The high TDS in the aquarium doesn't mean you need new filters. Activated Carbon doesn't remove everything, like the salts that might be in the medications that you added.
Many of the things you add to the water will raise the TDS, like water conditions, medications, fish food, ect.
What water conditioner do you use?
Does your water company have a water report online that you can look at? That might tell you what the normal TDS is. If not, you can e-mail them and ask for a copy of the "Mineral Analysis Report".
Fiin rot help?
Moderator: LoachForumModerators
ive treated the tank with kanaplex last night.
today i noticed one of my flame tetras had a bloody gill. the entire gill was filled with blood. i hope its random. some cory's feelers grew back as well as fins. while other cory's fins still appear to have fin rot on them. i did the full furan 2 treatment and ran out of it. i am treating with kanaplex now. ill keep my eyes open. hopefully its a temporary bloody spot on the flame tetra. his fins wera bit frayed but they grew back and he was looking good. but now bloody gill.
today i noticed one of my flame tetras had a bloody gill. the entire gill was filled with blood. i hope its random. some cory's feelers grew back as well as fins. while other cory's fins still appear to have fin rot on them. i did the full furan 2 treatment and ran out of it. i am treating with kanaplex now. ill keep my eyes open. hopefully its a temporary bloody spot on the flame tetra. his fins wera bit frayed but they grew back and he was looking good. but now bloody gill.
All your loaches are belong to me!
i did a 25% water change like the furan treatment says to do after the treatment is done. then used activated carbon to remove all the furan out of the tank. i didn't receive the kanaplex until 4 or so days after i treated the tank with furan. so i probably did another 10% water change since then before the initial kanaplex treatment. i have not changed the water since the kanaplex treatment which was yesterday. i removed all chemical filtration like the canister says. most of the other fish look like they have some signs of recovery like bottom feeders.
but since i added that kanaplex the flame tetra is blowing up slightly like he has dropsy. hes showing one bloody gill and a bloody streak on one side of his body. the furan was supposed to treat dropsy and so was the kanaplex. so im not sure why these symptoms are still showing. ive massively lowered the feedings across the board as well. the clowns are not happy about that lol.
on a side note, the cory's seem to be super energetic and very happy since the treatment even though they still show some signs of fin rot.
similar symptoms that killed all the other fish two or so weeks ago.
would it be advisable to do a 10% water change after the kanaplex has been treated?
would it benefit to do the next treatment mixed in with food? ive read that at times that helps or shows more consistent results than treating just the water.
but since i added that kanaplex the flame tetra is blowing up slightly like he has dropsy. hes showing one bloody gill and a bloody streak on one side of his body. the furan was supposed to treat dropsy and so was the kanaplex. so im not sure why these symptoms are still showing. ive massively lowered the feedings across the board as well. the clowns are not happy about that lol.
on a side note, the cory's seem to be super energetic and very happy since the treatment even though they still show some signs of fin rot.
similar symptoms that killed all the other fish two or so weeks ago.
would it be advisable to do a 10% water change after the kanaplex has been treated?
would it benefit to do the next treatment mixed in with food? ive read that at times that helps or shows more consistent results than treating just the water.
All your loaches are belong to me!
I think you're best off quarantining those sick fish so that they are not in the same tank with healthy fish.
Then start to get the water quality in the main tank in better condition.
If the tap water TDS is around 110, then you should be trying to get the aquarium TDS down to around 140 ppm. If the TDS is still around 400, then you need to make the TDS change slowly. Do 10% water changes per day for a week, then do 20% water changes everyday for about a week. That should get most of the unnecessary stuff out of the water.
Add the water back to the main tank slowly because dropping the TDS too much too quickly can cause osmotic shock. A few symptoms of osmotic shock are gill damage, bloating, and fins shredding.
Then start to get the water quality in the main tank in better condition.
If the tap water TDS is around 110, then you should be trying to get the aquarium TDS down to around 140 ppm. If the TDS is still around 400, then you need to make the TDS change slowly. Do 10% water changes per day for a week, then do 20% water changes everyday for about a week. That should get most of the unnecessary stuff out of the water.
