Day 7
Ich Terror Alert:
Elevated
Casualties:
A few ghost shrimp?
A shrimp presumed dead has appeared, alive and well. It's been 48 hours since I turned out the lights; today they come back on for the plants as well as for better inspections of the fish. Every fish is alive and well, amazingly. Unfortunately, the ich is also alive, but as per being well... I think it's on its way out.
When I first inspected the fish, I saw no cysts whatsoever. However, a little later when I looked much closer, I discovered a few very minute white spots on one of the neons, two of the cardinals, and one on the hatchetfish's fin. The medication is certainly working: the fish no longer glance against the plants and gravel, they don't shimmy, and they're schooling once again and their color is better. However, the cysts remain.
I have a couple explanations.
1. The temperature is too low. It's been at 80-82 for the past 72 hours. I want to boost that to 85-86 today and speed up the lifecycle. I could possibly be seeing cysts that were in the fish 4 or 5 days ago that are now surfacing. Their lack of flashing leads me to believe they are not being attacked by new parasites.
2. I've been doing too much water changes out, and/or too weak a dose per frequency. At 1 p.m. I'm going to nuke the tank with a full dose and monitor the fish carefully for an hour or so. If I see adverse affects, I'll immediately changes out 20 percent of the water.
Of course, there are a dozen other reasons, but the two above are the most likely. Worst case scenario, the ich strain has developed an immunity to formalin and malachite green, which would mean I am screwed.
The tank looks beautiful. Plants are looking good, no blue stainage as far as I can tell, and the fish, other than the very few spots, look vibrant and healthy. This certainly sounds like the meds are working, don't you think?
More later.
- J
http://joshday.com
Elevated
Casualties:
A few ghost shrimp?
A shrimp presumed dead has appeared, alive and well. It's been 48 hours since I turned out the lights; today they come back on for the plants as well as for better inspections of the fish. Every fish is alive and well, amazingly. Unfortunately, the ich is also alive, but as per being well... I think it's on its way out.
When I first inspected the fish, I saw no cysts whatsoever. However, a little later when I looked much closer, I discovered a few very minute white spots on one of the neons, two of the cardinals, and one on the hatchetfish's fin. The medication is certainly working: the fish no longer glance against the plants and gravel, they don't shimmy, and they're schooling once again and their color is better. However, the cysts remain.
I have a couple explanations.
1. The temperature is too low. It's been at 80-82 for the past 72 hours. I want to boost that to 85-86 today and speed up the lifecycle. I could possibly be seeing cysts that were in the fish 4 or 5 days ago that are now surfacing. Their lack of flashing leads me to believe they are not being attacked by new parasites.
2. I've been doing too much water changes out, and/or too weak a dose per frequency. At 1 p.m. I'm going to nuke the tank with a full dose and monitor the fish carefully for an hour or so. If I see adverse affects, I'll immediately changes out 20 percent of the water.
Of course, there are a dozen other reasons, but the two above are the most likely. Worst case scenario, the ich strain has developed an immunity to formalin and malachite green, which would mean I am screwed.
The tank looks beautiful. Plants are looking good, no blue stainage as far as I can tell, and the fish, other than the very few spots, look vibrant and healthy. This certainly sounds like the meds are working, don't you think?
More later.
- J
http://joshday.com
posted by Josh Day at 10:27 AM
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