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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
alysoun at planetall_com (home)
alysoun.mclaughlin at ncsl_org (work)