My nightmare continues...
I've had a ton of tank issues going on lately, so forgive me for posting this here even though I believe it's a simple fix. I just want a second opinion:
My orangeheads just started clamping and flashing. It's mostly one female, but the others aren't 100% and look like they're considering clamping. The female seems to be getting worse before my eyes, simply sitting on the bottom of the tank (though she does move around if other fish come past)
Chronology:
This is three breeding pairs - they breed like clockwork - that live in a 120 with 9 Discus. Temperature is usually 86.
One of the Discus looked sick so on the advice of some discus experts we did a round of Formalin then switched to Furan-2. The temperature was reduced to 80 for these. No salt with the Formalin, but salt at 2tbsp/10g with the Furan. No food. Sand was removed.
The 120 needed to be disinfected (and I wanted to buff it - what a disaster that has been, but a story for another time) so I broke it down and set up my 220. Some holding tank. I intended to continue to treat the Discus but separate the Orangeheads out so they could eat, as they were never affected and even looked like they were trying to breed on the bare bottom of the 120 during the Furan treatment.
In a nightmarish haze, my brain shut off and I forgot to add Prime to the Discus holding tank and I killed one of them from Chlorine Toxicity. The others, out of necessity, were dumped into the 220.
No treatment has happened in 2 days since then, as I want them to get a break.
The 220 is bare bottom and with an empty sterile FX5 in charge of circulating water. Last night I fed them, knowing I'd be doing a water change today (single-python 50% changes on 220s take forever!) and this morning the one female was clamping and hiding in the corner. Now since the morning the others seem to be getting worse too.
They still come to the glass and want food and they're still active, but the one is flashing a lot and flirty/breeding activity has ceased. Their heads are still orange but the fins aren't at 100%.
My test kit shows me trace ammonia, but not even .25. I think my tap water has that much in it, actually. But there's no bacteria in this tank. I am doing a 50% water change. Still, the discus are unaffected so I don't think it's ammonia.
A bigger problem, I think, is that the heater is only holding 79-80 degrees. I didn't think that was an issue, since that was the temperature for treatment too, but it can't be good. With the exception of this last week of treatment I have never kept these fish below 84.
For now, I added another heater and a pound of salt. The salt is dissolving as I type.
This is a clean, bare-bottom tank with 220 gallons of fresh water 48 hours ago and a 110g change just now. They were fine until this morning and now suddenly are acting like there's a toxin in the water. What could this be?
Thanks.
I've had a ton of tank issues going on lately, so forgive me for posting this here even though I believe it's a simple fix. I just want a second opinion:
My orangeheads just started clamping and flashing. It's mostly one female, but the others aren't 100% and look like they're considering clamping. The female seems to be getting worse before my eyes, simply sitting on the bottom of the tank (though she does move around if other fish come past)
Chronology:
This is three breeding pairs - they breed like clockwork - that live in a 120 with 9 Discus. Temperature is usually 86.
One of the Discus looked sick so on the advice of some discus experts we did a round of Formalin then switched to Furan-2. The temperature was reduced to 80 for these. No salt with the Formalin, but salt at 2tbsp/10g with the Furan. No food. Sand was removed.
The 120 needed to be disinfected (and I wanted to buff it - what a disaster that has been, but a story for another time) so I broke it down and set up my 220. Some holding tank. I intended to continue to treat the Discus but separate the Orangeheads out so they could eat, as they were never affected and even looked like they were trying to breed on the bare bottom of the 120 during the Furan treatment.
In a nightmarish haze, my brain shut off and I forgot to add Prime to the Discus holding tank and I killed one of them from Chlorine Toxicity. The others, out of necessity, were dumped into the 220.
No treatment has happened in 2 days since then, as I want them to get a break.
The 220 is bare bottom and with an empty sterile FX5 in charge of circulating water. Last night I fed them, knowing I'd be doing a water change today (single-python 50% changes on 220s take forever!) and this morning the one female was clamping and hiding in the corner. Now since the morning the others seem to be getting worse too.
They still come to the glass and want food and they're still active, but the one is flashing a lot and flirty/breeding activity has ceased. Their heads are still orange but the fins aren't at 100%.
My test kit shows me trace ammonia, but not even .25. I think my tap water has that much in it, actually. But there's no bacteria in this tank. I am doing a 50% water change. Still, the discus are unaffected so I don't think it's ammonia.
A bigger problem, I think, is that the heater is only holding 79-80 degrees. I didn't think that was an issue, since that was the temperature for treatment too, but it can't be good. With the exception of this last week of treatment I have never kept these fish below 84.
For now, I added another heater and a pound of salt. The salt is dissolving as I type.
This is a clean, bare-bottom tank with 220 gallons of fresh water 48 hours ago and a 110g change just now. They were fine until this morning and now suddenly are acting like there's a toxin in the water. What could this be?
Thanks.
