Treating “new” fish

I got 8 platies and 6 bronze cories 3 weeks ago on Friday and have had them in a 20 gallon long tank.

today one of the platies died unexpectedly and Im not sure on why because none appear to have any sickness. (Tank was cycled before getting them, no ammonia. 0/0/20/7.6-7.4 kh 5, GH 13-18, temp 73/74-77). I didn’t take a picture of the platy but he was a smaller one of the 8. He didn’t have any white marks on him and he wasn’t bloated nor was his scales stuck up

I haven’t SEEN any problems with them, but I’m all paranoid I’m not doing enough.
I got them from Petco, mind you, and I intend to use the babies from the platy as feeder fish for my axolotls. I don’t want sick fish to go into my tank so now I’m convinced I should be using some meds

I was instructed to do methylene blue for a week and then use prazipro but I wasn’t sure if both were needed or if only one was needed?

 

You can use them in conjunction with each other but corydora are scaleless fish and are notoriously sensitive to medications. I've used prazipro with cories before but not methylene blue *I treated baby pygmy cories with half dose of methlyene blue but one died that night and I got nervous so I took the methylene blue out so I dont know if it was a coincidence or not, the fish were only with me 3 days and were in QT from getting them at the LFS. If it were me, I wouldn't treat unless there was an obvious sign that my fish were sick. Sometimes it takes awhile for a weak fish to succumb to the stress of being moved, for no good reason. They don't always pass right away. It seems like you're doing everything right, so I would say one loss after 3 weeks isn't anything to stress about! If you were still feeling paranoid you could try the methylene blue at half dose just keep a super tight eye on your cories, it's known to be a super gentle treatment and pretty well rounded for bacterial and fungal issues. They say it can also eradicate ich but I've never tried it for that use. It won't cover parasites which is why that person suggested to use it with prazi, which is also known to be very gentle and good for worms/flukes and other parasites but I can't remember if I half dosed it with my cories or not.

 

You can use them in conjunction with each other but corydora are scaleless fish and are notoriously sensitive to medications. I've used prazipro with cories before but not methylene blue *I treated baby pygmy cories with half dose of methlyene blue but one died that night and I got nervous so I took the methylene blue out so I dont know if it was a coincidence or not, the fish were only with me 3 days and were in QT from getting them at the LFS. If it were me, I wouldn't treat unless there was an obvious sign that my fish were sick. Sometimes it takes awhile for a weak fish to succumb to the stress of being moved, for no good reason. They don't always pass right away. It seems like you're doing everything right, so I would say one loss after 3 weeks isn't anything to stress about! If you were still feeling paranoid you could try the methylene blue at half dose just keep a super tight eye on your cories, it's known to be a super gentle treatment and pretty well rounded for bacterial and fungal issues. They say it can also eradicate ich but I've never tried it for that use. It won't cover parasites which is why that person suggested to use it with prazi, which is also known to be very gentle and good for worms/flukes and other parasites but I can't remember if I half dosed it with my cories or not.

I used 10 drops for 10 gallons (per source instructions). I just switched them over to the tank with methylene blue and I put a little layer of sand on the ground for the cories (half sand/half bare bottom). I’ve read some stories that meth blue didn’t harm their cories so I’m hopeful here. The person who recommended this (a trusted person from axolotl sites) said he hadn’t had issue with the use of it with his cories before so I’m trusting that as well.

I hate treating without seeing cause but I really don’t want it to bite me in the butt when I add the babies to my axolotl tanks, fully knowing the axolotls are healthy. So I went ahead and did the methylene blue and will do prazipro after. I was instructed to leave the meth blue in, I will dose prime again tomorrow and the next day I’ll do 25% water change and then add prime again next day and then 25% again next day and then another 25% again next day, all spanning in a week. (For prazipro, should I wait a week after the fish are back in the tank? So to give them a rest? Or start that treatment right as soon as they’re back in?)

I’ll probably half dose the prazipro just because I am paranoid about that one. I’ve seen some have luck, and others not, with cories.

Should I not feed also? There is no filter (hence adding prime every day) but I do have an air stone (4in) and a heater to keep temp at 75-77

 

I used 10 drops for 10 gallons (per source instructions). I just switched them over to the tank with methylene blue and I put a little layer of sand on the ground for the cories (half sand/half bare bottom). I’ve read some stories that meth blue didn’t harm their cories so I’m hopeful here. The person who recommended this (a trusted person from axolotl sites) said he hadn’t had issue with the use of it with his cories before so I’m trusting that as well.

I hate treating without seeing cause but I really don’t want it to bite me in the butt when I add the babies to my axolotl tanks, fully knowing the axolotls are healthy. So I went ahead and did the methylene blue and will do prazipro after. I was instructed to leave the meth blue in, I will dose prime again tomorrow and the next day I’ll do 25% water change and then add prime again next day and then 25% again next day and then another 25% again next day, all spanning in a week. (For prazipro, should I wait a week after the fish are back in the tank? So to give them a rest? Or start that treatment right as soon as they’re back in?)

