PP, Sterbai Cories & Ottos

[TW]

Hi

Has any done a PP bath with sterbai & ottos?

Any advice would be great

[TW]

For the 1st PP treatment for gill flukes I removed the discus to a temporary container. For the follow-ups, I was thinking I should do this in the tank, in case there are any nasties in there. Should I remove the sterbai & cories before PP treatment?

If I do remove them, will they be carriers for gill fluke when they are returned untreated.

I could treat them with Sterazin when they are out of the main tank, but I don't want to do Sterazin in the display tank, as I believe it will stain the silicon?

I would like to do the treatment tomorrow, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[ILLUSN]

i dont use pp on bristlenoses and ottos will be just as sensitive, i would advise the use of prazi in the main tank, my bns always survived unscaved, sterizin never seemed to work for me when it came to flukes but you could be luckier, its milder than prazi, it wont stain the silicone too badly.

[TW]

Thanks for the advice ILLUSN. I'd been holding off doing anything, to see if anyone had advice. I have cleared the tank of plants & substrate (pool filter sand). I intend leaving them out of the tank for 2 weeks, so hopefully without any fish host, gill flukes will at least be gone from them.

Prazi didn't seem to work for this tank. This tank was/is QT for 3 of my wild brown discus & a few domestics. Sterbais & Ottos QT'd separatey for 6 weeks & joined the discus after that. As part of the QT process, they have all gone through the usual Big L / Prazi 4 week worming cycle twice (so 8 weeks of treatment all up, with a 2 week or or so break between the 1st 4 week cycle & the next). On top of that, I put some prazi in frozen food & they all ate it.

Yet still the turk & the domestic brown got gill flukes - so this strain of gill flukes seems resistant to prazi.

Luckily, each tank has it's own gravel vac, so I hope it won't spread to the other tanks.

All the discus in the infected tank underwent PP on boxing day (taken out of the tank for it). According to Andrew Soh, they are overdue for follow up treatments.

No one is showing any signs of needing the follow up treatment, but I had thought it should be done anyway, to catch eggs???

Concerned too about any gill fluke eggs in the filter???

Will ottos & sterbais be carriers of gill flukes? In the past, I have seen ottos not effected by something that has knocked out an apisto in short order. I could remove the ottos & sterbais for the duration of PP treatment, but will they just bring it back with them when they return to the tank?

I'd like to try to do everything right (or as best as I am able to). I do love all my discus, but especially I don't want to let these wilds get gill flukes?

I have Sterazin, but have read several post where pple all seem to say Sterazin hasn't worked for gill flukes. Reluctant to stain the silicon in this display tank, using a product that most report is likely not to work.

I will hold off again from the treamtent, to see if you have any comments?

BTW ILLUSN, how are those heckels you got at the same time as me? How big are yours now?

[ILLUSN]

[
BTW ILLUSN, how are those heckels you got at the same time as me? How big are yours now

mine all died (as did most of my other non breeders) when dads tank sprung a leak and his fish had to thrown into my tank, they got flukes and some kind of fungal infection that was non responsive to protozin and salt, all up i lost 7 (3 heckels 1 heckel cross 1 female pigion, 1 female red melon, 1 female red turk) fish then dad lost 4 (1 male blue turk, 2 female pigion, 1 male pigion) so were down to 8 these 8 now live in dads new display tank, but 8 big boys can get a little rowdy :)

i understand your problem, if you can keep the discus seperate for a while and build up their immunity they should be able to fight off the flukes, as for the eggs all you can do is clean your filter and keep replacing the white woll too keep the numbers down.[/code][/list]

[TW]

if you can keep the discus separate for a while and build up their immunity they should be able to fight off the flukes, Do you mean separate the discus from the sterbais & ottos, or just continue to keep this tank & all it's current occupants in isolation?

as for the eggs all you can do is clean your filter and keep replacing the white woll too keep the numbers down.I cleaned it last night. I have 2 wool pads. I replaced one & rinsed the other. Should I now go back & replace both of them? What about the coarse blue pad? Should it be replaced, sterilised or boiled?

No other treatment for gill flukes at this stage - just keep watching?

Oh, that's too sad about all those discus deaths. :cry: :cry: :cry: I still have 2 Heckels left (1 died of hex early on). Recently had to put them through another treatment of metro. Fully recovered (used higher dose & frequency from DPH & it seemed to make a lot of difference). However, I think they're stunted, as twice now they have been in a sick tank with reduced feeding & metro. This time, 1 went without food from Oct to mid Dec. Shame.

[ILLUSN]

i'd change both white pads, the eggs usually move through the corse sponge but if you wanted to be super safe you can change it too, all your bacteria ahould be in the media anyway. id keep the discus in a seperate bare bottom tank, good water and good fedding they'll start growing again in no time once they'ce befed up they should be right to look after tehemselves in the display tank.

[TW]

Thanks ILLUSN

How long in BB on their own, before I can consider they're safe. The QT for these guys just goes on & on LOL - since Oct so far, but I will QT them for as long as it takes.

ATM, they're not skinny & are eating well - no signs of anything. The ones that had obvious gill flukes have already passed on. These guys are pretty big & may not grow larger than what they are now.

Do I need to treat the sand, or is it enough to dry it & store it in the meantime?

I guess PP bath for the plants, in case there are snails that could have transferred the gill flukes to plant storage tub?

How often will I change the white pads?

Sorry, too many questions :oops:

[ILLUSN]

dry the sand, the eggs wont survive drying out, change the pads after each treatment, or once a month, just for good house keeping.

[TW]

Thanks again :)


change the pads after each treatment So, once sterbai & ottos are out of tank, I should do the PP? Leave filter running, then afterwards replace white pads[/quote]

[ILLUSN]

i'd turn the filter off for the pp, it will probably kill the bacteria, after the treatment turn the filter back on and let it run for a few hrs or over night, then change the pads.

[TW]

thanks for all the help :D