450Gal Treatment Log

[thecoolguy]

Tank: 450gal
Stock: 24 WC discus, 60 assorted tetras, 4 geos, 2 corys, 4 plecos

Symptoms: about 8-9 of the discus have gone to hiding/white poop/not eating/etc....and this number seems to be growing

Plan: Heat treatment --- due to the fact that I cannot have another QT tank for the time being, and treating a tank this large with meds can become cost prohibitive (as well as doing daily 50% wc is not possible right now)

So, ill be updating this thread with how the treatment goes.....

2 days ago I did a 60-70% wc and have begun the treatment today with another 50% wc -- have added 2 air pumps, open top, a lot of surface agitation (as well as the overflow) - so im hoping o2 levels stay good for the others...

Day 1: set temp to 92 - getting to 92 (from currently 86) should take the tank until tomorrow sometime (800w titanium controlled heater), and then ill up the temp to 95/96 which should take another day or so -- at which point, ill maintain for 5-6 days with minimal to no feeding for the entire tank

[TURQ64]

You may want to consider dropping the level in half..Half as much med's should you need them.......

[thecoolguy]

You may want to consider dropping the level in half..Half as much med's should you need them.......

thought about it.......but i am purposefully trying to stay away from meds this time...and attempt the heat method and see if it truly is what everyone says....

[MKD]

that's a hug tank to treat. You still want to lower your water level to heat the water up quick. I am worrying about your corys tetras and plecos, they may not survive that high temp.



ps: this is Tony who got your FREE 55G stand. Thank you
i have 55G fish tank and 75G cart on wheels that you can borrow.
http://handiquip.com/images/Box-Truck-white.jpg

[TURQ64]

thought about it.......but i am purposefully trying to stay away from meds this time...and attempt the heat method and see if it truly is what everyone says....

I was referencing the possibility of step 2...And even with the heat treatment (which I recommend frequently), WC's are necessary..So, How much heated, aged water do you have on hand?..Your call, matey..your fish, just trying to help..Not sure of the purpose of this thread. Best of luck...Gary

[Darrell Ward]

Good luck! I've never had any luck with heat treatment for anything. All it ever did was decrease oxygen levels that had to be replaced. I've done metro treatments on a 300 gal. tank before. It wasn't that bad.

[YSS]

Best of luck. Hope everything works out.

[thecoolguy]

that's a hug tank to treat. You still want to lower your water level to heat the water up quick. I am worrying about your corys tetras and plecos, they may not survive that high temp.
ps: this is Tony who got your FREE 55G stand. Thank you
i have 55G fish tank and 75G cart on wheels that you can borrow.

hey tony, enjoy the stand! appreciate the offer to borrow - getting tanks is not my problem...having somewhere to setup a tank is....


I was referencing the possibility of step 2...And even with the heat treatment (which I recommend frequently), WC's are necessary..So, How much heated, aged water do you have on hand?..Your call, matey..your fish, just trying to help..Not sure of the purpose of this thread. Best of luck...Gary

appreciate the input turq
-i would lower the water level - but that would take my sump out of the equation....i may try to work around it somehow...but not sure how/if yet
- wc's --- ive heard differing opinions on whether they are necessary or not during the heating period - if it comes down to necessity, i have all the heated treated water i need.....
- purpose of thread: just to document my attempt at getting rid of some unwanteds in the tank...


Good luck! I've never had any luck with heat treatment for anything. All it ever did was decrease oxygen levels that had to be replaced. I've done metro treatments on a 300 gal. tank before. It wasn't that bad.

hey darrel, ive actually treated this tank with metro in the past and know it isn't too hard to accomplish, but with some of the things ive heard of treating with heat, i want to see if it works as advertised ---- as for the o2 levels....im going to do my best.....


Best of luck. Hope everything works out.
thanks!

and just in case you guys are worried -if at any point, the treatment looks as if it is doing more harm then good, i am going to slowly bring the temp back down, and go ahead with other methods of treatment

[pcsb23]

With that many discus would it not be worth confirming for sure what the issue is? It may mean sacrificing one or two fish but at least you would know what your treating rather than guessing. No offence intended btw. I am assuming that you believe this to be flagellates?

Water changes are always needed when treating. Some treatment regimes mean doing 100% w/c after three days, some need daily large w/c's. The water change isn't just about water, it is about removing water borne pathogens and organics (that bacteria feed on) too.

Assuming you believe it is flagellates, if you decide to treat, then using metronidazole with epsom salts is usually more effective. It can also be worth going for an extended treatment of 12 days (or more) but only dosing once a day. It may also be worth considering something like di-metro too.

Also the temp has to go very high to kill spiro ... around 37C or 99f ... this is an interesting article re spiro in angel fish (the same parasite as in discus) http://www.int-res.com/articles/dao/39/d039p135.pdf

Discus are well adapted to low O2 levels, but the other fish will not be so well adapted, they will show signs before the discus. Short term O2 lift can be gained from adding small amounts of hydrogen peroxide @ 6% or 9%. A tablespoon at a time in this big a tank will help dramatically and this can be repeated every half hour for a while.

Good luck with it.

[YSS]

and just in case you guys are worried -if at any point, the treatment looks as if it is doing more harm then good, i am going to slowly bring the temp back down, and go ahead with other methods of treatment

According to Hans, if you stop the treatment before 5 day is completed, it may do more harm than good. Fish are in a weakened state during the heat treatment and if you don't complete the treatment and bug is not dead, then it could potentially kill the weakened fish once the temp is lowered. So you need to be prepared to go the whole length of the treatment. I stopped treating one fish after three days and when I returned the fish back to the main tank, it died in about a week.

[thecoolguy]

update:

got up to temp by day 3.5

color returning and normal behavior semi-returning on 6 out of the 8

have done 1 40% wc - after a very light feeding

will let this go another 3-4 days, at which point ill bring down the temp over the course of 2-3 days

all other fish are doing "fine" - no one is breathing hard or acting out of the norm

if things are still looking bad, ill attempt he metro + epsom