AlyeskaGirl

Hello all,

I treated my 20-gal that houses Tetras for a bacteria/fungus infection. It goes away after 4-day treatment with Jungle Fungus Tank Buddies and I do a 25% w/c on the 5th day, next day looks good, the day after, then I did another w/c lastnight and rinsed filter media out in bucket of tank water, got up this mornin and they ALL are infected again! I can't pin point the problem! Any suggestions would be helpful. Oh and the same thing keeps happening in my q-tine tank......3 treatments now, do a w/c change and BAM it comes back.

sirdarksol

I'm so sorry you're having this problem.
I wonder if the fish are being weakened by the illness and treatment, and are falling ill again because their bodies can't cope with the stress.
Or you may have a strain that's growing a resistance to whatever is in Tank Buddies.

First of all, try changing meds. Maracyn is a good antibiotic (it's mild on the fish). I don't know much about anti-fungals, but I'm sure someone will make a recommendation.
Second, try extending the treatment. I'm afraid I can't give specifics on this, but for some illnesses, there are generally accepted instructions on how to increase treatment from, say, 4 days to 7 days.

Third, if your gourami is unaffected, you may want to remove it from the tank and treat the tank with Pimafix while using the other treatments. Keep the Pimafix treatment going for a week after you're done treating with the other meds. It may be enough to let the fish's immune systems recover from whatever's hitting them.

Extra stress coat, garlic juice, and some juicy, high-nutrient treats may also help them.

AlyeskaGirl

Thank you for your suggestions.

My problem is that I have to order the med you recommended. My LFS is very small and doesn't have a huge selection of meds. They only carry Pimafix, Melafix, Methlyen Blue and E.M. Erythromycin. I do have Pimafix and Melafix and I added Pimafix per your suggestion. My DG is already in a seperate q-tine plastic tub I setup a few days ago when I noticed he had a few white spots on tail and on eyes. That was from doing a w/c 5-days after treatment. The rest of the fish were fine until I did a w/c lastnight. I went two days this time before doing another w/c . Was working on getting the meds out. It's just all so crazy.

sirdarksol

The meth. blue is an effective treatment for external infections, but may be a bit harsh. I'd send you some of my Maracyn (I bought a second pack of it when I couldn't find the first. Now I have more than I'll use in the next ten years), but if the post office found out I was shipping antibiotics (even OTC pet ones), I could get hit with a serious fine.

AlyeskaGirl

That's OK don't want you to get in trouble. I will order some today.

I also have a bottle of Vita-Chem. I haven't used it yet but is that a good thing to add?

sirdarksol

Yes. I can't believe I forgot to suggest Vita-Chem.

AlyeskaGirl

Dang it, I've lost two fish!

aquarist48

Hello. Are you using the treatments long enough? 3 or 4 days just doesn't seem long enough.

sirdarksol

3-4 days is the usual time suggested in the directions with most treatments.

AlyeskaGirl

4 day treatment per instructions on box. 25% w/c before a second dose to be added if needed. I usually skip the second dose because its all gone by 4-days. Don't want to mediacate a second time if not needed. Or at least I am trying not to.

Thanks for your reply.

cerianthus

I am sure you probably are on top of the water conditions but just a friendly reminder to make sure that water is at optimal conditions before/after any treatments. If memory serves, most antibiotics has less solubilities in hard water thus double dosage on marine tank ( I am not saying to double the doasage).
I am sure tank is free of NH3, NO2 but how about pH? Just make sure it is not too far off!
Good Luck!

AlyeskaGirl

Hmmmm.....didnt think about the PH. The PH out of the tap after I let it sit an hour tests out as 6.4. I tested both my 55 gal and 20 gal and the PH are at 6.2 or lower. Even without medicating the PH is always that low. I am thinkin of getting some crushed coral that is if my only lfs carries it. But I don't want it as a substrate. Put a few cups in a mesh bag and put in filter to start with? Does the coral raise the PH slowly?

cerianthus

My tap is close to 7 and medium hard. ALways had too buffer the water to keep pH stablized. I do not know exactly what kind of tetras you keep but if pH is lower than 6.0, I would say it is somewhat low except for cardinals.
Before attempting to raise pH, via whatever means, check to make sure tank is free of NH3/NO2. I've seen enough hobbyist do more harm by raising pH w/o checking for NH3/NO2.

If tank is free of NH3/NO2, I rather recommend to raise the pH of New Water before adding it to tank (container of water with bag of CC, aeration). Thus with small water changes, pH can be brought up to desired level w/o adding chemicals directly to tank (slow changes). Hopefully once desired pH reached, you can run few tests to see how often you have to treat new water to stablized the pH at desired level.
Is ther any difference in pH of tap water before and after let it sit?

aquarist48

One thing that might help you in the future concerning your pH....I suggest not using chemicals to try and stabilize the pH. Chems like pH up or pH down. They can make your pH even more unstable and even crash in the long run. Not to mention the expense. Some other options are using some distilled water and or RO water to help stabilize it. pH can and will fluctuate to some degree. I hope your fish all get well soon!

AlyeskaGirl

Yes, there is a difference. If I just fill the tube up directly from the tap it comes out as 6.2 or lower. i don't let the water sit before adding I just dump it in. So PH is always that low. I've never wanted to mess with it because it can cause more probs in the long run, but now I wouldn't mind raising it up to 6.4-6.8 to see if it will help my problem with fish illness.

Another thing is that both of my tanks are not cycled due to having to medicate them. So that also can be part of the problem. But ammonia readings are below .25 in both tanks. And zero for nitrite, zero nitrate.

Just keepin up on water changes every few days, that is if I'm not medicating them!

Matter of fact all I did on the 55 gal a few days ago was a w/c and then the next day they had white stuff on their fins. I added ParaGuard yesterday afternoon and they looked good this mornin. What's in that tank right now is 4" Silver Dollar, 2 baby silver dollars, Pearl Gourmai, Angelfish and Senegal Bichir. I have 3 more Angels waiting to be added down in q-tine tank. 5 corys also to be added to 20-gal when I get this all straightend. A 2" BN waiting to be added to the 55 gal in a plastic tub I setup as a q-tine for the DG that came from the 20-gal. He was the first to get sick AGAIN, then the 20-gal brokeout and had to medicate the tank because had no place to put the fish without overcrowding in q-tine setups which would of been bad. I can go on and on.......and to top it all off the meds dyed my gravel in the 20-gal blue!!! I new it would but what choice did I have!

cerianthus

If memory serves, fish such as Bichir do produce white slime, as does Angel Cats, silver $, etc, when irritated by extreme pH, especially low pH (one way to tell if tank has been neglected). Could it be possible these slimes were on other fish rather infections?

When I kept Wild Discus (some at 5.0, 5.5 to 6.0, using digital probes), ammonia was always present at such low pH but NO2 was always NEGATIVE. Came to conclusion that at such low pH bio-activies cease to function as it would at higher pH. Thus by stablizing at 6.8 would take care of the ammonia issue but may go thru NO2 problem as NH3 is lowered by bacteria. Of course, water changes will takes care of the NO2 problem until restablized.
As I have said, can/should raise the pH of the tap water before adding to tank but GRADUALLY. You should be able to figure out how it can be done and how often thru trials and errors, that is for your tank (no tanks are alike). ALWAYS do small water changes so in case error was made, it wont be that drastic changes for fish.

Once proper conditions are given, probably less problems/infections will occur.

Hope all goes well!

AlyeskaGirl

Ok, thank you for your help I really appreciate it. If I have anymore questions or concerns I will surely seek you out.