Well, I put some Parasite clear (tank buddies) into my 20 gallon with 1 pleco, 2 platys, 2 mollies and 5 tiger barbs last night. I took out my mystery snails because I wasn't sure if the snails could take the meds or not so they are in my makeshift tank with my 2 guppies.
Anywho, as soon as the tablet started fizzing, all the fish started freaking out except for the pleco who seems to be as peachy as pie. They all were flashing (and still are now) at some point, especially my tiger barbs. Also my platys seem to be having seizure like episodes where they poke out all their fins and shake a bit.
The water is slightly cloudy, but I'm assuming it's from the medicine. The water parameters are surprisingly good, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrates, 7.6 pH, temp 79F.
Is the medicine working or making things worse? It says 48 between medicating the water. Should I medicate it once or do it again?
I have a video of them flashing.
Last edited by wakingupnow; March 11th, 2009 at 01:18 AM.
Reason: video did not work.
Well, I had a black molly that died not too long ago from an internal parasite. The new molly I got had white stuff on her lips and it still looks like her gills are white. My white molly seemed very sluggish and was tensing up. Then last night before I put the meds in, one of my barbs started acting very strange and was swimming vertically and then darting around.
I don't remember seeing any flashing before the parasite clear was added. Is that a bad thing?
I've used Parasite Clear before, but my fish seemed to tolerate it fine..
Flashing is a sign of irritation, and can be caused by many, many different things. If they only do it occasionally, and nothing else wrong with your fish, I would just keep an eye on them for now. When the first treatment is done, then evaluate and see if the medication improved their condition.
you're right, fish are very sensitive to salt but sometimes people add salt when medicating tanks because it helps to stimulate the slime coating (IMO stress coat does this much better without irritating the fish so much).
i ask because the salt could have caused the flashing if you added it at the same time as the meds
The water is slightly cloudy, but I'm assuming it's from the medicine. The water parameters are surprisingly good, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrates
What are you using for testing? Strips or liquid? Because you show zero for NitrAtes and your water is slightly cloudy and some flashing. That screams bad water quality to me! Was the water slightly cloudy before you put the meds in or after? That my be why they are acting weird for some other reason then the meds because you show zero across the board and you may have high ammonia readings. Do you have extra aeration like an airstone since you are treating with meds?
Ahh okay agabr, but no I didn't use any salts. I just wondered why would the medicine irritate them.
I was wondering the same thing Alyeska. I use liquid testers with drops which have always been accurate and at the moment, my tank is in the middle of cycling. It was odd because there usually is some trace of ammonia, but when I tested the water there were none. And yes, the tank water was clear before adding the tank buddy. The bubbler I have is in my makeshift tank at the moment, so I don't have any other aeration.
I have been doing 25 percent water changes every day except for yesterday and I am going to do another tonight and I just added the coal back into the filter cartridge.
The fish seem better, but still are flashing. I'm about to do a 25 percent water change now. Hopefully this will help.
Actually ammo, nitrite and nitrate are all at zero. I'm in the middle of cycling (I was uneducated about it before hand unfortunately) and I water change daily to keep the ammonia as low as possible.
I have an 8 gallon that I'm cycling fishless right now. I have to test the water to see if it's ready.
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