The Bill is now due. The beat goes on.

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
jjohnwm said:
😲 :ROFL:😒

I am able to overlook that condescending comment only because my fish tanks...unlike yours...keep me mellow, relaxed and resilient to insults. :)

Ommmmmm.....:)
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LOL I considered growing out a giant goldfish at one time...maybe I'll put a fat fancy in with a chocolate. They like higher temps. Emphasis on peaceful for sure. In other news, syno Cash is doing okay and sticking on the vertical airstone blocks. Will take some time to get his skin back though.
 
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The redo of the 125 is done. Haven't added the soaked log yet, will do one last rinse first. There's enough ground cover so everyone feels safe but all arranged for more floorspace. So far so good. Everyone seems much calmer (shanking relatives helps) and with the catfish out there's a lot less competition at the bottom. I see a lot of scampering to the top now. So with the log they'll likely hang out even more at the top.

Confirmed Coliseum survivors:

Shade, Mote, Bumper (striped sons of Mongo and Pip) first generation offspring
Fric and Frac (striped great grandsons-sons of Mongo and granddaughter Nix) juvies
Brutus, Lucky, Deuce, Outlaw Baby (pink marble sons of Slade with Blaze and Speck ) Outlaw Baby is a genetic freak at only one inch. Brutus is a genetic freak at approx 4H x 1W x 9L inches. They are half brothers.
 
You were doing fine until the HRP started breeding. All the color variants probably made it fun.

We’ve all been there with cichlids. The hard part is culling the majority of fry or feeding them off and only keeping a few.

I always enjoy reading about the chaos though
 
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I'm feeling low about now.

Went downstairs to empty the humidifier and just like that, now Lucky has the disease. I can do nothing but watch as my fish drop, hoping my tank doesn't get wiped out. There was no sign of anything yesterday, nothing.

No medicines I've tried work. Haven't been able to save a single one. No fish introduced and some unknown factor is killing my fish off. I've cleaned, scrubbed and it still continues. I'm sick of trying to find reasons and understand all this.

Lucky is a younger male, not quite grown. He's an offspring of Harlequin and Slade. Genetics? I just don't know anymore. I almost hate looking at the tank now.

I'm taking Lucky out for all the good it does. whomever survives will truly be the strongest fish.
 
Sorry to hear that. From your past descriptions, sounds like a bad case of columnaris and that stuff is very virulent.

In the past, I’ve successfully treated it with acriflavine but I haven’t seen that in a while. A combo of furan2 and Seachem Kanaplex.

I’d up your water changes to large daily changes, do deep gravel vacs, lower your temps, and medicate with Kanaplex and furan2. You can even try to knock it back a bit by using potassium permanganate in your tank but that stuff kills your beneficial bacteria so you’ll have to be careful.
 
phreeflow said:
In the past, I’ve successfully treated it with acriflavine but I haven’t seen that in a while. A combo of furan2 and Seachem Kanaplex
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API discontinued Furan 2 back during the early days of Covid. I had a nasty case of columnaris and the Jungle Fungus Clear made short work but I lost 14/40 of my saulosi colony before I got it under control. It was the worst disease in terms of sheer fish loss that I’ve ever experienced.

I’m sorry to hear you’re going through this. It’s an awful feeling watching your fish die while feeling helpless.!
 
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HUKIT said:
API discontinued Furan 2 back during the early days of Covid. I had a nasty case of columnaris and the Jungle Fungus Clear made short work but I lost 14/40 of my saulosi colony before I got it under control. It was the worst disease in terms of sheer fish loss that I’ve ever experienced.

I’m sorry to hear you’re going through this. It’s an awful feeling watching your fish die while feeling helpless.!
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That sucks…fish meds are getting hard to find. I think she sourced nitrofurazone on Amazon
 
phreeflow said:
That sucks…fish meds are getting hard to find. I think she sourced nitrofurazone on Amazon
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Yes, that's what I have. It's a treatment for koi ponds. Very powerful, 1/4 tsp for 30 gallons. Definitely harder to find some meds without going to a medical grade website $$$$. Sulfaplex has all but disappeared and that's the only med I had any success with.

As far as what's going on I was pleasantly surprised to see Lucky alive this morning and relaxed. However, his head is "red". And I've seen this before. He's soaking in about 2 gallons in a wide bucket. I added salt and wet a glove fingertip with the nitrofurazone (just enough to coat it lightly) and mixed it in. I have Kanaplex. My question is how to combine the two?

The nitrofurazone says fresh water every 24 hrs (20%). I'll have to check the duration if Lucky lasts that long. Meanwhile the tank has had a second 90% w/c in three days. I've made a change in the filtration. In the short span between changes the filters pulled out lots of organic debris (which supposedly helps feed columnaris bacteria). So the filter sponges were tossed. Until further notice I will be using filter floss with the other bio media and tossing it daily if necessary. I want to make sure no media is putting nitrates back where it doesn't belong. Those sponge pieces were breaking down anyway.

There haven't been any heaters in the tank for nearly 2 years and the fish don't seem to care. Temps stay in the 72-76 range. In fact my only heated tank is the 225.

Below is what I'm using:

1749997977536.png

All quiet for now.
 
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I’ve safely used both Kanaplex and nitrofurazone at full dose at the same time with great results. If it were me, I wouldn’t treat fish individually in a bucket as water parameters can change too rapidly.

Also, columnaris is particularly virulent so I’d rather treat the entire tank. You can also maintain stable parameters easier in a tank. It can lay dormant or in check and come back with force. I believe Viktor also struggled with it recurring again and again.

Try to knock down the bacterial load through lots of water changes, lessen feedings, vacuum the gravel, squeeze out filters, and lower temps
 
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