Add the water back to the main tank slowly because dropping the TDS too much too quickly can cause osmotic shock. A few symptoms of osmotic shock are gill damage, bloating, and fins shredding.
the furan helped. did a 2 dose treatment. and the fins started to grow back. but the kanamycin doesn't seem to be helping so far. the flame tetra died. the cory's fins look rotted. i went to look at my qtank yesterday and i did a fresh startup the other day with new nitrifying bacteria and boiled all filter material.
the tank had bacterial bloom so i changed 100 percent of the water. real cloudy and i could see some fuzzy looking bacterial sludge forming around areas. im going to boil all material again. only thing i could think of is if the nitryifying bacteria could have caused it?
don't trust the qtank right now till i have more time to deal with it completely.
ive done 2 water changes. and the tds has dropped in the main tank from 408 to about 367 now. only did a 5 gallon water change both days.
i had a spike reading today. it registered higher after i added fresh water. and it was about 467. i thought that wasn't right. so i tested again and the level was about 367. so after two tests. the consistent number was 367.
all loaches seem fine. im just worried about the fin rot on all the cory's.
the tank had bacterial bloom so i changed 100 percent of the water. real cloudy and i could see some fuzzy looking bacterial sludge forming around areas. im going to boil all material again. only thing i could think of is if the nitryifying bacteria could have caused it?
don't trust the qtank right now till i have more time to deal with it completely.
ive done 2 water changes. and the tds has dropped in the main tank from 408 to about 367 now. only did a 5 gallon water change both days.
i had a spike reading today. it registered higher after i added fresh water. and it was about 467. i thought that wasn't right. so i tested again and the level was about 367. so after two tests. the consistent number was 367.
all loaches seem fine. im just worried about the fin rot on all the cory's.
All your loaches are belong to me!
here is a list of all the medications i have.
methyl blue
permoxyn
bifuran +
melafix
ammo lock
acriflavin
ich-x
prime
stress zyme
kanaplex
got the tds down to 349 today in two different readings.
10 percent water change again. the tap is about 150ish.
keeping this as a journal of progress to keep a record of everything.
thanks chef. this tds meter is cool.
tomorrow will be day 2 of my 2nd kanaplex treatment. so monday ill carbon filter out all the kanaplex. and see if i can get the tds down. so far its dropping steadily.
methyl blue
permoxyn
bifuran +
melafix
ammo lock
acriflavin
ich-x
prime
stress zyme
kanaplex
got the tds down to 349 today in two different readings.
10 percent water change again. the tap is about 150ish.
keeping this as a journal of progress to keep a record of everything.
thanks chef. this tds meter is cool.
tomorrow will be day 2 of my 2nd kanaplex treatment. so monday ill carbon filter out all the kanaplex. and see if i can get the tds down. so far its dropping steadily.
All your loaches are belong to me!
Been a while since I have read this thread. Sorry you are still having problems. 
Way back on the first page I saw a problem. Perhaps may help someone else:
One or the other of the Maracyns will lower the O2 in the water. When you are treating with these products be sure to increase the aeration in the tank to help with oxygenation. This can be done with an air bubbler, a power head that makes some serious ripples across the surface, or changing the water level so the return form the filter causes more surface movement.
Next, a question:
When you did the most recent total tank cleaning, did you refill with all new water? Here is my concern: If you recently filled the tank with tap water (TDS in the very low 100s) and a week later the TDS was close to or over 400 (Tests seem to have ranged from mid 300s to mid 400s) then SOMETHING has been added to the water to read that high, that much change in TDS. (Meter may read different and the same water could produce some odd readings of plus or minus around 10%, but such a big change on a factor of about 4 times as much is a real change, not a problem with the meter)
I see one person suggested it was the medicine. Might be. Many medicines are a certain % active ingredient, and a certain % inactive ingredients that act as carriers for the medicine, and have other uses. I suppose that there might be enough assorted stuff added with the medical treatment to raise the TDS so much.
It is good to see that small, frequent water changes will lower the TDS. This is the way to go: make such changes in baby steps so the fish can adjust.
