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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
- Chief Robert (Chief Robert)
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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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- tanks_alot (Denis Coghlan)
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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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- Chief Robert (Chief Robert)
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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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- KenS (Ken Simpson)
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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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- Anthony (Anthony)
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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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- apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
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- KenS (Ken Simpson)
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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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- serratus (Drew Latimer)
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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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- tanks_alot (Denis Coghlan)
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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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- Chief Robert (Chief Robert)
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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 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 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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- apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
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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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- Chief Robert (Chief Robert)
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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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- Sean (Fr. Jack)
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That would be a ecumenical matter!!!
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- Sushi (Sushi)
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I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy!
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- Anthony (Anthony)
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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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