dcombs44
New member
This is going to be long, but I need to tell the whole story so you can understand the situation. Please read and advise.
Hi there. This is the first real problem I've had in quite some time. My tank has been battling red planaria for some time now, so I decided that it was time to rid of the problem. I used Salifert's flatworm exit before to no avail, so this time I raised the dosage. I siphoned worms before, during, and after, and changed 4 gallons of water out on my 55 gallon immediately following treatment, and 7 more gallons a few hours later. I also added some carbon to my sump.
This particular tank has been running for almost a year, but most of the rock is from my first tank and is almost 4. I have a tomato clown and a yellow tang and various small softies, lps, and polyps.
After the treatment, my critters started showing some signs of distress. The clown seemed fine, the tang was breathing just slightly harder than usual and all the corals were clinched up. I consulted Marc Levenson on RC, and he suggested some sort of ammonia remover. Well I didn't have any on hand, and the local pet stores were closed so I ran to wal-mart for the cheap ammonia, chlorine, and chloramine remover. I dosed accordingly and tested my tank an hour later noting no ammonia reading. Before I went to bed, I noticed that my clown's fins looked a bit frayed, but it was late and I was out of options.
Today after work, I arrived home to my corals looking rough but better, and my fish showing worse signs of fit rot. I scrambled to PetSmart (I figured they'd have every medication and additive in the world) and grabbed some melafix, as that was the best option that they had. After speaking with Melev, he said I needed to get some water forced through the carbon in order to have it be more efficient, so I hooked a powerhead up to the open end of a floss bag of carbon. It worked great, but the carbon wasn't rinsed well, so now my tank is black.
I then decided to try and quarantine my fish and treat the frayed fins in some fresh water using a sponge that I keep in my sump for such an occasion. I couldn't catch either of them, and I didn't want to stress them any more than I already had, so I treated the whole tank with Melafix. Of course the corals closed back up immediately, but have since recovered. I'm now running my display with no carbon and no skimmer (per the melafix instructions).
Can someone recommend another water change, continuing to medicate the tank, running carbon, or turning the skimmer back on?
It's been so long since I've had any issues like this that I don't know how to react. Please help!
Hi there. This is the first real problem I've had in quite some time. My tank has been battling red planaria for some time now, so I decided that it was time to rid of the problem. I used Salifert's flatworm exit before to no avail, so this time I raised the dosage. I siphoned worms before, during, and after, and changed 4 gallons of water out on my 55 gallon immediately following treatment, and 7 more gallons a few hours later. I also added some carbon to my sump.
This particular tank has been running for almost a year, but most of the rock is from my first tank and is almost 4. I have a tomato clown and a yellow tang and various small softies, lps, and polyps.
After the treatment, my critters started showing some signs of distress. The clown seemed fine, the tang was breathing just slightly harder than usual and all the corals were clinched up. I consulted Marc Levenson on RC, and he suggested some sort of ammonia remover. Well I didn't have any on hand, and the local pet stores were closed so I ran to wal-mart for the cheap ammonia, chlorine, and chloramine remover. I dosed accordingly and tested my tank an hour later noting no ammonia reading. Before I went to bed, I noticed that my clown's fins looked a bit frayed, but it was late and I was out of options.
Today after work, I arrived home to my corals looking rough but better, and my fish showing worse signs of fit rot. I scrambled to PetSmart (I figured they'd have every medication and additive in the world) and grabbed some melafix, as that was the best option that they had. After speaking with Melev, he said I needed to get some water forced through the carbon in order to have it be more efficient, so I hooked a powerhead up to the open end of a floss bag of carbon. It worked great, but the carbon wasn't rinsed well, so now my tank is black.
I then decided to try and quarantine my fish and treat the frayed fins in some fresh water using a sponge that I keep in my sump for such an occasion. I couldn't catch either of them, and I didn't want to stress them any more than I already had, so I treated the whole tank with Melafix. Of course the corals closed back up immediately, but have since recovered. I'm now running my display with no carbon and no skimmer (per the melafix instructions).
Can someone recommend another water change, continuing to medicate the tank, running carbon, or turning the skimmer back on?
It's been so long since I've had any issues like this that I don't know how to react. Please help!
