# Please help



## kamekazi (Oct 7, 2004)

My rhom just got a milky white coloration around its head







He keeps rubbung that part on the heater. What could it be?? I don't think its ick cuz there is no spots anywhere. Could it be Ammonia burn?? Please


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## rchan11 (May 6, 2004)

What's your water parameters?


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## kamekazi (Oct 7, 2004)

Just did a 20 % water change. After the water cahnge, ammonia and nitrates at 0. I thinkd the ammonia level might have been a bit high before the water change. What does an ammonia burn look like?


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## rchan11 (May 6, 2004)

Ammonia burn is like a whitish color and flakey skin. Use salt treatment and Melafix.


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## kamekazi (Oct 7, 2004)

He's not moving much and he's moving his gill in slow spurts as if he can't breath. I'm gonna go get some aquarium salt right now. Could it be that he has some disease? The discoloration is white. He was rubbing against the heater for a long time.







I hope nothing happens to him.







I just got him a brand new tank on top of that.


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## rchan11 (May 6, 2004)

Did you cycle your tank? Doesn't sound like he's got disease, more like ammonia burn. I'd do another 20% change before treatment.


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

Any updates? Can you possibly get some pics?


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## kamekazi (Oct 7, 2004)

It is an ammonia burn. It looks like one of the ammonia burns in the pics on this forum. It's been three days now that i've been treating the fish with Melafix. I added 10 table spoons of salt in my 75 gallon. For three days I've been adding 7 and a half table spoons of Melafix per day as treatment. It says to do a water change after the seventh day of treatment. Should I do one before. Do you guys have any adivce what else I should do or am I doing anything wrong so far? Any advice is appreciated.


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## kamekazi (Oct 7, 2004)

Any advice guys?


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

kamekazi said:


> Any advice guys?
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Best thing you can do, is just keep doing as you have been.

How is the fish doing?


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## kamekazi (Oct 7, 2004)

He's actually doing quite well. He's moving around more and eating. The burn seems to have healed a bit ( surpring how fast they heal injuries ). Should I wait for the seventh day treatment todo a water change or should I go ahead and just do it now? Should I add salt again? I added 10 tablespoons four days ago and I have a 75 gallon.


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

kamekazi said:


> He's actually doing quite well. He's moving around more and eating. The burn seems to have healed a bit ( surpring how fast they heal injuries ). Should I wait for the seventh day treatment todo a water change or should I go ahead and just do it now? Should I add salt again? I added 10 tablespoons four days ago and I have a 75 gallon.
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Wait for the seventh day. I would hold off on more salt, seems like he's getting better


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## kamekazi (Oct 7, 2004)

I did a water change after the 5th day. It was getting cloudy so I had no choice. I'm gonna get some more melafix and keep treating him untill he recovers. Thanks for all the advice.

*Merged topics*


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## kamekazi (Oct 7, 2004)

My Rhom developed an ammonia burn sometime a couple of weeks ago and I treated it with Melafix for a week or so and did two water changes of 25% each time for the last two weeks. For a while it looked like the burn had gotten better. When I took a look this morning, I saw that the burn had spread ( even a little on it's eye ) and has gotten more white in coloration. Should I do more frequent water changes? I had checked the water parameters three days ago and it was good. i hadn't fed it much since then. Any advice?? I hope it doesn't Die







I asked a few people in the disease section and they didn't give me sufficient info. Someone please


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## piranha_breeder01 (Aug 17, 2005)

hey, if i were you i would keep using malafix..or use something containg formeldehyde or malchite green..this will help alot...only use a half the dosage of both these medications because they can be toxic yet very helpful to this type of injury...keep doing water changes and add a bit of aquarium salt..he should be just fine after about a week of this


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## kamekazi (Oct 7, 2004)

Anybody????


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## piranha_breeder01 (Aug 17, 2005)

I just gave you an anwser


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## kamekazi (Oct 7, 2004)

I guess the reply came in just as I put up my post. I don't mean to seem impatient, just a bit worried. Thanks for the advice. I have a 75 gallon tanks and I've been adding 7 and a half tablespoons of melafix everyday. Is that toxic???







How many tablespoons should I add? How often do I do water changes and what percentage? I put in 9 tablespoons of salt. Is that too much?


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## mashunter18 (Jan 2, 2004)

o.k, I read your other post, for the salt, you should add (based on 75 gallon size tank) 5 tablespoons a day, over a 3 day period,

This should be left in your system over 2 weeks, dont change the water for 2 weeks.It should heal up, then during normal water changes the salt will be removed.

topic merged with the other same topic....


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## piranha_breeder01 (Aug 17, 2005)

melafix isnt that toxic..keep doing that..if i were you i would do 25 % water changes..but please try malchite green or a medication conataining formeldehyde such as quick cure but only use half the dosage..you are sopost to add a table spoon of salt for every 5 gallons of water you have so for you 15 table spoons...only once though because salt does noty evaporate...i will be more then happy to anwser all of your questions


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## mashunter18 (Jan 2, 2004)

piranha_breeder01 said:


> melafix isnt that toxic..keep doing that..if i were you i would do 25 % water changes..but please try malchite green or a medication conataining formeldehyde such as quick cure but only use half the dosage..you are sopost to add a table spoon of salt for every 5 gallons of water you have so for you 15 table spoons...only once though because salt does noty evaporate...i will be more then happy to anwser all of your questions
> [snapback]1159165[/snapback]​


I disagree with some of this, you are giving mixed advice, if you are adding any medication, most of the time you dont want to change the water, that will remove the medication, that just does not make sense.Saying to keep doing 25% water changes for treating ammonia burn is not right...

Your problem seems to be "changing the water 2 times in the first week",

the medication was working then it was removed from the system....

