thatpurplebunny

Cheers for the links I just took another look at the loaches and one definitely has three tiny white dots that weren't there at 7am this morning! So I mixed the little salt we did have with water from the tank and added it (it was the green variety so my water now looks hideous), turned the heaters up to 28deg - and ordered some salt that probably won't get here until Friday (fingers crossed that's not too late!). Poor tetras - I hope they don't mind the extra heat.

Ok, thanks Caryl. I've just ordered a master test kit so I can see exactly what is going on in all the tanks, and will do the tap water too. I'm in Central Takaka, so yes, it comes from a pump station in a paddock just up the road. Plus I'll definitely keep a close eye on my loaches. Can you tell me how quickly the white spot spreads from "what's that dot on my fish's back?" to "that fish is in serious trouble!"? Just thinking that if they do someday succumb to it, maybe I should get the salt (which is kind of cheap) just to know I have some ready and available. Also (I hope you don't mind me picking your brain) do you think it would be a good idea to set up the 30ltr tank as a quarantine for new stock, or is that not really necessary? ~Clare

I noticed that my serpaes had kind of ragged fins/tails when I got them, and assumed that they'd been chomped by others. Though on closer inspection today it looks like one has an actual tear in it's dorsal fin, and after many hours of reading trough the 'disease' forum I'm thinking that maybe what I'm looking at is in fact fin rot (or perhaps I'm just paranoid, but please read on). I also noticed that one of my clown loaches has a similar white/raggedy edge to the tail that I'm positive wasn't there when I bought him just yesterday. So I mentioned to my daughter that I read about adding salt tonic to the tank and she offered me the last of what was in the container that came with her tropical tank (only 2 tablespoons), but I'm cautious to add it before I get some advice from here. It's probably not enough to make any difference given the ratio to water, but then probably wouldn't hurt either? If it's recommended I will definitely buy some and have it mailed out to me. Likewise I don't have a ph testing kit, so I really have no idea what is going on with the water (bad I know) - but I did a 20% water change today, and plan on doing that weekly (or more often). So any advice in regards to raggedy tail syndrome & salt tonic would be very much appreciated. And if you happen to have an opinion on what is the best (mail order - read TM) water testing kit is the best (ph/aquachem/master set) - well that would be helpful too