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Still losing fish, is it co2?

Again I’m somewhat sceptical

It has happened to me unfortunately, when the KH dropped to zero and pH plummeted. The sign is gasping at the surface, swimming vertically at the surface and losing balance or just sitting motionless on the substrate as you mentioned....At that stage the fish may not survive but many actually did in my case as I restored the water quality pretty fast, knowing the issue first hand.

also often dissimilar water parameters

What I am talking about is a scenario when KH goes down to zero. KH drops down due to nitrification. Bigger rates of nitrification, bigger drop, bigger risk if water is not changed sufficiently. Softer water is even more dangerous as the KH is low from get go. This is not to do with moving fish from one tank with good water quality to another. Fish normally adjust as long as there no extremes. Monitoring the TDS increase from tap is a preventative as increasing TDS is a sign of poor water quality and things spiral down from there...
 
In the last year or so, I have seen shipments of Rummy’s, Cardinals, Neons arrive with what I suspect is some strain(s) of Columnaris (this is a tricky pathogen as the same strain in the same batch of fish, which are then separated to different environments, may display significantly different disease progressions)

I highly doubt this has anything to do with columnaris. Unfortunately I've had to deal with that also that came with my newly purchased harlequin rasboras. In my case after treatment with antibiotic, the fish that showed no symptoms survived the ordeal. The antibiotic stopped the spread almost immediately. I understand there are different strains but here in Europe, due to lack of access to antibotics for fish treatment, one has little chance at eradicating it, especially on a bigger scale such as fish shops.
 
Yeah I noticed that too :/

Bit mysterious coupled with the awful reviews. Although people have all seemed to be out to get it before they even used it lol.


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Generally those type of meds labelled anti-fungus also contain formalin which is also effective against different protozoa and parasitic worms,hence I suspect it is the real reason you had a reduction in deaths, and not its antifungal/antibacterial effect.
Formalin can turn into par formaldehyde in the right conditions, and wipe the tank out. There are way safer meds for both parasites, bacteria and fungus that don't carry the toxic risk.
 
Generally those type of meds labelled anti-fungus also contain formalin which is also effective against different protozoa and parasitic worms,hence I suspect it is the real reason you had a reduction in deaths, and not its antifungal/antibacterial effect.
Formalin can turn into par formaldehyde in the right conditions, and wipe the tank out. There are way safer meds for both parasites, bacteria and fungus that don't carry the toxic risk.

Sounds pretty volatile for a catch all medicine ha!

I noticed it smelt quite pleasant if that helps. It was medicinal but creamy in appearance, smelt quite fragrant.


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Was there any colour to the med by the way, green or blue?

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Phenoxyethanol it is...



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Anybody know if that’s any good?

Probably why it didn’t do much as it wasn’t a decent medicine.


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That’s true, but it’s certainly pointing that way. I’ve stopped fertilizers for a couple of days and co2, fish still behaving the same so it wasn’t co2 making them short of breath.

Now I also know the medicine was likely not effective leads to the reasoning to assume it probably did nothing and the pathogen, if indeed it is that, will be in the tank still.

Is the Tetra catch all one any good, or the Seachem one?

Cleaned the whole system yesterday and rebuilt the sump so it’s even more chambered.

As promised I will take readings and submit here.


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Is the Tetra catch all one any good, or the Seachem one?

This is totally not the way to approach the issue. Random picking of meds does nothing and the chances to use the right med for what the fish have are little to none, hence most people never "cure" the fish. I actually already suggested a med, if I was to use one in your scenario but only after fully evaluating the water.

Did you test your KH tap and tank?
 
If your water parameters are stable, tank and tap are the same, the long shot is trying to treat with Waterlife octozin

The most likely pathogens that affect the nervous system are flagellates/protozoa and waterlife octozin targets that with its main ingredient being dimetridazole. The symptoms can be whirling, byoncy issues, swimming vertically, swimming upside down, breathing problems, and in some cases depending on the pathogen, shimming, wasting, lack of appetite, even dropsy, bloat, etc...Short of water quality issues, flagellates will be my guess.

Having said that, I personally use medication as a last resort and I have learned to be patient. Meds are not magic, they knock off the biggest load but the actual healing is the fish's immune system so water quality has got to be checked and fixed. Water quality can be the actual issue, or the actual trigger or infection as fish are constantly in contact with pathogens and naturally fight them off when healthy and in a the right environment.
 
The most likely pathogens that affect the nervous system are flagellates/protozoa and waterlife octozin targets that with its main ingredient being dimetridazole. The symptoms can be whirling, byoncy issues, swimming vertically, swimming upside down, breathing problems, and in some cases depending on the pathogen, shimming, wasting, lack of appetite, even dropsy, etc...Short of water quality issues, flagellates will be my guess.

Having said that, I personally use medication as a last resort and I have learned to be patient. Meds are not magic, they knock off the biggest load but the actual healing is the fish's immune system so water quality has got to be checked and fixed. Water quality can be the actual issue, or the actual trigger or infection as fish are constantly in contact with pathogens and naturally fight them off when healthy and in a the right environment.

Cool ok, so keep up water changes and possibly try a decent medicine treatment? Might use the Seachem one as all their stuff is solid for me so far.

I may add my Chihiros doctor back in there too for a while and see if that helps too :)


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Something Fishy, certain meds treat certain things in a narrow range. There's no such a thing as "decent medicine". They only treat what they're are supposed to. There's no "treat all" medicine available or it would have been the discovery of the history of the world. Fish are like humans, you need to treat with the proper med after thoroughly evaluating the situation and it is still an educated guess unless you submit a fish for autopsy.
 
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