Broodstock tanks got the funk

[landlord]

The gods are not smiling on me today. Seems as if both of my new pairs of fish got the funk. I guess I am the only one to blame here for sure. My GSM's have over the past couple of days developed white patches around their chins and on their flanks. Last night the female was doing some erratic twicthing. My Onyx pair seems to have something going on as well. The female looks like she is growing white whiskers and had speckles of white on her flanks. Yesterday and the day before that, she was not closing her mouth. Last night she was sitting vertically in the corner of the tank. Kind of doing a headstand. The little male was breathing very heavily. Also as of yesterday they did not take any food.

Sheesh!

So I begin to try and remedy this with the following:

1. Dropped the salinity in both tanks to 1.018 (hyposalinity)
2. Introduced Formalin to both tanks, per recommended dosage, 2 drop per gallon.
3. Added a very hard stream of bubbles from an airstone to offset the Oxygen depletion caused by the Formalin (read this on a discus website last night) Can't hurt I suppose.

This morning the GSM female was still twitchy but at least she is still eating, and alive for that matter. She really hasn't taken any frozen brine or mysis but she does have a hankering for Otohime C1.

The Onyx pair seem more visibly improved at least in behavior. The female was not in the corner doing yoga. Her and the male were upright and swimming in their flower pot together He still seemed to be breathing heavy and the parasites/protozoa whatever were still noticeable. Neither would take any food this morning, I tried Otohime C1, another favorite of theirs, go figure. The females mouth is no longer wide open.

I am thinking that my excitement for breeding and impatience probably resulted in their respective infections. Let me run down the rookie moves I've made

1. Broodstock tanks were not properly cycled, they were essentially just set up.

2. Had the itch to buy something at the local LFS (a bubble tip for the onyx's, which the male loved. A LTA for the maroons, which was stupid since it is not a suggested hosting anemone, it was returned. I moved the BTA out of the Onyx tank as well during the medication period. This was bad for both the anemones, which require a more mature tank, and the fish which probably got infected with something carried on the anems from the LFS.

I will update this thread as things progress. I need to exercise some restraint and patience. Get my broodstock/growout system up and running and try and get some stability here.

Thanks for reading

--Kurt

 

[rkelman]

I think the Formalin is a good idea. I'd even consider doing a Formalin dip. Hypo is 1.009 you need to go alot lower than you are. Do some research though before using Formalin and Hypo at the same time. I'm not sure if its a good Idea or not. Good luck. oh be careful with Formalin as its a carcinogen.

 

[landlord]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15054475#post15054475 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rkelman
Hypo is 1.009

Found several articles to back your number. Wow! Not sure where I pulled my number from but I definitely missed the mark!

In any case, notwithstanding my hypo error:

Formalin is like a little bottle of magic!

The GSM's show no signs of growths or white speckles and are both swimming and eating as normal. I am absolutely stunned at the turnaround. Two days ago you would have thought I threw pancake batter on their faces. On another note the hard stream of bubbles is like a new toy. The GSM female spends hours swimming in and out of them. My wife absolutely loves it She wants airstones installed in every tank! I have this feeling I'm going to come home to one of those treasure chests from Finding Nemo in the broodstock tank :lol:

The Onyx pair is also much much improved. White speckles are gone, the females white looking whiskers are gone. She is back to her normal swimming behavior as is the male. No more open mouths. The male of the pair took brine shimp and pellet food. The female was actively chasing down the food but as of last night did not appear to eat any. I believe I saw her slurp down a pellet this AM but cannot be certain. I was working the tank below hers and saw it out of the corner of my eye.

All in all things are 100% better than a couple days back.

I'll probably continue with the Formalin treatment for another day but really I can't see any remaining issues with them. Seems like the problem went away really really fast????

Thnaks again

Kurt

 

[rkelman]

It sounds alot like brook.. Comes fast but goes fast as well. Be very careful not to transfer it or whatever it is to your other tanks.

 

[Grunt]

My saddlebacks just finished QT...My hypo was at 1.009 as well. Also make sure you get some calibration fluid for your refractometer to make sure its reading correctly. My clowns didnt seem to mind the salinity change, an issue with the temp one day and it was bad.

I took well over a week to finally raise the hypo from 1.009 back up to 1.026.

Treat even though the signs are present to be safe.

 

[landlord]

Both of the affected pairs pulled through like champs. Not sure how long to continue this regimen. Everyone is happy and eating with no marks.

landlord

Thanks for your advice and assistance. Much appraciated.

 

[rkelman]

for Hypo. 6 weeks IMO.