Piggy - dark patches, acne & lumpy scale

[titch 104]

6 hours ago, koko said:

Okay Run it the exact same way you did it last time. Same way AM told ya hun  

But I'm not doing it that way am I? I've not done it in the main tank before - only in QT doing 100% WC everyday (bucket-to-bucket).

If I'm going to run the acriflavine in the main tank to rid everything of the nasties (with a view to starting my cycle again), I need to know if & when & how much to redose with my 3 weekly WCs (200 litres each time).

Edited August 20, 2017 by titch

[koko 14,377]

5 hours ago, titch said:

But I'm not doing it that way am I? I've not done it in the main tank before - only in QT doing 100% WC everyday (bucket-to-bucket).

Well yes and no.

5 hours ago, titch said:

If I'm going to run the acriflavine in the main tank to rid everything of the nasties (with a view to starting my cycle again), I need to know if & when & how much to redose with my 3 weekly WCs (200 litres each time).

Since this tank is HUGE you are going to have to do 100% water changes when you do a water change and then add it back into the tank  

[titch 104]

1 minute ago, koko said:

Well yes and no.

Since this tank is HUGE you are going to have to do 100% water changes when you do a water change and then add it back into the tank  

Not a chance!

It took me 6.5hrs to fill it the first time round, plus I have to filter the nitrates from the tap water at a rate of 1-2 litres per hour. By the time I'd completed a WC I'd need to start the next one (slight exaggeration but you get the gist). Nice idea, but it ain't happening I'm afraid. 

[koko 14,377]

4 minutes ago, titch said:

Not a chance!

It took me 6.5hrs to fill it the first time round, plus I have to filter the nitrates from the tap water at a rate of 1-2 litres per hour. By the time I'd completed a WC I'd need to start the next one (slight exaggeration but you get the gist). Nice idea, but it ain't happening I'm afraid. 

Well then here we sit

Well I would do then as the last effort. I would take the tank down. Clean it scrub it, bleach it. Take all your Media and toss it and get new. I would Even if you wanted to. 

Set up the Qt with your filter and run it that way with the Meds. then Clean the tank. Hummm.... 

[titch 104]

2 minutes ago, koko said:

Well then here we sit

Well I would do then as the last effort. I would take the tank down. Clean it scrub it, bleach it. Take all your Media and toss it and get new. I would Even if you wanted to. 

Set up the Qt with your filter and run it that way with the Meds. then Clean the tank. Hummm.... 

Filters are far too big to run in the QT. The flow would blow piggy out the water! Lol!

So, back to QT it is then for Piggy. This will have to start tomorrow as I need to set it up & filter my water.

For the main tank, can I dump a load of bleach in it & let it run in order to nuke everything? Then drain, scrub & rinse afterwards? 

Also, how do you drain such a big tank completely? It's not like I can carry it outside & tip it over to get the last bit of water out.

[koko 14,377]

21 minutes ago, titch said:

Filters are far too big to run in the QT. The flow would blow piggy out the water! Lol!

 

21 minutes ago, titch said:

So, back to QT it is then for Piggy. This will have to start tomorrow as I need to set it up & filter my water.

For the main tank, can I dump a load of bleach in it & let it run in order to nuke everything? Then drain, scrub & rinse afterwards? 

yes you could. I would do that. Then I would replace all the media in the filters. But thats me and my paranoia

 

21 minutes ago, titch said:

Also, how do you drain such a big tank completely? It's not like I can carry it outside & tip it over to get the last bit of water out.

Well The biggest I have had is a 80 gallon tank. Yup it took me quite a bit to drain it. I just used a hose and let the gravity do its thing. The hard part is trying to rinse it out again. I think in your case I would run it with Vinegar as this isn't as harsh on a fish as bleach is if you don't clean it all out. 

 

[titch 104]

6 minutes ago, koko said:

 

yes you could. I would do that. Then I would replace all the media in the filters. But thats me and my paranoia

 

Well The biggest I have had is a 80 gallon tank. Yup it took me quite a bit to drain it. I just used a hose and let the gravity do its thing. The hard part is trying to rinse it out again. I think in your case I would run it with Vinegar as this isn't as harsh on a fish as bleach is if you don't clean it all out. 

