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When I have sick fish I follow these recommendations from petfishtalk, most times it helps if not cures the situation entirely. I am a believer and those guys know their stuff.
If your fish are showing signs of stress or disease follow these recommendations:
1. Clean Your Fish's Home
Once each week clean the inside of your aquarium with a Scrubbing Pad. I use a magnetic one so I don't have to actually get wet. Both sides are magnetic but one side cleans really well. Be sure to wipe down all sides of the tank.
Don't use soap, or bleach, or other chemicals to clean anything that goes in your aquarium.
2. Clean the Gravel
In an aquarium with a BIO-Wheel the gravel is just ornamental. The fish don't need the gravel. If you do have gravel, make sure it's at most 1/4 inch thick. If you have an under-gravel filter skip this step and consider getting one. Use a gravel washer to suck all (alot) of the fish waste from the gravel, this help keep your water quality healthy while leaving beneficial bacteria on the surfaces. Python is a great one to use. Walmart sells them now.
You can avoid many problems with your fish's health by not having any gravel in your aquarium or by keeping a very thin layer of gravel.
3. Change Some Water
Change 20% of the water daily for a week. Do this while gravel washing during the first day of sickness.
Most tap water is safe for fish provided a maximum of 20% of the water is changed in a day. In a few areas you can't use the tap water in your aquarium. For example, some well water has chemicals or minerals that are toxic to fish. So you must be cautious; if you have doubts talk with someone at the local water district or talk with someone else who keeps fish in your area.
Many Water Conditioners will neutralize many toxic chemicals. Usually you can change up to 20% of the water in your aquarium without adding Water Conditioner. But changing more than 20% of the water in one day is risky, even if you add conditioner.
4. Add Quick Cure
I get mine from walmart but you can find it almost anywhere. Use 1/2 a dose for delicate fish.
"The dosage on the package is 1 drop of Quick Cure for each gallon of aquarium water or 1 drop per two gallons for Tetra Fish. Elsewhere we've read advice to use only a half dose on delicate fish such as Clown Loaches and Elephant Noses, but we've found it's safe to use a full dose on these fish. Your results may vary. "
"Repeat adding Quick Cure once every day until the Signs of Stress and Disease are gone. Quick Cure is available in many retail stores that sell pet fish and in many online stores including some that advertise on this web site. "
5. Add Aquarium Salt
The dose recommended on the package label is one Tablespoon of Aquarium Salt per five gallons of aquarium water. So, for example, a 10-gallon aquarium gets 2 Tablespoons of Aquarium Salt. Do not repeat the salt, only do it once and please do not use iodized table salt. Aquarium Salt is available in many stores that sell pet fish. Please make sure not to use table salt, that will kill your tank.
6. Increase the Water Temperature
If the fish you're treating are in a warm water aquarium with an aquarium heater, carefully increase the temperature of the water by 4 degrees to a maximum of 82 degrees F.
Even if your fish are coldwater fish such as Goldfish, it will probably help them to increase the water temperature by 4 degrees to a maximum of about 78 degrees. This is somewhat controversial, but I have tested it for many years. It often helps and rarely hurts.
What not to Do!!!
Don't add random chemical treatments to your tank, if you don't know exactly what your problem is you will hurt the fish and make the situation more complicated.
Don't do anything drastic like replace all of the water unless you have a complete die off.
Don't overfeed or feed your fish if they aren't eating while sick. Make sure your fish eat every piece of food you place in the tank during this time or you will soon have an ammonia problem.
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