Second Metro Round

[Gil2gil]

So, here is a quick run down of what the fish are living in.

55 fallon Bow front
7 young discus all under 3-4 inches
Water temp is 85F
All test measure zero
Doing a daily 25 - 30% water changes

My issue:
One of the best eaters and biggest fish just stopped eating one day to the next. I notices another was pooping white. I went to Discus Maddnes which is close by to me, and they sold me pure metro with dossing instructions to treat for 10 days.

Aftere the 10 days, they were pooping a ton of huge white poops. I let them rest for 3 days after the treatment and decided to start again because the white poop was continuing.

My question, should I run the full 10 day treatment? Will the fish ever start eating again or am I wasting water and money treating them.

The situation really sucks. I was very in love with this group of fish and after taking such good care of them and keeping them well fed and water chagnes - they start to crash on me. I am really discouraged at this point and hate looking at the tank at this point. I really hope this works out. No one has died yet, kinda wish they would die or just get better already.

Any advise?

[LizStreithorst]

Is this tank planted? At what rate per 10 gallons were you instructed to treat at? Do you age your water? Can you tell us your pH swing? Your water test must be bad. Either that or your tank isn't properly cycled. There should always be a nitrate reading in a fully cycled tank.

[Gil2gil]

yes there is probably .5 nitrate or something really low like that. There is a reading, but its supper low. There are a few plants in the tank, they are sucking up whatever nitrate is in there. No substrate, bare bottom. I dont age the water, thats not going to happen in a nyc apartment. I use tap water at right temp (85 degrees like the main tank) and declorinater. I belive the water out of tap is around 7 - 6.5 ph

I dont think its the water. They were doing fine for a long time with declorinated tap water. The tank has been running since september.

[danotaylor]

Yep, fill this out so we can understand what going on better.

DISEASE QUESTIONNAIRE

Problem

1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?


2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds).

3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.

Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.

5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).

6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.

8. What type/brand water conditioner do you use? Do you add it to the tank or aging barrel? How much do you use?

9. Parameters and water source;

Note: Water Parameters are important in diagnosing problems within a tank. If you don't own test kits for the following information, you can purchase them, test your parameters and post this info as soon as possible.


- temp _____

- ph _____

- ammonia reading ____

- nitrite reading ____

- nitrate reading ____

What type of water or combinations of water sources do you use? If it is an RO/tap/well water mix, please list percentages in the mix.

- well water ____

- municipal water ____

- RO water ____

10. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.

11. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can.


12. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms. If you can't add them to this post, please provide a link to them.

[Mando]

Like Liz mentioned, my focus would be to check for a PH swing. (may be causing the stress) What is the water of your tank now? If it's .4 or more different than tap, that would be your problem.

and you MUST dose .05g per gallon for 10 to 14 days. You must run the full course. Danny recommends to dose the amount 2x daily 8 hours in between. However, if you don't have a lot of metro on hand, 1x daily is enough.


Answering the questionnaire Danny provided would be great help.

[LizStreithorst]

Paul Butler tested the dosages that people recommend. He concluded that 400 ml once daily does as well as dosing 400 mg 3 times daily. This was maybe 10 years ago but Paul was not often wrong.

[danotaylor]

I'm not doubting the effectiveness of daily dosing, but I base my dosing off how metro is prescribes to humans, which is 3 times daily. The half life of the medication requires the 3 doses to maintain a therapeutic level in the blood stream. It may be over kill for fish, but I have 1kg of metro and want to be sure to eradicate parasites completely. As the old adage goes, "do what works for you". If you find the daily dose isn't producing the evidence of desired results by day 4-5, then up the dosing. Metro is relatively mild and I assure you the discus can take it at 500mg/10gal every 8 hours.

[LizStreithorst]

I've done the 3 X daily dosing before. I changed a bunch of water before every WC. It didn't bother the fish at all.