White Cotton-like Growth

[camshaft]

seemingly overnight, my tank developed a bunch of white cottony stuff on the gravel, and one of my balas has a spot of it on his nose. doesnt look like ich. also 2 leopard dainos have dies. ive had this tank running for 2 years with no problems till now. i do regular water and filter changes. its a 55g. sorry dont have any info on nitrates and ammonia.

 

[*Fishkies*]

How often do you perform gravel vaccumings? (unless you have sand??)

Also could it just be left over rotting food on the bottom?
How many times do you feed a day?
What do you feed?

 

[camshaft]

How often do you perform gravel vaccumings? (unless you have sand??)

Also could it just be left over rotting food on the bottom?
How many times do you feed a day?
What do you feed?

i have not vaccumed the gravel in a while, but it didnt look bad at all.

i feed flakes once a day, and a few wafers as well.

i just vacuumed up most of the cotton stuff and did a 10 gallon water change.

what is the white stuff on my balas nose?

 

[*Fishkies*]

Could you get a picture up possibly?
Is it a big spot or small spot like the size of ich?

 

[camshaft]

Could you get a picture up possibly?
Is it a big spot or small spot like the size of ich?

i wont be able to get a pic untill tomorrow

the spot on the balas nose is large and fluffy, not like ich

BUT a few of my corys have the salt-looking specks on them

 

[camshaft]

fishkies, i looked at the pic of ich you posted in the other thread. thats what it looks like my cory cats have. as well as some fin degeneration. also leopard dainos with fin degeneration

my balas are all OK, except for the fluffy white spot on the ones nose.

so do i have ich, fin rot, and a fungus?

 

[CaraC]

i do regular water and filter changes. its a 55g. .

Regular filter changes? Are you changing the whole filter?
Doing this will cause your tank to recycle just about everytime you change it. I only change filter if i absolutely have to. I rinse off the gook and stuff in old tank water during water change day. Most of your bacteria is in there unless you have the bio-wheel...

Ick is very very contagious. No sense in even QT'ing them now you should defineatley treat the whole tank. Get a Ick Cure or some kind of medication that is for ick that has malacyite green in it. Try not to use any MacrynI or II (as it destroys bacterial colinies in the whole tank).
Treat ick for the entire time according to directions on bottle. Even if fish are OK, still treat, otherwise the parasite will become imune to the treatment. Make sure to take out your Carbon of the filter. And turn off lights in aquarium....it usually helps. For now you can add 1 tblspoon of salt per 10gallons. and raise temp up a few degrees. You actually want to reach a goal temp of 82. But not all at once. Salt and raising temps usually helps untill meds are given. Dont use both methods it will be VERY stressful for fish, but will help untill meds can be provided.

It is very important as a hobbist to be able to test waters of our fish. Getting ammonia, nitrItes, NitAtes, and PH test kits are very important so we know whats going on in tank. Amm, Nitrite and Nitrate most important. PH is only important for some species because they thrive in it. Most fish will adapt to our PH in tanks. Please go get a test kit when you can. It really is helpfull. When ammonia is over .50ppm and nitrites reading over .5 water changes need to be made. Right now you should be tsting nitrates because your tank is cycled. However if you are replacing filter every couple weeks with no back up bio media (like the Penguinn Bio-Wheel) you are putting you fish through that cycle over and over and over again.
I hope this helps a little.

(**If you have any kind of loach in your tank Do not add salt. They dont like it.)

I hope everything works out.

Did the fish that did have any salt sprinkles on them?
You may have more than one disease in your tank. Ick is usually the most common. Sometimes we cant control it. However it can be preventable most of the time by frequent water canges, good diet for fish, and good maintence of the tank they live in. Even after all that they still do get sick.