If you need to do a larger water change in an aquarium, but the TDS is lower in the new water you can raise the TDS. You could add baking soda (will also raise KH and likely pH) Epsom salt (also raises GH), aquarium plant fertilizers (Especially if you are dealing with a planted tank, potassium fertilizer is a good one) or table salt (not well tolerated by some fish, and not an on-going answer to the problem) Best is to stick tot he smaller water changes until the tap and tank more nearly match.
Without knowing the TDS before you got the meter it is impossible to say if the large water changes that may have happened back then contributed to the problems the fish are having, but it is possible.
Fish regulate the amount of fluid in their cells and their body cavity to maintain a certain level of salts and minerals in their cells. When the water they are living in changes TDS (when the level of dissolved salts and minerals goes down) then more water may try to enter their cells than they are used to getting rid of, and this can cause problems for the fish, and some of the symptoms your fish show might be part of this issue.
Another part of this problem is that fish under stress (disease, parasites, other) have a harder time regulating their body fluids. Their cells become sort of more porous, so excess fluid enters more easily. This is what is behind the idea that aquarium salt eases stress. Salt raises the TDS, so less fluid enters the fishes' cells, and in this way, helps stressed fish. It may be that some of the inactive ingredients in some medicines raise the TDS in the water similar to the way that salt does, and this is part of the treatment.
Next note: Cloudy water after sterilizing the Q-tank.
Nitrifying bacteria do not generally grow so fast as to cloud the water. If you add a bottle of Tetra Safe Start or Dr. Tim's One and Only you are adding enough bacteria that the water may be cloudy for a day or so, but it ought to clear up very quickly, as the bacteria settle out on the filter media and substrate (if any- hospital tanks might not have any substrate).
Usually cloudy water is because of heterotrophic bacteria. These are helpful decomposers, but not directly part of the nitrogen cycle. These bacteria live on organic matter. Some sources include: The oils and cells from your skin as you handled the equipment and decorations; The dead material that may have remained on these surfaces after you sterilized them. The fuzzy patches sure sounds like a massive growth of bacteria or fungi, decomposing something. Cloudy water from this source is not bad for the fish, but it does indicate that there is still material in the tank that might be better off removed.
What I would do now:
If the fish are still showing symptoms that suggest bacterial issues (red streaks under the skin, fin rot, barbles eroding and other issues) I think I would switch antibiotics again. Research exactly which groups of bacteria are killed with the products you have used so far, and figure out what other bacteria type you have not treated for.
http://www.nationalfishpharm.com/fish_d ... teria.html
Here is a link to quite a few bacteria diseases of fish, and the medicine that treats that problem. Usually you would use this reference by starting on the left, and identifying the problems the fish are having. I am suggesting you start on the right and make a list:
You treated with Maracyn II, and this treats Gram negative bacteria.
You treated with Furan 2, and this treats _______.
You treated with Kanamycin, and this treats _______.
What is left over? Is there a group of bacteria that none of these treat? Maybe that is the one causing problems in the tank(s)!
Another good reference is the Merck veterinary manual. http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp
There is not so much specific fish info in the Merck Manual, but there is a lot of info about which drugs treat what sorts of disease organisms. Look up each of the active ingredients you have used so far.
Another thing to consider is that perhaps the problems are not bacteria in origin. Research Mycobacteriosis. The symptoms do not sound like this is the primary problem, but if the fish have this as an underlying problem then treating the fish for some other problem may not work so well.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/VM055
A different sort of approach might help:
1) Maintain 10% daily water changes, with gravel vacs (well, sand vacuuming, it is still called gravel vacuuming) in an effort to slowly lower the TDS. If you can get the TDS in the tank close to the tap water TDS then you can do larger water changes if the need arises.
2) Stop all other medicines, and add an ultra violet sterilizer. This will kill microorganisms drifting in the water. We do not know what is really bothering the fish, or how it is spread. IF there is some infectious organisms that is spread via the water then the UV will highly likely kill it.
Do not use other meds with a UV sterilizer. Many medicines are deactivated with light, and while I have not read it directly, I would assume that the higher energy of a UV light will denature whatever proteins or other complex molecules that make up the medications.
3) If you want to use a medication in the food with a UV, this would probably be fine. In food, the medicine is not being exposed to the UV light. Perhaps an antibiotic that sounds like a possible treatment from your research is available in a food?
