Interpet anti internal bacteria with clown pleco

Hi all,

I want to treat my tank for a suspected bacterial infection. Several of my fish are exhibiting symptoms so I want to treat the whole tank, but I have a clown pleco so I want to know if anyone has had any experience with Interpret anti internal bacteria with a scaleless catfish?Quarantining isn't really an option for me.

Thanks for any advice!

 

Just to make sure whether you even need to use that med - as most anti bacterial meds mess up the biological balance of a tank - would you care to fill out the emergency template? Maybe you don't have to use that med after all.

Also, what do the instructions say is the active ingredient?

 

Thanks, I will fill out the template ASAP. The listed ingredients are formaldehyde, bronopol and benzalkonium chloride.

 

That's more or less Formalin, which is primarily an external parasite medication.

 

Tank
What is the water volume of the tank?
240l

How long has the tank been running?
8 months

Does it have a filter?
Fluval 307 canister and a fluval u4 internal

Does it have a heater?
Yes
What is the water temperature?
25C
What is the entire stocking of this tank?
9 black ruby barbs
6 boesmani rainbow fish
3 mollies
8 cory cats
2 apistogramma
1 clown pleco
3 nerite snails

Maintenance
How often do you change the water?
Twice a week

How much of the water do you change?
60 litres each change

What do you use to treat your water?
Seachem prime

Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water?
Substrate

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish?
Yes
What do you use to test the water?
API Master test kit

What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 25ppm
pH: 7.4

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish?
Once per day, separate night feeding for cories

How much do you feed your fish?
One pinch of pellets or equivalent veggies and frozen food
What brand of food do you feed your fish?
Do you feed frozen or freeze-dried foods?
Yes, frozen, one a week

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? 5 weeks

How long ago did you first notice these symptoms?
Today

In a few words, can you explain the symptoms?
Popeye in one eye

Have you started any treatment for the illness?
No

Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase?
No

How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all?
Just popeye, no other symptoms

Explain your emergency situation in detail. (Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now
My main concern is that I have recently lost two cories. I suspected that it was internal parasites and treated. During treatment I lost a molly, which I believe sadly was due to stopping water changes during the two week treatment but this is only a suspicion.

A couple of weeks ago one of the rainbow fish had one of its gills open. Its hard to see properly but it doesn't seem red or otherwise damaged and the problem seems to be slowly resolving. Now this molly with popeye and I am pulling my hair out with what to do or even the specific cause(s). Paralysed between wanting to do something and worried that acting further will just exacerbate the problem.

That's more or less Formalin, which is primarily an external parasite medication.

Thanks - it's advertised as an internal bacteria med but that makes sense. I'm in the UK so pretty much no access to antibiotics.

 

Thanks - it's advertised as an internal bacteria med but that makes sense. I'm in the UK so pretty much no access to antibiotics.

Yeah, so you have not many choices.

Without antibiotics your best bet is the waterchange method: 50% (or more) waterchanges every 24-48h for a week, additionally add catappa leaves (IALs) and alder cones.

What makes this a bit tricky is the fact you have hardwater (mollies, rainbowfish) and softwater (the rest) fish, and usually the effect the botanicals have on softwater fish, salt has on hardwater fish. Important is, you don't mix tannins and salt. Both reduce bacteria density in the watercolumn (in addition to removal by waterchange) and slightly irritate the mucous layers in the fishes skin, promoting immune stimulation and reducing the bacteria on the skin, too. So while you remove surplus bacteria you also strengthen the fishes immune systems.
Though, both together can have adverse effects of being chemically abrasive to the skin and lead to injuries to the skin similar to chemical burns.

Additionally some people here use Sera Ectopur, but I have to admit I have no experience with that stuff and it also only has a support function, not a direct influence.

The success rate is between 50 and 75%, but there is no guarantee. I have to stress that.

If the method should work successfully I can only advise you to optimize the stocking and general conditions, maybe moving away from a typical anything-goes-community tank to a South American / South East Asian (or at least softwater) community, because then the fish all have similar needs, and problems like this can be handled better than when keeping fish with mixed requirements.

Oh, also: ALL catfish are scaleless. Corydoras and Plecos have their armour right UNDER the actual skin.

 

Thanks for such a detailed reply. I will start with large pwcs and consider the tannins or salt route. I have heard that catfish can be especially sensitive to salt - would this be an issue if I went down this route?

I will certainly reconsider my stocking - I did try to do my research and everything I read suggested my stock would be compatible. There is such a lot of bad or incomplete information out there it's often hard to parse the good advice from the bad.

I started out with the S American species but as I have hard water in my area I figured that rainbow fish would be fine, too. I only have mollies as one stowed away in a bag with other fish, so rather than the stress of returning it I decided to get some more to keep it company.

 

Thanks for such a detailed reply. I will start with large pwcs and consider the tannins or salt route. I have heard that catfish can be especially sensitive to salt - would this be an issue if I went down this route?

True, just to be on the safe side, should you go with salt: Use 1/2 to 3/4 of the recommended dose. You can always raise the dosage if it works out. Also make sure to dissolve the salt in water before adding it to the tank.

I will certainly reconsider my stocking - I did try to do my research and everything I read suggested my stock would be compatible. There is such a lot of bad or incomplete information out there it's often hard to parse the good advice from the bad.

Tell me about it... You want good info, look on seriouslyfish.com

I started out with the S American species but as I have hard water in my area I figured that rainbow fish would be fine, too. I only have mollies as one stowed away in a bag with other fish, so rather than the stress of returning it I decided to get some more to keep it company.

With hard tap, I rephrase my recommendation: Go for hardwater. When it comes to parameters the path of least resistance is best, so rather chose fish that fit your water than the other way round.

 

Thanks for all your advice here. Fingers crossed it works out.