Ok, I need some help with her. This is her fourth night in the tank and she is freaking out. One of the tangs broke out with Ich. I removed her and put her in a quaratine tank and am treating her with formalin. The other fish in the tank including the shark looked fine and were doing well breathing fine and everything. Tonight when I was feeding her I noticed that she was breathing really fast 40~50 gill movements per minute, she seemed irritated, sucking in sand, and she did one barel roll into the sand. I'm thinking that the whole tank is infected and I put Formalin and Melachite in the tank. What else do I need to do, I don't want to loose her
Emi, Krj, Zoodiver I need Help/Advice
- Thread starter amoahkuc
- Start date
Nitrate and Nitrites 0ppm, Alkalinity 180ppm, pH 8.4, SG is at 1.026 using a refractometer. No metals in the water, I always use an RO/DI unit to replace water. The tang that had ich did not make it this morning, the cleaner shrinp is still trying to clean up the shark, the two clown fish and the other tang seem un affected. I put carbon in my filter this morning to absorb any Formalin that I put into the tank. The shark's gill movments have slowed down between 36~40 per minute from about 40~50 per minute. Would constant water changes or dropping the salinity help?
She only did that once and it looked like she rolled really quick and then rubbed the top of her head against the substrate. She seems like she is resting and is no longer irritated as much, but she is still breathing rapidly. I will watch her tonight again when I feed her and then give an update. One thing I don't have on my tank is a UV sterilizer, but plan on putting one in. Do you think that it will help?
Did the shark's "odd" behavior occur before or after you added the Formalin.
Formalin is known to be toxic, and can seriously stress sharks & rays. It's really a bad idea to add any medication to the main tank. A much better option is use a quaratine or hospital tank to treat sick fishes.
That said because the tang had ich, means it's possible that every fish in the tank - also may be infected with ich. And that includes the shark.
Formalin is known to be toxic, and can seriously stress sharks & rays. It's really a bad idea to add any medication to the main tank. A much better option is use a quaratine or hospital tank to treat sick fishes.
That said because the tang had ich, means it's possible that every fish in the tank - also may be infected with ich. And that includes the shark.
Yep - you're going to have to treat the entire system, because I doubt moving all of your livestock to a QT system is feasible.
Treat with Quinine sulphate from www.nationalfishpharm.com. Shark safe, and works pretty fast. I've used it before on my bamboo's. Treat after you add carbon, turn on the skimmer(s), and do a water change. Melachite and formalin definitely weren't the best moves, and this will get rid of them.
I've avoid hypo as you're going to stress the shark more, and most definitely avoid increasing the temperature (often done in the case of crypt to hasten its lifecycle) because anything 80F+ is going to kill your shark.
One more thing: do you have fully grounded pumps/heaters/etc? If not, do you have a grounding probe installed? Sharks are incredibly sensitive to electrical currents/fields.
Good luck!
Treat with Quinine sulphate from www.nationalfishpharm.com. Shark safe, and works pretty fast. I've used it before on my bamboo's. Treat after you add carbon, turn on the skimmer(s), and do a water change. Melachite and formalin definitely weren't the best moves, and this will get rid of them.
I've avoid hypo as you're going to stress the shark more, and most definitely avoid increasing the temperature (often done in the case of crypt to hasten its lifecycle) because anything 80F+ is going to kill your shark.
One more thing: do you have fully grounded pumps/heaters/etc? If not, do you have a grounding probe installed? Sharks are incredibly sensitive to electrical currents/fields.
Good luck!
Thank You, I will definetley try and get the Quinine sulfate. I have two pumps and both have a ground probe in the plug. The two power heads in the tank however do not. It doesn't seem to bother her cause she will swim around them and it wont seem to bother her. I don't have any heaters in the tank because it naturally stays around 79~81F. I will get a grounding probe for the tank as well, but I've heard that because my tank is acrylic that it should be electrically insulated and adding a grounding probe will esentialy complete the circuit.
Just a couple added notes:
80 wont kill the shark. I've kept bamboos into the mid 80s just fine. My breeding set up used to be 82F.
And I think Maddox meant AFTER you treat, add carbon and turn on the skimmer. Carbon and skimmer will pull the treatment out of the water for you.
80 wont kill the shark. I've kept bamboos into the mid 80s just fine. My breeding set up used to be 82F.
And I think Maddox meant AFTER you treat, add carbon and turn on the skimmer. Carbon and skimmer will pull the treatment out of the water for you.
It's been my experience that prolonged exposure to waters 80F+ will eventually kill bamboos - don't think there's anything published that proves it either way, but just IME.
I meant use the carbon/skimmers to remove the formalin and other meds, then remove for the quinine treatment. Good luck!
I meant use the carbon/skimmers to remove the formalin and other meds, then remove for the quinine treatment. Good luck!