4) Keep up the fishes' health with a good rotation of foods including proteins such as fish and shellfish and vegetables. If you make your own food, you could incorporate medicines in that. Be very careful not to introduce more potential disease or parasite problems with contaminated food sources such as live aquatic worms or foods that may come from waters where other fish live, such as: do not harvest Daphnia or mosquito larvae from your local pond or stream. Certainly do not feed live feeder fish.
One more idea, weird, but here goes:
Set up a bucket or a tank with all new equipment, or totally sterilized, scrubbed equipment and start a fishless cycle in there. Grow a really good population of nitrifying bacteria on the filter media. Then, when you are ready to sterilize the hospital tank (or even the main tank) you will have an uncontaminated source of nitrifying bacteria, (No fish diseases, because there are no fish in the fishless cycle) without having to buy more bacteria in a bottle. A square sided plastic storage box is a good substitute for a tank, and the filter media can just be tossed in, loose. A small fountain pump is all that is needed to circulate the water. Feed the growing bacteria with ammonia per the fishless cycle instructions. Do not contaminate this with anything from your fish tanks, or even use equipment or tools in common. If something happens and you want to sterilize a tank with fish you could net the fish, dip them in some concentrated medicated bath and put them in this storage box as a temporary tank. (Do a big water once the fishless cycle is done before adding the fish to this box. The fishless cycle results in very high nitrates)
Way back on the first page I saw a problem. Perhaps may help someone else:
One or the other of the Maracyns will lower the O2 in the water. When you are treating with these products be sure to increase the aeration in the tank to help with oxygenation. This can be done with an air bubbler, a power head that makes some serious ripples across the surface, or changing the water level so the return form the filter causes more surface movement.
Next, a question:
When you did the most recent total tank cleaning, did you refill with all new water? Here is my concern: If you recently filled the tank with tap water (TDS in the very low 100s) and a week later the TDS was close to or over 400 (Tests seem to have ranged from mid 300s to mid 400s) then SOMETHING has been added to the water to read that high, that much change in TDS. (Meter may read different and the same water could produce some odd readings of plus or minus around 10%, but such a big change on a factor of about 4 times as much is a real change, not a problem with the meter)
I see one person suggested it was the medicine. Might be. Many medicines are a certain % active ingredient, and a certain % inactive ingredients that act as carriers for the medicine, and have other uses. I suppose that there might be enough assorted stuff added with the medical treatment to raise the TDS so much.
It is good to see that small, frequent water changes will lower the TDS. This is the way to go: make such changes in baby steps so the fish can adjust.
If you need to do a larger water change in an aquarium, but the TDS is lower in the new water you can raise the TDS. You could add baking soda (will also raise KH and likely pH) Epsom salt (also raises GH), aquarium plant fertilizers (Especially if you are dealing with a planted tank, potassium fertilizer is a good one) or table salt (not well tolerated by some fish, and not an on-going answer to the problem) Best is to stick tot he smaller water changes until the tap and tank more nearly match.
Without knowing the TDS before you got the meter it is impossible to say if the large water changes that may have happened back then contributed to the problems the fish are having, but it is possible.
Fish regulate the amount of fluid in their cells and their body cavity to maintain a certain level of salts and minerals in their cells. When the water they are living in changes TDS (when the level of dissolved salts and minerals goes down) then more water may try to enter their cells than they are used to getting rid of, and this can cause problems for the fish, and some of the symptoms your fish show might be part of this issue.
Another part of this problem is that fish under stress (disease, parasites, other) have a harder time regulating their body fluids. Their cells become sort of more porous, so excess fluid enters more easily. This is what is behind the idea that aquarium salt eases stress. Salt raises the TDS, so less fluid enters the fishes' cells, and in this way, helps stressed fish. It may be that some of the inactive ingredients in some medicines raise the TDS in the water similar to the way that salt does, and this is part of the treatment.
Next note: Cloudy water after sterilizing the Q-tank.
Nitrifying bacteria do not generally grow so fast as to cloud the water. If you add a bottle of Tetra Safe Start or Dr. Tim's One and Only you are adding enough bacteria that the water may be cloudy for a day or so, but it ought to clear up very quickly, as the bacteria settle out on the filter media and substrate (if any- hospital tanks might not have any substrate).