 

[Lynda B]

Watch those wafers you put in. We've found in my husband's tank (he feeds them to his corys) that they will disintigrate and begin to mold in less than 24 hours. That happened to him, one of his corys got a fungus like what you're describing and, even though we isolated the cory and medicated him, we lost him in 24 hours.

i have not vaccumed the gravel in a while, but it didnt look bad at all.


i just vacuumed up most of the cotton stuff and did a 10 gallon water change.

You can't really see all the gunk in your gravel. But, you really have to dig into it with your Python (or whatever you use to siphon). We do a gravel vac and a 50% water change once a week on all of our tanks, no matter the size.

 

[camshaft]

i do regular water and filter changes. its a 55g. .

Regular filter changes? Are you changing the whole filter?
Doing this will cause your tank to recycle just about everytime you change it. I only change filter if i absolutely have to. I rinse off the gook and stuff in old tank water during water change day. Most of your bacteria is in there unless you have the bio-wheel...

Ick is very very contagious. No sense in even QT'ing them now you should defineatley treat the whole tank. Get a Ick Cure or some kind of medication that is for ick that has malacyite green in it. Try not to use any MacrynI or II (as it destroys bacterial colinies in the whole tank).
Treat ick for the entire time according to directions on bottle. Even if fish are OK, still treat, otherwise the parasite will become imune to the treatment. Make sure to take out your Carbon of the filter. And turn off lights in aquarium....it usually helps. For now you can add 1 tblspoon of salt per 10gallons. and raise temp up a few degrees. You actually want to reach a goal temp of 82. But not all at once. Salt and raising temps usually helps untill meds are given. Dont use both methods it will be VERY stressful for fish, but will help untill meds can be provided.

It is very important as a hobbist to be able to test waters of our fish. Getting ammonia, nitrItes, NitAtes, and PH test kits are very important so we know whats going on in tank. Amm, Nitrite and Nitrate most important. PH is only important for some species because they thrive in it. Most fish will adapt to our PH in tanks. Please go get a test kit when you can. It really is helpfull. When ammonia is over .50ppm and nitrites reading over .5 water changes need to be made. Right now you should be tsting nitrates because your tank is cycled. However if you are replacing filter every couple weeks with no back up bio media (like the Penguinn Bio-Wheel) you are putting you fish through that cycle over and over and over again.
I hope this helps a little.

(**If you have any kind of loach in your tank Do not add salt. They dont like it.)

I hope everything works out.

Did the fish that did have any salt sprinkles on them?
You may have more than one disease in your tank. Ick is usually the most common. Sometimes we cant control it. However it can be preventable most of the time by frequent water canges, good diet for fish, and good maintence of the tank they live in. Even after all that they still do get sick.

thank you for the advice.

no i never change the filter media, i just rinse it, i change the carbon filters. also i never change more than 10 gallons of water at a time.

i am getting meds today. also i will raise temp and remove carbon. thanks!

 

[Lynda B]

Why have you never done more than a 10 gallon change? That's a pretty small water change for a 55 gallon tank.

 

[CaraC]

B)-->QUOTE(Lynda B @ Jul 11 2007, 07:46 AM) [snapback]1687173[/snapback]
Why have you never done more than a 10 gallon change? That's a pretty small water change for a 55 gallon tank.[/quote]


I totally agree lynda. Fresh fish love fresh water. When in their natural habitat, streams, lakes, rivers, have a constant flow of new water for the fish. In a small 48"X12X12" box they depend on us to provide fresh water. I may be a lil silly in my thinking, but fish pee and poo, and i would hate to be swimming in my pee all day....I change my 29 gallon every 5 days. I change about 30% sometimes 50%. Approximately 6-9 gallons each time. I change my 20g weekly as well as my 10g and 5g. Those are always 50% because of amount of space and footprint in tanks. I know we have lives and kids and appointments..but the fish really need fresh water on a regular basis. 10 gallons is a start. But it should really be 20g. I use buckets...so its a chore...but in the end i know my fish are going to be happier, healthier and if they have any scrapes or cuts i cant see the water changes will naturally help them heal.