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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

What are your essential medications daily health/emergencies

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19 Mar 2007 15:36 #1 by Chief Robert (Chief Robert)
Hi all,

Just wanted to know what medications do you guys have handy for daily health issues and then also what you might keep a supply of for emergency situations? I have used a thing called King British Revitaliser Tonic when I think the fish are looking sluggish or not their usual perky selves! According to the label it's a blend of liquified salts & is a fast acting solution for fish suffering from constipation or perceived swim bladder problems. It also stimulates the internal osmosis stabilising mechanism of fish, flushing the skin & scales of excess body slime & surface discomfort.

However - this is all I use. I don't have any medications for "emergency" type situations. Right now I have a couple of Discus who are looking very dark in colour - something is not right with them, so can any of you recommend some medications I should be keeping for these type emergencies?

I've read people refer to giving Discus a dose of Epsom salts every now and then - but are these the same salts as you get in pharmacists, or are these specific fish salts?

Thanks!

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19 Mar 2007 16:49 #2 by tanks_alot (Denis Coghlan)
Not sure about your discus question but I will comment on what I keep in terms of medication emergency supplies.

A couple of bags of non-ionised sea salt (you can get it in Holland and Barret health food shops for €1 a bag.

Meth blue for the odd fungal infection

and media for the hospital tank filter in my external filter.

Lead me not into temptation, For I can find it myself!

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19 Mar 2007 16:55 #3 by Chief Robert (Chief Robert)
Thanks for that - but when do you use the non-ionised sea salt - what is it for exactly?

And I don't understand what you mean about media in your hospital tank filter in my external filter. What exactly is the media (e.g Polyfilter or something like that) and what is a hospital tank filter?

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19 Mar 2007 18:03 #4 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
I also keep media from the filter for my quarantine/hospital tank in my external filter. This coupled with water from my main tank ensures that I have an instantly cycled tank in a hurry if necessary for quarantining or treatment.

I have varous medications from Waterlife (Myaxin, Protozin, Sterazin) to treat common diseases. The Interpet stuff is pretty sh1te in my experience.

I also have Metronidazole (Flagyl) that was ordered from the US to treat what I thought was internal bacterial infections in Gouramies (turned out to be that irodovirus). You know who to contact if you need it!

Regards,

Ken.

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19 Mar 2007 21:07 #5 by Anthony (Anthony)
I keep Metholine blue and aquarium salt.
Epsom salt is only for blockages. How are your Discus. Have you added any new fish lately or has you ph dropped.
Are you feeding them bloodworm or Tubefex worms. Imo a no no to feed Discus.
Are their fins frayed. Are they shedding excess slime.

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20 Mar 2007 02:42 #6 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: What are your essential medications daily health/emergencies
eSHA 2000, that's pretty much it. Once you keep your water in good condition you really shouldn't need anything. 99% of diseases are caused by bad water conditions.

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20 Mar 2007 04:20 #7 by KenS (Ken Simpson)

Once you keep your water in good condition you really shouldn't need anything. 99% of diseases are caused by bad water conditions.


I 100% agree with that.

Regards,

Ken.

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20 Mar 2007 05:14 #8 by serratus (Drew Latimer)
Very true its keeping water, do that and fish will be fine most of the time.
Be careful using methalyne blue as it damages filter bacteria and plants!
Ammonia remover by interpet is very good, you can test positive for am. and put some in 2-3 hrs later test and its gone very handy for emergencies!!!!
A good antibacterial and a good parasite treatment plus a polyfilter (by underworld) is very useful, remember to test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and PH weekly on your main tank and daily during any treatments, if you test weekly and react fast to any problems you will rarely need to medicate (apart from wounds from breeding/fighting)

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20 Mar 2007 06:12 #9 by tanks_alot (Denis Coghlan)

but when do you use the non-ionised sea salt - what is it for exactly?


I use sea salt when or if I need to turn up the heat in a tank to kill problems such as white spot or to increase fish metabolism if there is any bloat in my mbuna. I'm not sure if there is any scientific proof to this but I have been told that it increases gill function thus the fish will be able to extract oxygen from the water even when the available oxygen has been reduced by the increase in temperature.

