omnitheforsaken

Hi again folks. I have determined that I need to treat my tank for bacterial infections. However, doing so will obviously kill my beneficial bacteria. At the suggestion of many people on this site, I maintain my bacteria with 2 filters. How do I treat my tank and preserve a filter? If I take one of my filters offline for the duration of treatment (4 days) will the bacteria in it live? Do I need to do anything in particular to the water before I put the standby filter back online (after treatment). I just want to make sure I do it right so I would appreciate any suggestions.

coffeebean

what are you planning on using to treat the infection? the fish meds you buy at the store shouldnt kill your biological filtration

joy1125

but they do Coffeebean, they do !!!!!

Omni, what are you treating for? How do you know it's bacterial?

coffeebean

hmm, you learn a little something every day. i assumed that the antibacterial meds were targeted to the bacteria they claim to fight. not just mass bacteria murder

good to know. do you have another tank you can keep the media in?

omnitheforsaken

I am treating for Droopsy and Fungus using a Jungle Labs Fungus Clear which treats for Fungus and Bacterial Infections. Most of my symptoms are listed in another post but tonight I found more which lead me to believe that it's bacterial and fungal. White-ish growth and scales look like they're peeling. Symptoms from the other post were lost of appetite, staying in hiding at the bottom of the tank, and very inactive. I came to this conclusion after reading the disease chart on this website and noticing the other symptoms. I actually had to have some one else look at them to tell me what they saw because I couldn't tell if I was being paranoid or not.

joy1125

most med labels say it won't affect the biofilter, and granted, some won't. I think Melafix doesn't. But a lot of them do, and that just makes things worse. If they were just honest about it, people would have a heads up, and know to check their readings.

omnitheforsaken

I have a 10 gallon fry tank that I could move the media to. Could that cause contamination of the fry tank? Will the benificial bacteria not survive with no circulation for 4 days?

joy1125

Omni, okay, sorry I didn't see your other threads.

Just a question, I noticed in your aquarium info you say you don't know about the nitrogen cycle. Is that old info? or do you need some help regarding that?

Have you checked your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate ?

oops, just noticed you're asking about your beneficial bacteria, so I guess you know about it ! hehee.... sorry !!

omnitheforsaken

Most of the Jungle meds do say that they won't affect the biofilter as you said but this one doesn't... so I'm assuming that it does. I'm really just trying to do what's best here. I do have a bottle of TSS on standby that will be used once this treatment is completed but I would like to not have to depend on that if I already have 2 HOB filters with bacteria in each. I know one will have to continue to circulate and thus all that bacteria will die, but I would like to know how to preserve the other media.

omnitheforsaken

Yeah... thanks for the offer. I've learned a lot from this site since I started, that's why I keep coming back. My nitrates were higher than they should've been, they were 30 after a 50% WC so that could be a factor, but I didn't think that it could have the physical symptoms that I noticed tonight.

joy1125

If it's contagious, the bacteria is in the filters as well. Moving it to the fry tank would infect that tank.

Even if you kept the one extra filter going on a rubbermaid tub for the duration, the contagious bacteria would still be within the filter when you placed it back into your main tank .

Edited to add>> Omni, I'd like to help, but feel in the dark a bit, because i haven't read your other threads, and don't really know what your dealing with in your tank, or what advice you've been given already. Can you direct me there, so I can read up? Thanks. ~ Joy

omnitheforsaken

Sounds like I have to treat both filters then. Blower, guess I will be dependant on the TSS. One more question then I'll be done. The 2 filters I have are the AC 50 and the Rena Smartfilter 55. The AC is no problem because I took the carbon out. The Rena on the other hand has the carbon/filter combo and thus can't be seperated, meaning I'll have to remove those filter baskets (the biological filter is seperate and can remain in place). If I let those filter baskets just dry out during treatment, will the harmful bacteria that may be in them die or is there another way to kill them since they won't be getting hit with the treated water? I guess peroxide might work. Any thoughts?

joy1125

if you let the filter dry out, yes the beneficial bacteria will die, very quickly.

just a question. i couldn't find your other thread. Are you sure you have dropsy and a fungal infection Is any fish pine-coning?

Any way you can post pics?

omnitheforsaken

Don't know how to link you to it but no one has replied to it. The tank consists of 6 female adult mollies (they're what's sick right now), 1 Peppered Cory, 1 Apple Snail, a bunch of Molly Fry, Java Moss, Java Fern, driftwood, Flame Moss, and a Waterlilly. 29 gal. Symptoms noted in other post were inactivity, loss of appetite, and constant hiding. Did a 10% WC Sunday, 50% Tuesday, 20% Today and plan on another 20% Saturday. If treatment is needed like I think it is, I won't start it until after the WC on Saturday. That's pretty much the details of the other post. It was called Sick Mollies and I think I put it in the Freshwater Disease forum.

joy1125

okay, I read that.

It doesn't sound like dropsy, not at all and doesn't sound fungal.

I say hold off on the meds until we can see what's going on. Do you have any anti-bacterial food in the house ? Jungle has a great product called Jungle Anti-Bacterial Medicated food, Petsmart & Petco sell it. (It can't hurt to feed it to them, so don't worry if it turns out it's not bacterial.)

Water changes are good, I'm glad to see you doing them.
Also, it can't hurt to do them every day, especially if you think there's a bacterial issue. Fresh water will help, so you don't have to wait till Saturday to do another one.

omnitheforsaken

I'll get the Jungle and hold off on the meds like you said. Thanks for the advice. So what would you think it is given the white-ish growth and peeling skin. I know pictures would probably be better but don't let my internet connection fool you, I'm low-tech so my camera phone doesn't do much good. The creamsciles make it easy to see the white growth although it's on the top of their heads and not around the mouth like is often suggested and the silver one and one of the dalmations have what would look like peeling skin on a person. It's hard to see them all since they stay in hiding, so I can't speak on the other 2 dalmations appearance. I have to force them out of their hiding places just to get the glimpses I get. But it has to be something.

joy1125

Omni, check out this site and see if this is similar to what you are noticing with your fish.
http://www.flippersandfins.net/flexibacter.htm

it's flexibacter columnaris (aka black molly disease)

also another site
http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/prof...olumnaris.html

edited to include> I noticed the symptom list is similar to what your mollies have, including not eating, the whitish growth on the head, the peeling scales.

omnitheforsaken

Good stuff. Thanks for everything.

joy1125

I hope everything works out okay for the fish. I know there's treatment recommendations in both those sites, if that's what you think it is.

Good luck, let me know how you make out !