teddscau
New member
Okay, so I've finally decided to tackle the mild, chronic parasitic infection in my tank. It's some sort of gill parasite, and I've tried treating it in the past, but it clearly didn't kill all the parasites as my convict tang is still having issues with itchy gills.
Anyways, I'm going to fatten up my fish for a month, then see if my vet can perform a non-lethal gill biopsy on Pixel to find out exactly what parasite's been making him so agitated. I mean, I guess I could throw every known parasitic treatment at them (formalin bath, hyposalinity, copper, methylene blue, methylene green, potassium permanganate, and praziquantel), but that sounds like a stupid idea. If he can't perform a biopsy, I'll just treat them with formalin baths, copper, and maybe PraziPro.
I'll have to keep these jerks out of the display tank for two weeks so that all the parasites in the tank will hopefully die off. This poses a problem, seeing as I have an overly active 5" convict tang who's aggressive due to his gills, a very nervous 5""“6" blue tang who's bonded to the convict, two bonded Ocellaris (the female's at least 8cm), four wild-caught pyjama cardinalfish who are a pain to feed, a striped blenny (she's a good girl, so she shouldn't be a problem), and a firefish who is extremely skittish.
Originally, my plan was to set up four buckets (two tangs in one, four cardinals in the second, two clowns in the third, and Blenny and the firefish in the fourth), but I can't imagine that going too well. Pixel's going to go out of his mind being in such a small space, Darwin's going to be so scared that he'll starve himself, the pyjamas will start bullying each other, and the firefish might be too scared to eat properly.
So, I came up with a new plan. What if I quarantine the two tangs in my soaker tub in my upstairs bathroom (it's literally an extra deep tub for people to soak in), and keep the rest of the fish in the basement bathtub with a bunch of PVC pipes to hide in? This way everyone will have room to swim around, socialize, and explore, and I'll be able to easily drain and disinfect the tubs in between formalin treatments. We have another shower in the house, so it isn't like we won't be able to bathe for half a month.
Anyways, I'm going to fatten up my fish for a month, then see if my vet can perform a non-lethal gill biopsy on Pixel to find out exactly what parasite's been making him so agitated. I mean, I guess I could throw every known parasitic treatment at them (formalin bath, hyposalinity, copper, methylene blue, methylene green, potassium permanganate, and praziquantel), but that sounds like a stupid idea. If he can't perform a biopsy, I'll just treat them with formalin baths, copper, and maybe PraziPro.
I'll have to keep these jerks out of the display tank for two weeks so that all the parasites in the tank will hopefully die off. This poses a problem, seeing as I have an overly active 5" convict tang who's aggressive due to his gills, a very nervous 5""“6" blue tang who's bonded to the convict, two bonded Ocellaris (the female's at least 8cm), four wild-caught pyjama cardinalfish who are a pain to feed, a striped blenny (she's a good girl, so she shouldn't be a problem), and a firefish who is extremely skittish.
Originally, my plan was to set up four buckets (two tangs in one, four cardinals in the second, two clowns in the third, and Blenny and the firefish in the fourth), but I can't imagine that going too well. Pixel's going to go out of his mind being in such a small space, Darwin's going to be so scared that he'll starve himself, the pyjamas will start bullying each other, and the firefish might be too scared to eat properly.
So, I came up with a new plan. What if I quarantine the two tangs in my soaker tub in my upstairs bathroom (it's literally an extra deep tub for people to soak in), and keep the rest of the fish in the basement bathtub with a bunch of PVC pipes to hide in? This way everyone will have room to swim around, socialize, and explore, and I'll be able to easily drain and disinfect the tubs in between formalin treatments. We have another shower in the house, so it isn't like we won't be able to bathe for half a month.
