Some of you may remember me posting about an ich outbreak in my 125, likely brought in by an L471. It took out two L260s and all five killifish. Six or so weeks later, with no further evidence of ich, I decided to restock and rescape the tank, this time with the intentions of making it into a Hypancistrus breeding tank. The only survivors of 'fishy Covid' (yes, I know one is a parasite and the other is a virus) were c. habrosus, c. pygmaeus, and three otos. They can live with the plecos. I picked up two L199s -- or Hypancistrus furunculus -- at the fish shop and put them into the quarantine tank. Within a few days, one suddenly dropped dead. I swore a lot. Then I panicked and moved the other into the main tank. I don't know if it was injured or an issue with the quarantine tank cycling or what. It tested fine, but it's a small tank, and even though we put media from an established tank into the filter and did daily water changes, we haven't had great luck with small, new tanks.
After a week, the remaining pleco was still alive and well, so I returned to the fish shop. Picked up three more L199s because apparently, a colony is more likely to breed. They went straight into the display tank. Then the following day, there was white spot on one of the new plecos. Cue lots more swearing. I started soaking feed in garlic gard and whacked the temperature up to 30. The first time I got a fish with ich from the shop, I was comfortable writing it off as bad luck. But the second?
I'm a bit baffled by how people safely quarantine fish in small tanks that aren't running all the time. My ex-quarantine tank now permanently houses apistogramma borellii and a few pencilfish. I tried using it as a hospital tank but couldn't quarantine anything successfully -- meaning, not killing it -- hence turning it into another display tank. After our first ich outbreak, I bought another small tank.
The good news is that our second wave seems to be less deadly, so far, than the first wave. I'm knocking on every bit of wood in the flat as I say this, but so far, no one's died, and the ich remains on one pleco, who was looking a bit less spotty today. All four plecos are eating. Fingers crossed we stay this way.
After a week, the remaining pleco was still alive and well, so I returned to the fish shop. Picked up three more L199s because apparently, a colony is more likely to breed. They went straight into the display tank. Then the following day, there was white spot on one of the new plecos. Cue lots more swearing. I started soaking feed in garlic gard and whacked the temperature up to 30. The first time I got a fish with ich from the shop, I was comfortable writing it off as bad luck. But the second?
I'm a bit baffled by how people safely quarantine fish in small tanks that aren't running all the time. My ex-quarantine tank now permanently houses apistogramma borellii and a few pencilfish. I tried using it as a hospital tank but couldn't quarantine anything successfully -- meaning, not killing it -- hence turning it into another display tank. After our first ich outbreak, I bought another small tank.
The good news is that our second wave seems to be less deadly, so far, than the first wave. I'm knocking on every bit of wood in the flat as I say this, but so far, no one's died, and the ich remains on one pleco, who was looking a bit less spotty today. All four plecos are eating. Fingers crossed we stay this way.
