Sick discus, or just the runt?

[LizStreithorst]

Yes, just take out the carbon if you have it in your canister.

[danomoseley]

Yes, just take out the carbon if you have it in your canister.

Ok great, I don't have any carbon in there.

I use RO/DI water for water changes with Kent liquid R/O right to get the trace minerals back. I have a 20 gallon Brute utility container with auto shutoff for the RO, circulator pump, and heater to stabilize the water before re-adding to the tank. This holds about ~15 gallons of finished water which is my normal ~30% water change.

This is basically a long way of asking if you think it would be alright to do multiple 30% water changes per day instead of the suggested 90% water change.

[LizStreithorst]

One big one would be better but if you do 3 30% be sure to add back the metro that you remove with each WC.

[danomoseley]

One big one would be better but if you do 3 30% be sure to add back the metro that you remove with each WC.

Understood, thank you. I have ordered the metro and it should be here by Monday. I will post updates.

Thank you again for the advice.

[LizStreithorst]

I'm glad to help you, Dan. Don't be surprised if you see no results until the very end of treatment.

[danomoseley]

I will plan to run the full 12 day cycle then. For the temperature raise, would you recommend raising it gradually over a period of time, maybe a day or two?

[LizStreithorst]

yes

[danomoseley]

We were planning to go away next weekend, which would be 5 days into the treatment. Would it be possible to skip the water changes while we are away for days 6 and 7?

[LizStreithorst]

Don't start treatment until you are back home.

[danomoseley]

For the first dose, do you just dose directly into the tank? Or dissolve in water and add?

I raised the temp to 86 and will increase 2 degrees at a time slowly through tomorrow. Also added a bubble bar.

[LizStreithorst]

Always dissolve in water first.

I forgot to tell you. If you change water just once daily, redose for the entire volume of the tank, not just for the water you took out during WC.

[danomoseley]

Thanks, will do. Fingers crossed!

[danomoseley]

You had said to do large water changes "as much as 90% if you can". I don't think 90% is going to be possible with my substrate and carpet, without having the fish totally out of water for a few minutes..

Would 55% be sufficient? Are the benefits significant increasing from 55% to say 75%?

I think I could make some changes to my setup to get to 75%, but the fish won't have much of any room to move around when the level gets low. The water pressure of the faucet I attach the python to is pretty low so I get a slow drain rate and they'll be stuck in the low volume for ~10 minutes.

[LizStreithorst]

I had no idea that you were treating in a planted tank. Don't you have a BB tank that you could do the treatment in. If not, you'll have to treat them in the tank they're in now. It won't hurt them to be in a low volume of water for 10 minutes. As long as they have enough water to breath they'll be fine. Go with 75%.

[danomoseley]

There are pictures of the tank in the original post, and I asked about the effects of the metro and high temp on the specific plants that are in there... Anyway, I do not have an extra tank, nor the space for one in my apartment.

I will go for 75%.