Breathing From One Gill & Losing Appetite

[jamesx]

You have to understand that with water changes sometimes too much is no good and you can't just go by someone telling you do this, and if you know you've lost your cycle your not gonna get it back with a 90% water change you need good water to start with and don't let anyone tell you to medicate until you get your water straight, try Mandos advice

Jeanne

Ahhh… I'm a bit lost. I can try cutting down the water change + adding bottled bacteria + prime. I'm a bit of afraid of using medicine to be honest. While I try to build up my beneficial bacterial colony, would adding epsom salt help my fish to breath normally?

[jamesx]

with just a .2 pH drop, I think you're fine doing 90%. Yes on the PP. We use that appreciation for it a lot here. The amount of metro is right for General Cure. You will need to treat for 12 days. I'm not sure of the dosage for Prazi, but I know that treatment doesn't last for 10 days. Perhaps a daily dose for 12 days with 90% WC would be OK for the fish, but I have no way to know if all that Prazi would harm them.

Sigh... I just called all the lfs and I couldn't find any medicine for fish anymore. Things like prazipro and API General Cure are forever banned in Canada. So sad!

[Sturiosoma]

If you believe using med to cure water issues then go with the pharmacist

Jeanne

[jamesx]

If you believe using med to cure water issues then go with the pharmacist

Jeanne

I’m actually out of options now. All fish meds are literally banned in Canada. I’m going to try getting the cycle back. While I do that, would adding epsom salt help my fish with the symptoms?

[dspeers]

The salt being mentioned is NaCl not epsom salt, and salt and heat are step 1 in treating gill flukes. Couple of other things you might want to consider. Might want to check your Kh because if too low inhibits nitrification of ammonia, also if lower than 4 can have rapid pH changes due to reduced buffering effect, and finally will raise pH somewhat so may want to slowly push up to no more than 8 if as I suspect it is low. Also, if at all possible would be worthwhile to age your water, the pH change asked about was after aging not between tap and tank, so you don't know how much your tap water is changing over 12-24 hours. Also have to be concerned in re microbubbles, which may have a role in unilateral gill dysfunction. You fix that with aging with airstone or circulation pump and heat in your aging container. Finally, not all that comfortable with pH change of "only" 0.2 given that you are changing 90%. What is the tank pH just prior to changing water? As far as how much to change, drop down a little to 80% then 70% then 60% and follow NH3 levels which will tell you how much to change when it starts climbing. I am amazed that some medications are not available on Amazon Canada but PP is, unfortunately will kill your biofilter, but you are already there, what is your government protecting you from? Finally, the argument regarding a second tank is that if you cannot isolate your ill fish it may spread to all the rest which could be much more expensive in the long run, and you don't want to dose your display tank if at all possible. Plus what are you going to do if you ever want to add another fish?
Good luck

[bluelagoon]

I agree with that much tap water being used and not aged. Folks think it's Ph swings when most times it's gas that is most dangerous from my experience. Pensonally, I wouldn't change no more than 25-30% straight from the tap. I age my water and found it much safer to do large WC's and fish do not show signs of stress; unlike the times I used large amounts of straight tap water. Fish just don't like that much tap water that is brought to us under pressure. O, the only thing epsom salts would be used for is if they had a blockage in the gut.

[jamesx]

The salt being mentioned is NaCl not epsom salt, and salt and heat are step 1 in treating gill flukes. Couple of other things you might want to consider. Might want to check your Kh because if too low inhibits nitrification of ammonia, also if lower than 4 can have rapid pH changes due to reduced buffering effect, and finally will raise pH somewhat so may want to slowly push up to no more than 8 if as I suspect it is low. Also, if at all possible would be worthwhile to age your water, the pH change asked about was after aging not between tap and tank, so you don't know how much your tap water is changing over 12-24 hours. Also have to be concerned in re microbubbles, which may have a role in unilateral gill dysfunction. You fix that with aging with airstone or circulation pump and heat in your aging container. Finally, not all that comfortable with pH change of "only" 0.2 given that you are changing 90%. What is the tank pH just prior to changing water? As far as how much to change, drop down a little to 80% then 70% then 60% and follow NH3 levels which will tell you how much to change when it starts climbing. I am amazed that some medications are not available on Amazon Canada but PP is, unfortunately will kill your biofilter, but you are already there, what is your government protecting you from? Finally, the argument regarding a second tank is that if you cannot isolate your ill fish it may spread to all the rest which could be much more expensive in the long run, and you don't want to dose your display tank if at all possible. Plus what are you going to do if you ever want to add another fish?
Good luck

Thanks a lot for your input! My water is actually super soft and low on KH, but I've been adding baking soda along with bottled bacteria and the water perimeter is getting better with only 0.25ppm ammonia before daily water change. I use tap water directly into fish tank as I really don't have space for water aging. However, I do follow other ppl's advice and stuffed my python hose with lots of filter floss to get rid of microbubbles. I have nearly none microbubble while doing water change. As for the PH swing, my tap water is 6.6 and my tank water is 6.4 after 24 hours just before water change, and so I don't think it's a huge swing. I've been dropping my water change from 90% to 50% since two days ago. I will wait and see what happens.