Usually cloudy water is because of heterotrophic bacteria. These are helpful decomposers, but not directly part of the nitrogen cycle. These bacteria live on organic matter. Some sources include: The oils and cells from your skin as you handled the equipment and decorations; The dead material that may have remained on these surfaces after you sterilized them. The fuzzy patches sure sounds like a massive growth of bacteria or fungi, decomposing something. Cloudy water from this source is not bad for the fish, but it does indicate that there is still material in the tank that might be better off removed.
What I would do now:
If the fish are still showing symptoms that suggest bacterial issues (red streaks under the skin, fin rot, barbles eroding and other issues) I think I would switch antibiotics again. Research exactly which groups of bacteria are killed with the products you have used so far, and figure out what other bacteria type you have not treated for.
http://www.nationalfishpharm.com/fish_d ... teria.html
Here is a link to quite a few bacteria diseases of fish, and the medicine that treats that problem. Usually you would use this reference by starting on the left, and identifying the problems the fish are having. I am suggesting you start on the right and make a list:
You treated with Maracyn II, and this treats Gram negative bacteria.
You treated with Furan 2, and this treats _______.
You treated with Kanamycin, and this treats _______.
What is left over? Is there a group of bacteria that none of these treat? Maybe that is the one causing problems in the tank(s)!
Another good reference is the Merck veterinary manual. http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp
There is not so much specific fish info in the Merck Manual, but there is a lot of info about which drugs treat what sorts of disease organisms. Look up each of the active ingredients you have used so far.
Another thing to consider is that perhaps the problems are not bacteria in origin. Research Mycobacteriosis. The symptoms do not sound like this is the primary problem, but if the fish have this as an underlying problem then treating the fish for some other problem may not work so well.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/VM055
A different sort of approach might help:
1) Maintain 10% daily water changes, with gravel vacs (well, sand vacuuming, it is still called gravel vacuuming) in an effort to slowly lower the TDS. If you can get the TDS in the tank close to the tap water TDS then you can do larger water changes if the need arises.
2) Stop all other medicines, and add an ultra violet sterilizer. This will kill microorganisms drifting in the water. We do not know what is really bothering the fish, or how it is spread. IF there is some infectious organisms that is spread via the water then the UV will highly likely kill it.
Do not use other meds with a UV sterilizer. Many medicines are deactivated with light, and while I have not read it directly, I would assume that the higher energy of a UV light will denature whatever proteins or other complex molecules that make up the medications.
3) If you want to use a medication in the food with a UV, this would probably be fine. In food, the medicine is not being exposed to the UV light. Perhaps an antibiotic that sounds like a possible treatment from your research is available in a food?
4) Keep up the fishes' health with a good rotation of foods including proteins such as fish and shellfish and vegetables. If you make your own food, you could incorporate medicines in that. Be very careful not to introduce more potential disease or parasite problems with contaminated food sources such as live aquatic worms or foods that may come from waters where other fish live, such as: do not harvest Daphnia or mosquito larvae from your local pond or stream. Certainly do not feed live feeder fish.
One more idea, weird, but here goes:
Set up a bucket or a tank with all new equipment, or totally sterilized, scrubbed equipment and start a fishless cycle in there. Grow a really good population of nitrifying bacteria on the filter media. Then, when you are ready to sterilize the hospital tank (or even the main tank) you will have an uncontaminated source of nitrifying bacteria, (No fish diseases, because there are no fish in the fishless cycle) without having to buy more bacteria in a bottle. A square sided plastic storage box is a good substitute for a tank, and the filter media can just be tossed in, loose. A small fountain pump is all that is needed to circulate the water. Feed the growing bacteria with ammonia per the fishless cycle instructions. Do not contaminate this with anything from your fish tanks, or even use equipment or tools in common. If something happens and you want to sterilize a tank with fish you could net the fish, dip them in some concentrated medicated bath and put them in this storage box as a temporary tank. (Do a big water once the fishless cycle is done before adding the fish to this box. The fishless cycle results in very high nitrates)
38 tanks, 2 ponds over 4000 liters of water to keep clean and fresh.
Happy fish keeping!