 

I'm with you on replacing the media. If I'm starting the cycle all over again I may as well.

Will the white vinegar kill the nasties tho. I thought bleach was used to ensure everything is dead?

Either way, how much should I add to the tank - it holds 600 litres of water so how many litres of water to bleach/vinegar?

And should I dump the media straightaway & let the filters run empty with the bleach/vinegar solution?

Edited August 20, 2017 by titch

[koko 14,377]

3 hours ago, titch said:

I'm with you on replacing the media. If I'm starting the cycle all over again I may as well.

Will the white vinegar kill the nasties tho. I thought bleach was used to ensure everything is dead?

Either way, how much should I add to the tank - it holds 600 litres of water so how many litres of water to bleach/vinegar?

Okay take all the media out. Toss it. Then I would take one teaspoon of bleach and place it in the tank. Let the tank run for an hour that should kill everything .... Then I would drain and rinse. 

I would fill the tank after you have rinsed it some hook the filter back and prime it really well. Let that run. Then drain again. I would then let it dry out.  That should do it  You want to make sure its nice and rinsed and primed (water conditioner )  up good.

 of course everyone out of the tank. Just the Canister and tank water. 

Quote

And should I dump the media straightaway & let the filters run empty with the bleach/vinegar solution?

Well dang you could swim in that tank

 

[titch 104]

44 minutes ago, koko said:

Okay take all the media out. Toss it. Then I would take one teaspoon of bleach and place it in the tank. Let the tank run for an hour that should kill everything .... Then I would drain and rinse. 

I would fill the tank after you have rinsed it some hook the filter back and prime it really well. Let that run. Then drain again. I would then let it dry out.  That should do it  You want to make sure its nice and rinsed and primed (water conditioner )  up good.

 of course everyone out of the tank. Just the Canister and tank water. 

Well dang you could swim in that tank

 

Really? So little bleaching such a large volume of water? I'm really surprised. 

I plan on doing this next weekend so I have the time. Until then I'll leave the tank running as is. I've already removed the snails, plants & rocks. Piggy will be going into QT tomorrow.

The only thing I'm unsure about is the sand - will the bleach sort it out? Will priming the water really well make it usable again? It cost me a lot so reluctant to toss it but will await your advice. 

[koko 14,377]

2 hours ago, titch said:

The only thing I'm unsure about is the sand - will the bleach sort it out? Will priming the water really well make it usable again? It cost me a lot so reluctant to toss it but will await your advice.

Oh sand.  

 

I don't think you could bleach it and reuse it. I my self wouldn't take that risk. Don't know really  

[titch 104]

13 hours ago, koko said:

Oh sand.  

 

I don't think you could bleach it and reuse it. I my self wouldn't take that risk. Don't know really  

I guessed as much. Well that's annoying. I'll attempt to remove every grain before running the bleach through...

...which brings me back to...

17 hours ago, koko said:

Then I would take one teaspoon of bleach and place it in the tank. Let the tank run for an hour that should kill everything .... Then I would drain and rinse. 

Are you sure? Just one teaspoon? That's 5ml of bleach to 600,000ml (600 litres) of water. That can't be right, surely?

[mjfromga 1,785]

#1. You don't need that much bleach to kill everything. We don't want to add so much that it leaves a residue. Remember that this is a fish tank and residue isn't worth the risk. Add more if you want, but I wouldn't advise it. 

#2.You don't need to remove every grain of sand. This is hardly possible anyway. Just get out as much as you can. Throw it out and replace it, or don't. Bare bottom is an idea too. 

#3. You don't need to remove every drop of water. Once you get out as much as you can with a siphon... Grab a few large clean towels and soak up what you can and then just toss them in the wash. That'll get most of the water out. 

Your tank is about 160 gallons. It isn't 700 gallons. Maintenance really shouldn't be THAT hard. You have one very large, smelly fish, correct? How about just not running that big tank? He doesn't need that much space and maintenance is a pain in the royal behind for no real reason. 

