Cloudy eye, and slime.

[spangela]

Hi , ive got a large (30cm) flowerhorn, hes recently started going downhill and has got cloudy eye and a white slime on his body. I have done a 50% water change and treated with furan 2, but hasent helped if anything has made it worse, and now i have just noticed some tiny parasite in the tank which are the same size a BBS. What is this?? and what would be the best way to cure this?? Thanks heaps

[jc360]

what is your ph, if you tank level is different than your tap water then this affects your fish. i had these sort of symptons on a few fish recently and for some reason my ph had just bottomed out. i had never had ph problems before but all of a sudden i was under a ph of 6. i think that a large water change like that needs a dose of stress coat used before the new water goes in. A rise in ph can result 'burn' i think. but i am no expert.

[spangela]

Hi, thanks yeah i checked ph and it had dropped out below 6, i had been feeding some trout pellets to them (and over feed them) so im guessing that would have dropped the ph, as i have notticed similar symptoms to some of my orandas. jc360 did your fish come right??

[jc360]

ill be honest, there were casualties, but the larger fish came through sweet as and the little ones were getting on any way. i just changed my substrate to a finer grade, and uped my water changes to once a week to combat waste. i have also added shells to try and raise the ph but its not happening as quickly as hoped. but it is sitting at 6 at the moment and hopefully will raise up more during the next few weeks.

[jc360]

oh and that little worm, is feeding on excess waste in your tank, loaches will eat them but do a good vacumm of your gravel next time you do a water change.

[Brookey25]

I was lucky to meet a very knowledgeable pet shop owner.. which makes a refreshing change.

I was told that if you want to increase your PH, the best way to do it is naturally - avoid chemically treating your fish if you don't have to. Most inside fish get enough tonics and dechlorinators thrown at them as it is.

I've bought some Sera Mineral Salt for my tank in case the PH is too low. I haven't had to use this as yet, but the instructions tell you how much to use - you just sprinkle a small amount into the tank and this will raise the PH. It is better to underdose with the salt, rather than to overdose.. as I was told the PH can climb too high and you may then need to chemically reduce it with something like PH Down.

The Mineral Salts are extremely beneficial to the fish, because they replace the natural trace elements that they're missing from their natural habitat - i.e. ponds.. where these sort of things exist naturally in the ground.

I'm sorry I can't be of more help, having not used this yet.. but I've been learning these little things from my local pet shop owner.. who really knows her stuff.

It's worth a look anyway.

[lmsmith]

Keep up the water changes, but instead of doing a big one, do smaller (20%) every day or so. Leave the water to sit in a bucket overnight, or better yet, collect rainwater. Brookey's right, if you're going to be changing pH, do it slowly, and without chemicals if you can. Generally, shells are good at raising the pH.

If that's not working though, try some baking soda. If you do a google search, you'll find out about the quantities. However, what your fish has sounds like stress to me. Is he getting good quality and variety of foods? If he is, test you KH, if your water is very soft, the fish may not like it. Also, soft water is more susceptible to pH changes, which can stress the fish.