Happy fish keeping!
it just seems very odd. that the loaches all seem happier than ever. but all the ornamental fish are having trouble.
well i just had another glolight tetra croak out of no where. they are very sensitive to these water changes. even though i am only doing 10 percent. this is the same thing that happened to all the other fish. he got red gills, thenn bloody streaks on the body. it took not even 8 hours this time and i just found him dead this morning.
ive lowered the tds in the water to about 300 now by 5 gallon water changes once daily. this just killed the glo light. the loaches all seem fine, its the smaller fish that are having the trouble.
i was afraid to completely take the cory's out and put them in the qtank. i didn't want to kill them by doing this like last time. i had bacterial bloom in the qtank after adding the nitrifying bacteria so i did a 100% water change in that tank. it has been fine for 3 days. but im afraid of adding nitrifying bacteria and getting the bloom again. right now i threw some ragged looking plants from the main tank in there to get them healthy.
Diana,
when i did the maracyn treatment i increased airflow with some powerful bubble stones. but i feel the tank bio crashed and the fish died due to no nitrifying bacteria. i will take heed next time i use maracn again.
when i did the tank cleaning. i followed shari2's advice. there was no rotten egg smell so i only changed about 50% of the water. and cleaned all tank ornament. along with changing the sand. i put new sand in but left the water. i cleaned all filters as well with old tank water. by dipping them into the removed water in a 5 gallon bucket as i usually do.
ive carbon filtered out all medication since then. im slowly lowering tank tds but now im afraid of doing anything more than 10% water change if it will kill my remaining glo light tetra.
im absolutely convinced now its the tds in the tank. should i go down to 5% water changes. i did that yesterday with 2.5 gallons and the glolight still died. im losing all my ornamental fish.
the clouidy water in the qtank had these big globs of material that looked stringy and gelatin in nature. it was nasty. they were sticking to everything and this is all within a day and a half after the bacteria was added. right now, ive not added any new bacteria since the water change. i have just cleaned the filters out and all water. as well as rinsed the tank ornament. it looks like clear water so far for a few days.
well, the fin rot still seems present. and its slowly getting worse on the cory's fin. but not aggressively. there barbels are growing back which is positive.
but other fish just look the same. they had a tiny bit of fin rot but nothing too bad. the healthy looking fish have just been croaking for no reason. i think its the tds change. im taking the slow route, but apparently thats too fast. so im lowering my water changes to 2.5 gallon a day.
some of the more recent fish death have been fish that i thought appeared healthier than the other fish. like my flame tetra and this glolight tetra. he had no bloody streaks and they just appeared apparently overnight when i found him this morning.
once again, thanks for all of your help everyone. i really appreciate it. im still learning in this department and hopefully this will teach me for the future.
well i just had another glolight tetra croak out of no where. they are very sensitive to these water changes. even though i am only doing 10 percent. this is the same thing that happened to all the other fish. he got red gills, thenn bloody streaks on the body. it took not even 8 hours this time and i just found him dead this morning.
ive lowered the tds in the water to about 300 now by 5 gallon water changes once daily. this just killed the glo light. the loaches all seem fine, its the smaller fish that are having the trouble.
i was afraid to completely take the cory's out and put them in the qtank. i didn't want to kill them by doing this like last time. i had bacterial bloom in the qtank after adding the nitrifying bacteria so i did a 100% water change in that tank. it has been fine for 3 days. but im afraid of adding nitrifying bacteria and getting the bloom again. right now i threw some ragged looking plants from the main tank in there to get them healthy.
Diana,
when i did the maracyn treatment i increased airflow with some powerful bubble stones. but i feel the tank bio crashed and the fish died due to no nitrifying bacteria. i will take heed next time i use maracn again.
when i did the tank cleaning. i followed shari2's advice. there was no rotten egg smell so i only changed about 50% of the water. and cleaned all tank ornament. along with changing the sand. i put new sand in but left the water. i cleaned all filters as well with old tank water. by dipping them into the removed water in a 5 gallon bucket as i usually do.
ive carbon filtered out all medication since then. im slowly lowering tank tds but now im afraid of doing anything more than 10% water change if it will kill my remaining glo light tetra.
