notes on some tanks

My paradise fishes appear to be fully recovered. I was concerned for a while that Perry still had lingering parasite load- he often lay on the bottom of the tank, or hid. Lady looked fine. Then I did the third water change to reduce salt- and brought home a good amount of floaters from fish club- more salvinia minima and hornwort, very healthy-looking stuff. Most of it went straight into my window tank. Perry's demeanor immediately changed. I realized then, a lot of the plants had probably done poorly due to the medications I'd been using on the tank. Now that they're mostly cleared out, the stem plants are perking up again and Perry once more races back and forth across the tank eager for his meals. I'm glad I tried out the tiny-leaved ludwigia arcuata- it's starting to look nice in here (although have to look close to appreciate it).

In the 45 downstairs, my angelfish is settling in with the new companions. Rarely looks pale or frightened now. Still occasionally will startle and move off when I walk down into the hall, but he doesn't crash around like used to. I'm very glad. I give a bit more at feeding times now, and scatter it across the tank instead of dropping in one spot at surface- so all the fishes can have a chance. This makes M. Beautiful a lot more active- swimming eagerly around to snag the largest bites- instead of liesurely plucking food from the surface. The blackskirt tetras are getting a little bolder, darting in near the angel after food themselves. Yesterday for the first time I saw M. Beautiful threaten them- turning his body horizontal (I think of it as "planing" though I doubt that's an actual term) to make quick dashes at them. They easily get out of his way. I guess he sees them as competitors for food, now- but if I just sprinkle food on surface like I used to, the tetras won't come for as much.

It is going to be longer before I can bring my other four tetras into this tank, if at all. I should have been more cautious. When I got them from the store- just over 2 weeks ago now- there were a few fish in one other tank -further down the wall- that looked like were starting to get ich. That should have made me leave, not buy fish. But I did. Sure glad I quarantined like usual. Few days after bringing them home, two of them suddenly had white spots, all over. I started treating the QT tank every day with a 25% wc and dosing meds- I tried using Tetra Ick Guard which has victoria green and acriflavine. Being careful to wash my hands and use a siphon hose that's just for the QT tank.

They appeared to be getting better and I was feeling hopeful for full recovery, until the day I forgot to replug the heater in after doing a larger wc- fifty percent- because I thought the treatment was done. Temp dropped that night, in the morning I found the problem, plugged the heater back in immediately- but all four tetras white spots now. When I had only have one tablet left of the Ick Guard but the fish looked bad- they are hanging still in one area and didn't come to the front for food like before. Now I don't know if I can beat it. They look positively awful this morning. Starting to get fin rot, which is advancing rapidly. Two of the smaller ones are having trouble swimming. I did a large wc this morning and dosed meds again- using Fungus Guard which has a higher concentration of acriflavine and victoria green (as far as I can tell) because my only other med on hand is the Ick Attack- which doesn't seem as strong. Now the water is tinted and the tank shrouded and I hope I don't come home to dead fish.

It was a poor idea to have new fishes in QT over holiday season- I get distracted so much going on, do the wc late or can't find meds fast enough...