![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Still Not... Dead
Apr. 23rd, 2009 11:32 amBy all rights my tetra should be dead.
I was feeling pretty good about their progress yesterday. They all seemed chipper in the morning, enough so that they did their usual happy swarm when I dropped some food flakes at the top of the tank. I happily ignored them most of the day. Then, just before turning in for the evening, I looked at them to say good night and cried, "Oh my god!"
They had mold on THEIR EYES. EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW!
Like all of a sudden... they went from happy-happy to MOLDY EYEBALLS!
I have no idea why the fungicide hasn't killed this stuff yet, so I decided to do a radical water change and tank clean and try a bottle of PIMAFIX (tm), that I had in my fishy medicine cabniet downstairs. PIMAFIX is also supposed to tackle all sorts of fungus and bacteria infections and at this point I thought, "What? I can hardly do more damage."
Of course, tetra are very sensitive to changes in water condition. The water that comes out of the tap here in Saint Paul is very clorinated and very, very hard. (It tastes a bit like tin to me.) I always have de-clorinated water on hand, but making the water soft involves a water softener pillow that neatly fits in the tank's filter, filled with the same resin professional/industrial water softeners use in them. Plus, I usually try to keep the temperature of their tank around 70 F.
In order to do a full water change, they had to deal with a sudden influx of relatively cold water *and* serious hardness.
A couple of the little guys flipped upside down almost immediately. One lay pathetically on the substrate gasping. The other did the classic belly float at the top. I ignored their little show of dramatics. I refused to gucci-gucci them until they stopped breathing. Plus, I'd seen this behavior before with my female betta. She eventually recovered once she got over the shock to her system.
Believe it or not, so did these guys.
After doing nearly a 100% water change (and, yes, there did seem to be something funky in the water after all -- white floaty bits again,) I left them alone overnight with their water softening pillow and the heater cranked up to full.
In the morning, I had nine, bright-eyed shiny-tailed tetra staring at me.
I could still signs of illness so I put in the recommended dose of PERMAFIX (1/2 teaspoon for 5 gallons.) I can repeat this for up to seven days before I have to do a water change.
They should be dead, but yet they live. Zombie tetra??
I was feeling pretty good about their progress yesterday. They all seemed chipper in the morning, enough so that they did their usual happy swarm when I dropped some food flakes at the top of the tank. I happily ignored them most of the day. Then, just before turning in for the evening, I looked at them to say good night and cried, "Oh my god!"
They had mold on THEIR EYES. EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW!
Like all of a sudden... they went from happy-happy to MOLDY EYEBALLS!
I have no idea why the fungicide hasn't killed this stuff yet, so I decided to do a radical water change and tank clean and try a bottle of PIMAFIX (tm), that I had in my fishy medicine cabniet downstairs. PIMAFIX is also supposed to tackle all sorts of fungus and bacteria infections and at this point I thought, "What? I can hardly do more damage."
Of course, tetra are very sensitive to changes in water condition. The water that comes out of the tap here in Saint Paul is very clorinated and very, very hard. (It tastes a bit like tin to me.) I always have de-clorinated water on hand, but making the water soft involves a water softener pillow that neatly fits in the tank's filter, filled with the same resin professional/industrial water softeners use in them. Plus, I usually try to keep the temperature of their tank around 70 F.
In order to do a full water change, they had to deal with a sudden influx of relatively cold water *and* serious hardness.
A couple of the little guys flipped upside down almost immediately. One lay pathetically on the substrate gasping. The other did the classic belly float at the top. I ignored their little show of dramatics. I refused to gucci-gucci them until they stopped breathing. Plus, I'd seen this behavior before with my female betta. She eventually recovered once she got over the shock to her system.
Believe it or not, so did these guys.
After doing nearly a 100% water change (and, yes, there did seem to be something funky in the water after all -- white floaty bits again,) I left them alone overnight with their water softening pillow and the heater cranked up to full.
In the morning, I had nine, bright-eyed shiny-tailed tetra staring at me.
I could still signs of illness so I put in the recommended dose of PERMAFIX (1/2 teaspoon for 5 gallons.) I can repeat this for up to seven days before I have to do a water change.
They should be dead, but yet they live. Zombie tetra??