I’ll probably half dose the prazipro just because I am paranoid about that one. I’ve seen some have luck, and others not, with cories.

Should I not feed also? There is no filter (hence adding prime every day) but I do have an air stone (4in) and a heater to keep temp at 75-77

Are you just planning to remove them for the methylene blue because it stains then treating prazi in the main tank? And I would definitely refrain from feeding to reduce the load. I always did daily 90% WCs with temp matched water and m. blue redose when not using a filter so I was able to feed, but I'm overly cautious.

 

Are you just planning to remove them for the methylene blue because it stains then treating prazi in the main tank? And I would definitely refrain from feeding to reduce the load. I always did daily 90% WCs with temp matched water and m. blue redose when not using a filter so I was able to feed, but I'm overly cautious.

I removed them because I didn’t want to take my filter off of the tank, as meth blue notoriously kills good bacteria in the filter (plus the blue staining). I plan to dose ammonia in the meantime while they’re not in there. But yes, I plan to treat prazipro in the main tank once theyre back in. But yeah I kinda thought about water change every day and then re-dose but wasn’t sure how to do that. I’m very new to medications, as you can tell. Like I said, I don’t treat unless I see something wrong.
I suppose I’d add 1 drop per gallon like I did before, but overtime the method I wrote would also entail less of the medication over a period of a week. I’ll have to do some math to figure that out to do the same thing

 

I removed them because I didn’t want to take my filter off of the tank, as meth blue notoriously kills good bacteria in the filter (plus the blue staining). I plan to dose ammonia in the meantime while they’re not in there. But yes, I plan to treat prazipro in the main tank once theyre back in. But yeah I kinda thought about water change every day and then re-dose but wasn’t sure how to do that. I’m very new to medications, as you can tell. Like I said, I don’t treat unless I see something wrong.

Paraguard is a good alternative to both prazi and methylene blue just as a suggestion for you. It claims to treat parasitic, fungal, and bacterial issues and can be used as a preventive measure when adding new fish. I use it all the time and although it is blue like m. blue, it dissipates in the water quickly and doesn't stain my silicone even in my rimless tanks. It's very gentle and I know to be cory safe (tested personally) if you wanted to try that instead. It has the potential to knock out some BB, but in my experience with it over the years as long as it's an established filter bed it won't do any harm, and seachem claims it to be filter safe. The only negative thing I've noticed is my delicate leaved plants like tiger lotus doesn't like prolonged dosing of it too much and will start to melt on the leaf edges after a week or so.

 

G

Paraguard is a good alternative to both prazi and methylene blue just as a suggestion for you. It claims to treat parasitic, fungal, and bacterial issues and can be used as a preventive measure when adding new fish. I use it all the time and although it is blue like m. blue, it dissipates in the water quickly and doesn't stain my silicone even in my rimless tanks. It's very gentle and I know to be cory safe (tested personally) if you wanted to try that instead. It has the potential to knock out some BB, but in my experience with it over the years as long as it's an established filter bed it won't do any harm, and seachem claims it to be filter safe. The only negative thing I've noticed is my delicate leaved plants like tiger lotus doesn't like prolonged dosing of it too much and will start to melt on the leaf edges after a week or so.

Good to know, I wish you had mentioned that before because I had some of that as well. I’ve already started methylene blue so I’ll continue that and then move onto the prazipro. Those are also 2 known “safe” axolotl meds so I feel safer using those than paraguard. So far all cories look fine except one, but I was questioning that one to begin with because all day it had pretending to be dead. But fingers crossed they’ll all be fine.

I’ve made the dosage and water changes I’ll do for the next week just to be safe. It’s only 50% daily but it’s better than nothing and I’ll feel better about feeding.

2nd day:

• 50% water change
• Add 5 gallons, 20 drops Prime
• Redose 5 gallons- 1 drop per gallon=5 drops (wait 30 minutes after Prime)

3rd day:

• 50% water change
• Add 5 gallons, 20 drops Prime
• Redose 2 gallons, 1 drop per gallon=2 drops (wait 30 minutes after Prime)

4th day:

• 50% water change
• Add 5 gallons, 20 drops Prime
• Redose 2 gallons, 1 drop per gallon=2 drops (wait 30 minutes after Prime)

5th day:

• 50% water change
• Add 5 gallons, 20 drops Prime
• Redose 1 gallon, 1 drop per gallon=1 drops (wait 30 minutes after Prime)

6th day:

• 50% water change
• Add 5 gallons, 20 drops Prime

7th day:

• add back into main tank