im absolutely convinced now its the tds in the tank. should i go down to 5% water changes. i did that yesterday with 2.5 gallons and the glolight still died. im losing all my ornamental fish.
the clouidy water in the qtank had these big globs of material that looked stringy and gelatin in nature. it was nasty. they were sticking to everything and this is all within a day and a half after the bacteria was added. right now, ive not added any new bacteria since the water change. i have just cleaned the filters out and all water. as well as rinsed the tank ornament. it looks like clear water so far for a few days.
well, the fin rot still seems present. and its slowly getting worse on the cory's fin. but not aggressively. there barbels are growing back which is positive.
but other fish just look the same. they had a tiny bit of fin rot but nothing too bad. the healthy looking fish have just been croaking for no reason. i think its the tds change. im taking the slow route, but apparently thats too fast. so im lowering my water changes to 2.5 gallon a day.
some of the more recent fish death have been fish that i thought appeared healthier than the other fish. like my flame tetra and this glolight tetra. he had no bloody streaks and they just appeared apparently overnight when i found him this morning.
once again, thanks for all of your help everyone. i really appreciate it. im still learning in this department and hopefully this will teach me for the future.
All your loaches are belong to me!
In the aquarium, try to figure out how much the TDS goes up each day if you do nothing to the water.
Tip- When you do a TDS reading, wiggle the meter in the water back and forth for about 10 seconds. This will get any air bubbles off the probes and give you a more accurate reading.
So the tap water TDS jumped to 150ish and it was 107 when you 1st got the meter? What is the tap TDS now?
Tip- For tap water, do not take the TDS reading under running water because the result might be inaccurate. Instead, fill up a small container with the tap water and then take the reading. Remember to wiggle the meter for about 10 seconds to get any air bubbles off the probes.
Tip- When you do a TDS reading, wiggle the meter in the water back and forth for about 10 seconds. This will get any air bubbles off the probes and give you a more accurate reading.
So the tap water TDS jumped to 150ish and it was 107 when you 1st got the meter? What is the tap TDS now?
Tip- For tap water, do not take the TDS reading under running water because the result might be inaccurate. Instead, fill up a small container with the tap water and then take the reading. Remember to wiggle the meter for about 10 seconds to get any air bubbles off the probes.
ok chef. i usually get a cup of water from the tank. let it settle and then wiggle the tds to get water bubbles off of it. the tds in the tank seems to stay consistent when i check it later in the day as what the reading was earlier. ill test some more tap water tomorrow. sounds like its around 100 to 150. but i have to see if this is before or after i add water conditioner. the tank tds is now at 298.chefkeith wrote:In the aquarium, try to figure out how much the TDS goes up each day if you do nothing to the water.
Tip- When you do a TDS reading, wiggle the meter in the water back and forth for about 10 seconds. This will get any air bubbles off the probes and give you a more accurate reading.
So the tap water TDS jumped to 150ish and it was 107 when you 1st got the meter? What is the tap TDS now?
Tip- For tap water, do not take the TDS reading under running water because the result might be inaccurate. Instead, fill up a small container with the tap water and then take the reading. Remember to wiggle the meter for about 10 seconds to get any air bubbles off the probes.
i usually take the tds when the water is still in a cup.
ill check all of this tomorow. i may get a uv sterilizer soon.
All your loaches are belong to me!
the tap tds prior to water conditioner is around 110ish.
the tap tds after water conditioner is 125-130ish.
i think it fluctuates between 20ppm up or down at times.
the tank tds is 288 now.
the loaches are super duper happy. i guess now its hard to tell if my tank was high tds prior to the medication and prior to the addition of new plant material. but its steadily going down. this last glolight tetra appears really healthy. and even he is swimming around like he likes the new water.
all cory's seem fine with water changes. the fins look decent.
the tap tds after water conditioner is 125-130ish.
i think it fluctuates between 20ppm up or down at times.
the tank tds is 288 now.
the loaches are super duper happy. i guess now its hard to tell if my tank was high tds prior to the medication and prior to the addition of new plant material. but its steadily going down. this last glolight tetra appears really healthy. and even he is swimming around like he likes the new water.
all cory's seem fine with water changes. the fins look decent.
All your loaches are belong to me!
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