I also used salt baths to treat fungal problems on my killi fish. Killis have a nasty habit of growing fungus around their mouths, it only happens every so often, but it is easily treated with a quick dunk into some salty water.

NB: Do not use salt with fish that do not have scales! Plecs etc... I think it burns their skin.

And I don't understand what you mean about media in your hospital tank filter in my external filter. What exactly is the media (e.g Polyfilter or something like that) and what is a hospital tank filter?


I keep the sponges from the internal filter that I used in my spare (hospital) tank in the external filter just so that it has a colony of bacteria in it.

Lead me not into temptation, For I can find it myself!

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20 Mar 2007 06:25 #10 by Chief Robert (Chief Robert)

I keep Metholine blue and aquarium salt.
Epsom salt is only for blockages. How are your Discus. Have you added any new fish lately or has you ph dropped.
Are you feeding them bloodworm or Tubefex worms. Imo a no no to feed Discus.
Are their fins frayed. Are they shedding excess slime.

I checked the Discus again this morning. The colouration has improved slightly, and they are swimming around looking reasonably healthy. But the colour is still "dark".

I haven't added any new fish in ages, pH hasn't dropped, and I am at a loss to explain what happened. I have been feeding them a variation of Tetra Prima, Bloodworms and "Discus Fit" (a combination of food frozen into the cubes) but have been using that for months.

Also - none of the other Discus seem to be changed in any way.
No frayed fins and now excess slime either :(

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20 Mar 2007 06:58 #11 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: What are your essential medications daily health/emergencies
Hi Robert,
please refer to most post in the 'discus section'.
I seem to remember that you have quite a few fish in your tank and I also seem to recall that I posted that I think your tank is overstocked. It could be a terratorial issue as well.
Holgr

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20 Mar 2007 07:06 #12 by Chief Robert (Chief Robert)
Hi Holger,

Yes - I have 9 small discus in my 240 litre tank. I recall only last week or the week before discussing this with you and you advising me I was over-stocked. Most of the fish are relatively young (so small) and I hadn't noticed any "territorial" type behaviour in the tank previously.

But the fact that I was potentially overstocked did concern me, which led me to doing more water changes than normal. Perhaps this was the cause of the Discus changing colour in some way??? :?

I am going to monitor and see what happens next.

Thanks again...

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20 Mar 2007 12:58 #13 by Sean (Fr. Jack)
I know i am been a bit of a hypercrite as it s takes a lot of time taking photos and up loading them on to the net, it great if you are a single man or student or retired person that has the time to do it, but a picture tells a 100 words when a fish in question is sick taking 3 shots side on and front plus one general one of the whole tank really helps to diagnose the problem, I dare and advise you as I am guessing ,rather than knowing, you could me missing some really important info that would show in the picture.

That would be a ecumenical matter!!!

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20 Mar 2007 15:29 #14 by Sushi (Sushi)
Hi Robert. Theres a product called toxivec, made by sera (german company) and it seems to be very good. It can be used as a water conditioner, but as well as taking out heavy metals and chlorine compounds, it totally eliminates ammonia, nitrate etc, and most other nasties you would want to take out, and its almost instantaneous. It'd probably be handy to have something that fast-acting and broad as an emergency way to eliminate a lot of things at once if the need arose. Thats my 2 cents worth anyway.

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy!

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21 Mar 2007 11:04 #15 by Anthony (Anthony)
[quote="tanks_alot
I use sea salt when or if I need to turn up the heat in a tank to kill problems such as white spot or to increase fish metabolism if there is any bloat in my mbuna. I'm not sure if there is any scientific proof to this but I have been told that it increases gill function thus the fish will be able to extract oxygen from the water even when the available oxygen has been reduced by the increase in temperature.
.[/quote]

Sodium chloride coats the gill membranes and helps prevent blood poisoning. Works against Nitrite but not ammonia.

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21 Mar 2007 11:43 #16 by russell (russell)
Replied by russell (russell) on topic Medicines
Methelene Blue -Malachite Green - Sterazine- Myaxine - Epson Salts and that's it only ised the Epsons in the last 6 years!!!!!!!!!!!!

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