stream thru the gills. Nitrites that get in convert the hemoglobin to methemoglobin which will not transfer oxygen to the cells from the blood. This is also called brown blood disease since the blood will not be bright red, but a subdued browning color is often observed in the gills. The fish slowly suffocates though the water has plenty of oxygen. Salt prevents further damage to the hemoglobin, but does little to nothing to reverse it.

If you fix the nitrIte problem, the fish will eventually replace the damaged hemoglobin and recover, but this takes time. Methylene Blue has the ability to convert methemoglobin immediately back to hemoglobin without waiting for it to be replaced naturally. It also increases the ability of the gills to transfer oxygen.

Yeah, but Methylene Blue can also be risky with weakened fish, especially if left too long in it.

Methylene Blue is basically harmless unless massively overdosed. Now potassium permanganate that's another story. You could keep fish in 3ppm of MB for a very long time.

now you've really lost me lol

Why is that? MB is hard to overdose, but PP is very easy to overdose. MB is just a cellular stain so it presents little danger to complex vertebrates, PP is an oxidizer and it doesn't care what it destroys; germs, gills, entire fish, it just doesn't care. A little too much PP is like a little too much chemotherapy, the patient dies.

MB is effective against many things that show up on the outside of the fish, but it's not extremely powerful since it relies on staining a cell to interrupt some aspect of its metabolism. PP just kills the cells outright by physically destroying them.

 

[FishBlast]

Why is that? MB is hard to overdose, but PP is very easy to overdose. MB is just a cellular stain so it presents little danger to complex vertebrates, PP is an oxidizer and it doesn't care what it destroys; germs, gills, entire fish, it just doesn't care. A little too much PP is like a little too much chemotherapy, the patient dies.

MB is effective against many things that show up on the outside of the fish, but it's not extremely powerful since it relies on staining a cell to interrupt some aspect of its metabolism. PP just kills the cells outright by physically destroying them.

Can MB kill off filter bacteria though?