Chilodonella

Question
Hi Renee, I believe that some of my fish have chilodonella and started to treat the aquarium with salt. But I am not sure how long the salt stays in the water if I have to make water changes and when yes how often.
I added 10 tea spoons of salt yesterday.


Aquarium is set up as follow:
240 liter fish tank, set up 4 months ago
potting mix, sand, gravel, plants, wood
2 sword tail, 10 guppies (plus babies), 1 kissing gouami, 2 Dwarf Suckers, 2 bristlenose plecos, 2 big apple snails (which I removed), 1 Kuli
2 Mollies died, The Gouami looks very thin and hides, the two plecos have white marks on the skin but still look ok

tested my water today and that needs adjustment as well. Please give some advise.
PH 6.0 , GH 0 ppm, KH 0 ppm, Nitrite 0 ppm, Nitrate 30 ppm

I have a CO2 system but havn't installed it yet.  Is that advisable?

Katrin  

Answer
Hi Katrin,

Bad news, nitrates are too high.  That is causing ammonia.

First, let's get that under control.  

No more using tap water.  Use filtered water please.  It will be healthier for the fish.

The thin-ness tells me this is a parasite.  The entire tank needs to be treated, because everyone has it.

To do this, please buy something with Formalin, or with Metronidazole, and treat the aquarium fully.

Please get some Zeolyte crystals.  The white on the plecos is probably from ammonia buildup.  

Take out any charcoal before treatment, and raise the temperature 2 degrees higher than normal.

I'd like you to do a partial water change prior to treatment, and then 3 to 5 days after treatment do water changes of 25% every week for a month.

This should circulate any problems out.

Before treating, take out 30% of the water and change it.  The last thing you want to do is treat ill fish with medication and have them over-stress.

I would not advise adding CO2 yet.  Get the fish taken care of first. :)

Good luck...I hope this helped.  Happy holidays.

Renee