ETA: Sorry for the length...I'm kinda freaking out here...
Affected Sytems:
10 Gal Quar Tank
- 1x 2" Green Terror
29 Gal Quar Tank in order of addition
- 1 2" BN
- 1 1.5" SAE
- 3x 1.5" Pictus Catfish
- 1 Albino BN
- 5x 1-1.5" Firemouth
Water Parameters:
Temp: 79 degrees F
pH: 7.2
NH4+: 0
NO2-: 0
NO3-: 20-25 (
nitrate in the tap water here...can't do much about that)
Originally all fish were in the 29 except an unlisted BN in the 10. Moved the BN to my planted 29 when the firemouths came home...moved the new fish into the 29 and the GT into the 10.
The 29 Quar is only lit by ambient light and is in a corner of my project room. Other than making sure the fish are all eating well, they get minimal observation after the first week or so outside of their twice-weekly 25% water changes.
Two weeks in (Saturday), I noticed the albino BN had clamped fins and was sluggish, but couldn't see why, likely due to the fish coloring and dim tank. Realized two of the pictus had the first markings of an
ICH infection. Read the FL article on ich treatment. Added a very small amount of salt (2T in 29 gal) (can't be used in high amounts with most scaleless fish, ie. my pictus), raising temp to 81, and ran out to get meds since the infestation was already severe.
Returned 30 minutes later...albino BN was dead. Added dose of meds...can't remember the med name at the moment...a formaldehyde-based one intended to work on sensitive fish such as my scaleless pictus. A few hours later raised the temperature again to 83 and went to bed.
Woke up Sunday to find the two affected pictus had passed during the night an the remaining one was now affected. Raised temp in 10 gal to 83 and added 1.5T of salt as a preventative since the GT had shared a tank with the albino BN, which I felt started the whole thing since the newest fish, the FMs, were apparently unaffected when the albino BN died. Performed a 50%
water change 24 hours after adding the meds.
Monday morning woke up to find the remaining pictus dead, as well as 2 FMs. The BN and the SAE appeared in very poor condition. Performed another water change, adding salt to the refill water.
This morning, all three remaining FMs, which had been eating before bed last night, several hours after the latest WC, were dead. The remaining BN and the SAE still appear in poor condition (heavily covered in cysts, hanging out by the air stone I added for extra oxygenation via surface turbulence, BN has clamped fins).
So, Questions...
A) I'm sure I did things wrong in this, so if anyone has suggestions for things I should have done differently, please let me know so that (1) I don't repeat that mistake should, God-forbid, this occur again, and (2) so others may learn from my stupidity.
B) What additional things can I do or undo to improve the chances of the two remaining fish?
C) When is the tank considered to be safe/cured/whatever?
I'm still in shock at loosing 8 fish in three days. Since I set up my planted 29 in March I've only lost two fish...an Oto (shortly after aquisition) and a baby Angelfish. Definitely takes a lot of joy out of the hobby. Progress on the 90 gal has stopped as I deal with this, though I need to resume that tonight as the baby GT can't stay in that 10 for long, obviously...he's alreally getting 3x/week water changes though he's only 2" in an attempt to prevent waste/hormone buildup.
I realize I was stupid to add all the fish for the 90 in the quarantine tanks...though the tank wasn't overstocked considering the fish sizes, having them all at once basically undermined the point of a quarantine.
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