Sorry Me Again ... Ich Or Velvet?

[Angie_B]

I have another post about what's happened since I have had my tank and Waterdrop suggested a recap on another thread to help out, so here goes;

My tank is approximately 6 weeks old. I added fish about 10 days after my tank was set up on the advice of the shop. I had 6 Danios and two Plattys. Unfortunately I lost 3 danios progressively over the next few days due to various symptoms.

My stats haven't been too bad, although my nitrite sometimes has gone up to 0.3. To combat this each night I do big water changes to make sure that any toxins are diluted. Despite this the three remaining Danios soon got Velvet.

I was treating them with the Interpet treatment, raised the temp to 28C and turned the lights out for two weeks. There was only a tiny bit of improvement, but my plants started dying.

I stopped the Interpet treatment as it wasn't working too well and through i think continuous water changes, the two Danios seems to get better whilst the third had a slight golding on his tail fin.

My male Platty had a small white spot of fluff on his tail. I added the Myxazin on the advice of the fish shop yesterday. But as my Platty is pregnant and about to give birth, only added 4mm. I estimate my tank is approx 127 litres.

Tonight I have done a 50% water change and put the carbon filter back in. The filter has lots of nice glupy brown stuff so I am guessing things are finally working.

My question is how soon can I add the Protozin back in??? so that I can begin treating the Danio and also my male Platty who yesterday began flashing and now has two small white dots on his back.


All fish are currently lively. As I have only just finished the water change I will update the stats in a bit. Yesterday they showed all results ok, apart from nitrit was 0.1


My other question is; when reading through the forum I found a really interesting article written on sand depth. Mine was about 2 1/2 inches in places (as the shop told me to add the whole bag and spread it) after reading this breeds bacteria, I syphoned a good lot of it out. On doing so, it released little bubbles in places and I noticed there were some black patches after digging down ( I think where the plants might have been?) and to be honest the water stank at these bits I feel really crappy that my poor fish are probably sensing and swimming in this Could this be the source of the Velvet?

Also do you think my male Platty has Velvet or Ich? He has small white dots?



So to recap my questions are;
After adding 4mm yesterday of Myxazin, how soon can I add Protozin treatment
Are the whtie dots Ich or Velvet (will Protozin be the best treatment?)
Is the black splodges and too deep sand the reason for my problems?
Finally is there anything else I can possibly do to make them happy and healthy?


I'd like to say a *huge* thank you to Miss Wiggle, Waterdrop and Wilder for their past advice and also to the others that have helped too. It's quite scary holding these little fishes lives in your hands and I really want them to be ok.

 

[WILDER]

Not wise to mix meds.
I would treat the velvet first as its a fast killer.
Do a water change and add the parasite med, there will be some myxazin still in the tank but it should be ok.
Did the smell of the water smell like rotten eggs as that means you have bad bacteria in your tank.

 

[Angie_B]

Hi Wilder,

Yes it did ( I removed all that I found. I put it in a bucket of boiling water and repeated washing it through a few times. Should I remove all the sand and start again?

Do you think that's why despite the big water changes, they are poorly?

I did 50% water change tonight and the carbon is in. How soon could I add the Protozin?

 

[WILDER]

Water changes and the myxazin should of taken care of it.
How does the tank water smell now.
The smelly rotten egg water might of caused bacteria infections but not the parasites.
http/www.ponddoc.com/WhatsUpDoc/FishHeal...tleBacteria.htm

 

[Angie_B]

I only put the Myxazin in yesterday .. so it wouldn't have done much. The water generally smells earthy. It's when I syphoned up the black sand, the smell from my bucket ponged.

Would I be ok to remove the carbon and add the Protozin tonight?

 

[WILDER]

So you been running some black carbon.
Do a 20% water change and add the protozin.
Sounds like you had pockets of bad bacteria in your sand.

 

[Angie_B]

I've added the Protozin, I am really concerned though it is so soon after the Myxazin. Does anyone know what this might do to my fish? is there any warning signs that some might still be in the tank and the chemicals react??? so I can watch out for it?

Also my Platty (pregnant one) seems to have ballooned over the last few hours. Could this be because I disturbed the bacteria in the sand, or because she is about to give birth. (I'm guessing if she gives birth, I am going to lose my fry )


I feel so gutted at the moment that I can't seem to get things right and my fish are suffering. I don't know what else I can do.

 

[WILDER]

Not great as you are meant to only have dose with fry in the tank.
Is she being moody like chasing fish away and resting.