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Fish Medications
Yes, Karen, this is the question I was hinting
at after your PVAS presentation... ;)
Two questions, actually. What products are
recommended for full-range medication, with the least harm to plants?
And which product(s) should I use as a plant
dip, to ensure that a plant is completely discus-safe? I'd rather not use
bleach, if I can help it. Will salt be sufficient? If so, what
concentration for how long? (I know the answer to some of these questions
should be in the archives, but I couldn't find them.)
I'd like to transfer a few plants from my
community tank to a new tank we're setting up for discus.
However, in the past few weeks, I've had a rash
of serious problems erupt in my community tank. I introduced a new
angelfish into the tank, with no quarantine, and within the next two days the
rest of my angelfish died. About two weeks later, he also kicked it.
Then the bacterial problems started to show up -- I lost a betta to popeye and
skin lesions, two pelvicachromis subocellatus to apparent side fungus, and an
egyptian mouthbrooder to some sort of wasting disease. It all happened
slowly, so I just crossed my fingers and kept up with water changes, never dosed
the tank with an antibiotic or anything else, and hoped that it would go
away. No such luck -- now a cacatuoides is starting to stand on his
tail.
I'm now going to treat the entire tank, because
I don't want to lose this beautiful triple red cacatuoides or anyone else, for
that matter, and I will probably start with a day or two of Maracyn II or
TriSulfa, but if there's a way to completely disinfect the entire tank without
destroying my plants, I'd love to hear it. Otherwise, I'll just treat what
I can, cross my fingers, and not buy anything new for a few months.
On the other hand, I want to really nuke the few plants I'm
transferring (pretty hardy types, an ocelot sword, sagittarius, hygro sp.) to
make sure they're absolutely safe for the discus.
Please don't bother to respond with the usual "if your
tank is healthy, you don't need medication". I've had this community
set up for over a year, and I've yet to lose a cardinal tetra. I've kept
up with water changes, and the usual indicators are perfectly stable. But
there's obviously something going on, and clearly some of it's bacterial, but
from the pattern of deaths (especially the angelfish) I'm also concerned about
viruses and/or parasites.
Bottom line is, I'm afraid to put anything new
in my tank, and afraid to take anything out, especially if it's going to come in
contact with discus. Any suggestions?
Alysoun McLaughlin