[jamesx]

I agree with that much tap water being used and not aged. Folks think it's Ph swings when most times it's gas that is most dangerous from my experience. Pensonally, I wouldn't change no more than 25-30% straight from the tap. I age my water and found it much safer to do large WC's and fish do not show signs of stress; unlike the times I used large amounts of straight tap water. Fish just don't like that much tap water that is brought to us under pressure. O, the only thing epsom salts would be used for is if they had a blockage in the gut.

Thanks Mervin! I think I will try the Epsom salt method soon, as I just recalled that my canister filter had been shooting out some gunk from time to time, and my fish ate some of those gunk. I suspect that might be the issue. I have done a thorough clean of my entire canister filter and the pipes to get rid of the gunk. It could be that the gunk carried some bad bacteria. I will try some Epsom salt to let my fish poop, although I haven't seen him pooping for days...

[LizStreithorst]

Mervin is right. Try aging and table salt first and 90 degree heat first if you're changing that much water which is obvious that you need to do. You have no need for Epsom salt. What you need to use is plain old table salt. If that doesn't work, I'm out of ideas since you don't have access to meds.

[jamesx]

Mervin is right. Try aging and table salt first and 90 degree heat first if you're changing that much water which is obvious that you need to do. You have no need for Epsom salt. What you need to use is plain old table salt. If that doesn't work, I'm out of ideas since you don't have access to meds.

Thanks a lot Liz! I actually have found someone locally who have access to those meds.... I will try the table salt first then before I go into meds! Is table salt the same as the aquarium salt? There is this API Aquarium Salt that is quite expensive as just salt.

[dspeers]

Table salt is fine, some folks suggest avoiding iodine, available as kosher table salt, but others indicate that the iodine poses no threat. Am curious about anyone else's opinion on that. Aquarium salt is a needless expense.

Microbubbles is a misnomer, it is not tiny bubbles you can filter out but rather supersaturation of gasses, i.e. CO2 and Nitrogen that can happen with pressurized water and because gas saturation is inversely related to the temperature of the water. If the saturation is high enough then (micro) bubbles will form in the fish's circulatory system, essentially like decompression sickness with divers. With saltwater tanks, the tiny bubbles seen with protein skimmers are often referred to as microbubbles but are primarily a cosmetic issue, not a threat to fish.

If your ammonia is going down with lower % water changes and your nitrates are not changing then your biofilter is recovering. Don't recall, have you checked the ammonia level in the tap water? I put two tanks in the laundry room, 90 gallon capacity (2 45 gal side by side). Tight space, only 15.25 inches wide, pricey on amazon though. If you have to use straight from the tap better 25% twice a day than 50% daily.

[seanyuki]

What salt is safe.....just sharing

https://youtu.be/4SBLP1gDcyA

[seanyuki]

I’m actually out of options now. All fish meds are literally banned in Canada. I’m going to try getting the cycle back. While I do that, would adding epsom salt help my fish with the symptoms?

Try April Ross at April’s aquarium in Burnaby for meds....she is knowledgeable.......
http://aprilsaquarium.fish/

[bluelagoon]

Table salt is fine, some folks suggest avoiding iodine, available as kosher table salt, but others indicate that the iodine poses no threat. Am curious about anyone else's opinion on that. Aquarium salt is a needless expense.

Microbubbles is a misnomer, it is not tiny bubbles you can filter out but rather supersaturation of gasses, i.e. CO2 and Nitrogen that can happen with pressurized water and because gas saturation is inversely related to the temperature of the water. If the saturation is high enough then (micro) bubbles will form in the fish's circulatory system, essentially like decompression sickness with divers. With saltwater tanks, the tiny bubbles seen with protein skimmers are often referred to as microbubbles but are primarily a cosmetic issue, not a threat to fish.

If your ammonia is going down with lower % water changes and your nitrates are not changing then your biofilter is recovering. Don't recall, have you checked the ammonia level in the tap water? I put two tanks in the laundry room, 90 gallon capacity (2 45 gal side by side). Tight space, only 15.25 inches wide, pricey on amazon though. If you have to use straight from the tap better 25% twice a day than 50% daily.

Iodine is used in some water conditioners these days. What little bit that is table salt should be ok. I have only used salt a few times in my 50 years of fish keeping and it was always cheap table salt. Or epsom salt in case of bloat or constipation. Here is the conditioner::https://www.sera.de/us/service/info/...al-substances/

[jamesx]

Table salt is fine, some folks suggest avoiding iodine, available as kosher table salt, but others indicate that the iodine poses no threat. Am curious about anyone else's opinion on that. Aquarium salt is a needless expense.

Microbubbles is a misnomer, it is not tiny bubbles you can filter out but rather supersaturation of gasses, i.e. CO2 and Nitrogen that can happen with pressurized water and because gas saturation is inversely related to the temperature of the water. If the saturation is high enough then (micro) bubbles will form in the fish's circulatory system, essentially like decompression sickness with divers. With saltwater tanks, the tiny bubbles seen with protein skimmers are often referred to as microbubbles but are primarily a cosmetic issue, not a threat to fish.

If your ammonia is going down with lower % water changes and your nitrates are not changing then your biofilter is recovering. Don't recall, have you checked the ammonia level in the tap water? I put two tanks in the laundry room, 90 gallon capacity (2 45 gal side by side). Tight space, only 15.25 inches wide, pricey on amazon though. If you have to use straight from the tap better 25% twice a day than 50% daily.

Thanks for the follow up. I did another 50% water change last night and added 1 table spoon salt per 10 gallon into my tank. Fingers crossed for a miracle to happen...