Tank Issues

[bolivian_d]

Hello,

My name's Don. I'm in need of advice and guidence. This is probably going to be long winded. Sorry.

I'm an inexperienced fishkeeper but I've done a lot of research. I set up my 75L AquaOne tank about six weeks ago. It was fully cycled, polysperma was flourishing and my six cherry barbs appeared to be enjoying the tank. I was slowly stocking and close to adding a pair of bolivian rams. Trust me, my tank was awesome!

Then came my 21st.

I recieved one silver shark and thirteen baby bristlenose catfish (courtesy of a fishkeeping friend). The bristlenose catfish were OK because I knew if they all did survive I could rehome them and still keep one or two. The silver shark was obviously all wrong for my tank and required 400-600L of space. Anyway, the Silver Shark had been sitting in its bag for 3hours and it arrived on the night of my party. It was either a matter of letting it die in its bag or putting it in my tank and returning it later. I added it to my tank.

Turns out the Silver Shark had white spot disease and I caught onto it too late. In its current state I couldn't return it to any shop and needed to treat it first. In honesty, I should have picked up on it earlier because there were warning signs, but I was inexperienced with it. By the time I realised that my tank was infected all my cherry barbs had white cysts and most of the bristlenose had already passed. On the second day of treatment with Protozin my cherry barbs and shark died.

I removed all the cherry barbs, shark and 5 bristlenose catfish. I saw one get sucked up the filter and I imagine others suffered the same fate.

Anyway, so as it stands I'm on my fourth day of treatment with protozin (I threw in an additional day) and I'm feeding my tank with flakes every 12 hours in hope to save the good bacteria living in my filter. I have a couple of questions, but really I just need advice on how and when I should go about stocking my tank.

Firstly, if there are dead baby bristlenose in my filter head... can the white spot parasite live on through them?

Here's my game plan. Obviously I want to finish off the entire cycle of Protozin first. I'll have that finished Friday. On Saturday morning I then want to vacum my gravel (get rid of all the decaying fish food) and clean the filter head. Afterwards I would do a 30% water change. Later that afternoon I want to pick up 3-6 cardinal tetra's and add them to my tank.

Do you think that a week will be long enough for the white spot parasites to have died considering my tank has been treated and doesn't have any live fish?

Any suggestions or advice are welcomed.

Thanks guys

 

[minxfishy]

If it were me, I would have stripped down the tank and used a bleach solution to clean it thoroughly. The filter media would have been washed in dechlorinated water and then I would have put everything back in and used ammonia to go thru another fishless cycle, which shouldnt have taken too long as the bacteria would have been mainly saved. The amount of ammonia in the water for the cycle would have killed off anything else I would have thought.

 

[locust267]

Hmm, tough one.

I agree with Minxfishy though as recently there have been strains of white spot which are very hard to treat, whether or not the case remains once all the fish are dead I dont know.

Generally parasites need a food souce to survive but I'm not sure what white spot would feed on in your tank so perhaps wait for someone a little more advance to come along or to be on the safe side do what minxfishy has already suggested.

I would however say that if you have dead fish in your filter you are best off removing them ASAP.

You may disturb some bacteria but it will pay off.

I also wouldn't make tetras the first fish to add, I'd go for something a little hardier like zebra danios.

Also make your friends aware that just because you have a fish tank doesn't mean they can give you fish, I've seen it too many times now where friends and family meaning well give you fish without any knowledge of whats compatible with your tank

Let us know what happens.

Vicki

 

[freerunner416]

I believe that you can treat white spot by just turning the temperature up. This would have cleared up the white spot infestation. The other option is to go down the meds route or do what Vicki and Minxfish suggest. I was told why this work but really can't remember.

I would watch what meds you put in your tank especially when you have plecs. Any meds i have used end up affecting my plecs.

Goodluck and hope you get it sorted.

 

[vinylman]

Silver Sharks prefer to be in groups of at least 5/6; they grow to around 12'', so your 75ltr isn't really big enough for one, even if they could be kept singly.

 

[Gun]

minxfishy's advice

 

[OldMan47]

The ich parasite needs a host to survive. If you turn up the temperature to 27C or more, the life cycle will shorten to much less than a week. Any parasites that remain in a fishless tank will be gone within a week because you have given any that were in the water or gravel a full life cycle of time with no host and you can return the temperature to normal values and safely add in your fish. Meanwhile, how are you keeping the ammonia converting bacteria alive? If you are not adding some ammonia, you are at the very least stressing your bacteria and they may have started to die off in significant numbers.

 

[bolivian_d]

If you are not adding some ammonia, you are at the very least stressing your bacteria and they may have started to die off in significant numbers.

That was a major issue for me. I fed my tank fish food for a week. I'm adding 3 cherry barbs tomorrow. I don't know if it's just Australia but ammonia in a bottle seems like an incredibly rare substance. I'd love to have used it though. I asked my lfs if they supplied ammonia for cycling a tank and he looked at me as if i were insane. I've since been told that you can only pick it up in pharmacies... considering its primary use isn't for cycling fish tanks, what on earth is packaged ammonia used for?

Thanks for your help guys.

 

[OldMan47]

Usually you will find ammonia being sold in a hardware or home improvement store as glass cleaner. It cuts through greasy finger prints on windows fairly well and costs next to nothing compared to the expensive glass cleaners. The thing to be careful about is if they have tried to make a better glass cleaner by adding in detergents or surfactants. It also smells pretty bad so sometimes they will add in perfumes. What you really want is the basic chemical with no additives. I have never seen it in a LFS because it costs so little and you use so little that a typical bottle will last a fishkeeper a lifetime. There is no profit in selling a $2 item once in a lifetime to each hobbyist so why would they carry it?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah sadly a lot of people in Aus have experienced problems getting hold of pure ammonia, feeding the bacteria with flake food is probably the best you can do for now.

i agree that leaving it a week with the tank temp cranked right up should kill off the parasites, i would do a really big water change before adding fish like 90%