[titch 104]

2 hours ago, mjfromga said:

#1. You don't need that much bleach to kill everything. We don't want to add so much that it leaves a residue. Remember that this is a fish tank and residue isn't worth the risk. Add more if you want, but I wouldn't advise it. 

Thanks for the clarification Myra. I just wanted to check, check and check again to be sure (it's what I do). I was surprised as it seemed so low in comparison, say, to the plant disinfecting ratio.

2 hours ago, mjfromga said:

Your tank is about 160 gallons. It isn't 700 gallons. Maintenance really shouldn't be THAT hard. You have one very large, smelly fish, correct? How about just not running that big tank? He doesn't need that much space and maintenance is a pain in the royal behind for no real reason. 

I realise I only have 1 fish in the tank, which is somewhat overkill, but this wasn't and isn't my intention going forward. The move to this from my previous 240L has only happened in the last couple of months (after losing my other oranda and fantail) and once I've nuked and cycled it I can sort out some friends for Piggy and won't have to look at all that empty space any more!

[DawnMichele 6,045]

Hi Amy. How are things going?

[titch 104]

7 minutes ago, DawnMichele said:

Hi Amy. How are things going?

Hi Dawn. All ok thanks. Piggy went into QT last night with his 1st dose of acriflavine.

[DawnMichele 6,045]

3 hours ago, titch said:

Hi Dawn. All ok thanks. Piggy went into QT last night with his 1st dose of acriflavine.

Hope all goes well for Piggy so you can get some new squishy faces soon!!!

Edited August 22, 2017 by DawnMichele

[titch 104]

1 hour ago, DawnMichele said:

Hope all goes well for Piggy so you can get some new squishy faces soon!!!

Thanks Dawn 

[DawnMichele 6,045]

1 hour ago, titch said:

Thanks Dawn 

[titch 104]

Quick update...

Piggy is on day 10 of QT with Acriflavine. On Monday, I sliced the blister again and have been swabbing with meth blue twice a day since. The gunk that came out was the same as before - a mix of green goop and blood. Will keep an eye on it.

As for the main tank, I dumped all the filter media on Saturday, siphoned the sand out, bleached and let it run with the empty filters on for an hour. Drained it, rinsed, Primed and refilled and let it run for approx. 18 hours.

On Sunday, I drained it, rinsed, Primed and refilled again and let it run for another 18 hours.

On Monday, I drained it, mopped up the last of the water and left it to dry.The filters were dismantled and left in the sun to dry for about 5 hours (yes, we had a lovely hot sunny day here on Monday!). I've thrown the hoses away and ordered some more. That's where I'm at.

New hoses, media and sand should be with me this week. I've bought some ammonia and plan to do a fishless cycle. Piggy can remain in his QT tub until the tank is fit for purpose.

[DawnMichele 6,045]

Hi Amy. Hope everything is going well.

[titch 104]

Images to accompany the update above, taken last night...

Not sure if the white/grey stuff on the blister is fungus or not. Here it is before the meth blue swab.

 

And the patch of scales he lost a few weeks ago seem to be healing nicely.

[koko 14,377]

Looks to be a healing spot. Keep an eye on it  

[titch 104]

Just now, koko said:

Looks to be a healing spot. Keep an eye on it  

OK, will do, thanks.

[titch 104]

1 minute ago, koko said:

 

What do you think about the tank? Think I'll be ok to start cycling this weekend?

Should I add the sand back in for this, or wait until it's completed the cycle?

What about plants/rocks? I kept my old ones - can I do a bleach bath on them and use again, or would you not risk it?

[koko 14,377]

10 minutes ago, titch said:

What do you think about the tank? Think I'll be ok to start cycling this weekend?

It looks to be all clean now  

10 minutes ago, titch said:

Should I add the sand back in for this, or wait until it's completed the cycle?

I would wait  

10 minutes ago, titch said:

What about plants/rocks? I kept my old ones - can I do a bleach bath on them and use again, or would you not risk it?

yes you could bleach them or PP them