If you do a water change after 7 days like 25%, you need to top it back off with the salt.

Personally I would only use salt for 2 week uninterupted treatment..


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## piranha_breeder01 (Aug 17, 2005)

i also agree..you misunderstood me...re-add the medication after water changes


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## kamekazi (Oct 7, 2004)

Thanks for all the help guys and especially for merging my two posts. After adding 5 tablespoons of salt a day for 3 days, do I stop adding salt? Isn't 5 tablespoons too little since it's 1 tablespoon for every 5 gallons?? Thanks for the help


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## piranha_breeder01 (Aug 17, 2005)

well you are sopost to add about 15 table spoons in total but since your doing water changes it dones much matter..hey my email is [email protected] me soon..i wont to know how the little guy did


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## mashunter18 (Jan 2, 2004)

kamekazi said:


> Thanks for all the help guys and especially for merging my two posts. After adding 5 tablespoons of salt a day for 3 days, do I stop adding salt? Isn't 5 tablespoons too little since it's 1 tablespoon for every 5 gallons?? Thanks for the help
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You are correct 1 tbls per 5 gallons, if the tank is a 75 gallon tank, adding 5 tbls per day, over 3 days will get you your 15 tbls dose for your 75 gallon tank.

My thought is dont change water for 2 weeks if you use only salt. Let the salt work no need to go changing water, if you choose to do it after one week I would only do 25 gallons and re add 5 tablespoon salt


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## kamekazi (Oct 7, 2004)

Thanks bro. I appreciate the advice. Pfury is amazing thanks to all the helpfull individuals.


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## kamekazi (Oct 7, 2004)

I did a 30 percent water change yesterday and added 5 tablespoons of salt. The rhom seems to be a little more active. Should I aslo add some melafix or is salt enough? I just can't understand how this happened when my water parameters didn't get so bad. Anyways, I've learned my lesson. From now on I'm doing a water change every week even if the water condtions look good.


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## piranha_breeder01 (Aug 17, 2005)

salt should be ok...add a little bit of melafix just in case


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## kamekazi (Oct 7, 2004)

It's been over a month now and the burn is not disappearing. I've already used about 60 $ of melafix already and it still hasn't healed. The water parameters are okay. The burn fades and then comes right back. Could it be because I only have just an XP2 Cannister filter running in my 75 gallon?? If it is I'll go and buy another cannister today. Please help someone??? The rhom keeps rubbing the burn on the driftwood.


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## PaNo617 (Jan 31, 2005)

kamekazi said:


> It's been over a month now and the burn is not disappearing. I've already used about 60 $ of melafix already and it still hasn't healed. The water parameters are okay. The burn fades and then comes right back. Could it be because I only have just an XP2 Cannister filter running in my 75 gallon?? If it is I'll go and buy another cannister today. Please help someone??? The rhom keeps rubbing the burn on the driftwood.
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I think it would be alot easier if you had a smaller quaratine tank, this way it'll make it easier for you to treat the problem, and not have to add all this salt and melafix to your 75g. Plus its costing you more cause of the high doses. Are you sure you don't have carbon in yout filter? that will remove the meds...


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

If after a month nothing has changed I doubt it's an ammonia burn (unless your filtration is hugely underpowered or your tank never got cycled - could you retest your water and post the results?) Also, after a month of quite intensive salt treatment, you should have seen improvement by now as far as injuries are concerned.
I have to say that this is a tricky one - if your tank is cycled and you've been treating your fish for over a month without any significant changes, I'd rather think in the direction of a disease or parasite. Any chance you can post some pictures of your poor little guy?

btw: I agree with Pano that a small hospital tank is something to look into: it makes medicating easier and cheaper and will enable you to monitor your fish more closely.


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## kamekazi (Oct 7, 2004)

I've seen improvements over some time in the condition of the burn, however, it got better then worse and then better and worse again. I used to also have an ac 500 with the tank with extra biomedia and I had to sell it with my other tank. I'm going to check my water parameters again since it has been a week. I'm also going to get another cannister today to be safe. I think an XP2 is not enough for a 75 gallon tank. The Melafix seems to work better with the treatment than salt or maybe I wasn't using enough salt?? Is 15 table spoons for 75 gallons enough?? Should I add more? Should I also use Primafix with the Melafix?? Is there any better medication? The burn looks like a a white film around the gill plate. It fades and then comes back. If it is a bacterial infection, what could it be?? Sorry I'm asking so many questions all at once, it's just that I'm getting really stressed


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

As long as you don't know what the problem is (ammonia burn may be a possibility, but like I said before, after a month you should have seen an improvement, unless the tank is not cycled and/or the filter doesn't cut it), I wouldn't start throwing all sorts of meds in the tank (no matter how safe they are).
I'd stick to the salt for now (add a bit if you've done water changes since you added it) and try to find out what is wrong exactly - once we figured that out, you can medicate purposefully (instead of throwing stuff in the tank and hoping for the best).
So post up your parameters, if possible some pics (it will be hard to find the cause of your problem, whether water-related or a disease/parasite, without visual pointers), and we'll take it on from there.

As far as your filter is concerned: I'm not familiar with the XP-range, so I don't know for what size tank your XP2 is rated. But I'd try to go with a canister that is rated for a tank at least 1,5x the size of your tank (so in your case for a 100-125g tank). That gives you overcapacity, which is a reassuring though just in case something goes wrong (keep in mind that you usually find out once it becomes problematic and your fish is already affected by it).
When was the last time you cleaned that filter (maybe the media is covered in debris/crap, suufocating the bacteria)? Also, what kind of media do you use?

Good luck with everything - we're here to help you, and I'm sure we'll fix your problem eventually


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