Updated information on Patch and her battle with ick. She is doing quite well now. The remaining spots are on her side fins and they are improving every day...the rays are healing as well.
Kudos to F Fishflyer and HIKARI corporation for their input into Patchs' treatment regarding ICH-X. After a description of her symptoms (headstanding, listing/floating, breathing heavily and turning white despite heavy aeration and w/c) they recommended a full water change and to get her off the medication. It may have been too powerful or the formulation not suited well for her tolerance. Research I did says ICH-X is one of the gentler treatments. It seems as though breathing issues are not uncommon though. So I switched to Tetra Ich Guard tablets which I used before. Problem solved. No issues with breathing and her progress has been steady with no more insane outbreaks. I gave Patch a full salt dip after her third eruption of ich which covered her eyes, fins, and the bottom of her gills. She improved immediately and hasn't regressed since.
Another reason I like the Tetra Guard is that its good for secondary infections that can happen after ich. Ever since the salt dip Patch has been eating like crazy and behaving normally as if nothing were wrong.
After time to think about this situation there were two potential triggers that may have caused her outbreak. I've addressed both.
The first is the brightness of the lime green sand substrate. I noticed she didn't swim the middle and lower levels of the tank much. This was a change from when she was in the main tank. In comparison, Kong swims the bottom with the dark blue sand substrate in his tank. So it occurred to me the glare was causing her constant low level stress with the reflective high color under the led lights. So I've mixed in some of the darker blue sand. The change is immediate! Patch now swims the bottom and mid levels far more than she did before. Check box one.
The second was the issue with the vine wrap over the 8" pot I had in her tank. Despite daily poop clean and twice weekly water changes I discovered the vines held a tremendous amount of poop that I was missing. I discovered this when during a couple of water changes I would pour clean water in over the pot and stuff would blast everywhere. So despite my maintenance I was still missing a good portion of accumulating detrius.
The pot was removed for this reason and also because it was too small. The canisters are smooth ceramic and much larger. No more hidden detrius causing problems. Plus, the 11" width allows Patch room to move and maneuver without bending her fins. Check box two.
I also suspect the grass wrap over Kongs' pot caused the same situation leading to a ph crash suddenly from hidden poop. He also has a new ceramic canister that gives him room as well.
Sometimes you have an idea that doesn't work...so I had to change up. Meanwhile, a few pics .
Kong continues his war on the large marimo ball. It's getting chewed up pretty good.
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Kudos to F Fishflyer and HIKARI corporation for their input into Patchs' treatment regarding ICH-X. After a description of her symptoms (headstanding, listing/floating, breathing heavily and turning white despite heavy aeration and w/c) they recommended a full water change and to get her off the medication. It may have been too powerful or the formulation not suited well for her tolerance. Research I did says ICH-X is one of the gentler treatments. It seems as though breathing issues are not uncommon though. So I switched to Tetra Ich Guard tablets which I used before. Problem solved. No issues with breathing and her progress has been steady with no more insane outbreaks. I gave Patch a full salt dip after her third eruption of ich which covered her eyes, fins, and the bottom of her gills. She improved immediately and hasn't regressed since.
Another reason I like the Tetra Guard is that its good for secondary infections that can happen after ich. Ever since the salt dip Patch has been eating like crazy and behaving normally as if nothing were wrong.
After time to think about this situation there were two potential triggers that may have caused her outbreak. I've addressed both.
The first is the brightness of the lime green sand substrate. I noticed she didn't swim the middle and lower levels of the tank much. This was a change from when she was in the main tank. In comparison, Kong swims the bottom with the dark blue sand substrate in his tank. So it occurred to me the glare was causing her constant low level stress with the reflective high color under the led lights. So I've mixed in some of the darker blue sand. The change is immediate! Patch now swims the bottom and mid levels far more than she did before. Check box one.
The second was the issue with the vine wrap over the 8" pot I had in her tank. Despite daily poop clean and twice weekly water changes I discovered the vines held a tremendous amount of poop that I was missing. I discovered this when during a couple of water changes I would pour clean water in over the pot and stuff would blast everywhere. So despite my maintenance I was still missing a good portion of accumulating detrius.
The pot was removed for this reason and also because it was too small. The canisters are smooth ceramic and much larger. No more hidden detrius causing problems. Plus, the 11" width allows Patch room to move and maneuver without bending her fins. Check box two.
I also suspect the grass wrap over Kongs' pot caused the same situation leading to a ph crash suddenly from hidden poop. He also has a new ceramic canister that gives him room as well.
Sometimes you have an idea that doesn't work...so I had to change up. Meanwhile, a few pics .
Kong continues his war on the large marimo ball. It's getting chewed up pretty good.
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