Hi guys, I just joined your forum because I have often come here for information and I need some help with one of my fish that (I think) has dropsy!

Water params are as follows:

pH: 7.2
Ammonia: 4.0
Nitrite: Less than 0.25 (there is no colour match on my chart for the colour I got)
Nitrate: 5.0

The params have been quite bad as I needed to move him to an uncycled quarantine tank fairyly quickly, I've had troubles with ich outbreaks so I have lots of fish in various tanks around the place while the main tank gets rid of the ich (could not treat with salt or medication as it is fully planted, but temp. has been raised to 90 F, fish reintroduced yesterday with no problems)

The tank is about 4 l (a little more than a gallon) and Pierre is about 2" long. There is no filter, but there is an airstone and a heater (temp. is at 81 F, as I read that increased temp. helps dropsy). I have been treating him with Epsom salt but there does not seem to be that much improvement, though he is a little more active.

I have been changing 50% of the water daily and vacuuming the bottom (bare) as this tank is so small and the params so bad. Should I up to 50% twice a day? Pierre has been this way for a couple of months, as far as i can remember. It began as head standing, then he began head and tail standing, and he has trouble manouvering and turning. His belly has bloated - no scale protrusion until the last couple of days, it is main on one side and they are only protruding a little bit. Pierre still eats well. When he first started head standing I changed from flake food to gel food and he has been on that ever since, gets lettuce and peas a couple of times a week also, and does not seem constipated.

I was told by my lfs that a drug for humans, Vibramycin (Doxycycline) helps with dropsy - they had a man with a goldfish who had dropsy and after using this drug the fish recovered. Have any of you heard of using Vibramycin on dropsy? I am getting some Vibramycin in a few days (unfortunately cannot get to it beforehand) and was going to use just a very very tiny amount to see if the condition improved, as I don't know what else to do for him.

Also, when I first got Pierre he sucked up a pebble and was choking on it. I left to get tweasers but when I returned it was gone - I don't know if he spat it out or swallowed it. Do you think perhaps he swallowed it and this is causing damage inside?

Thank you for your help!
BiscayneBoulevard

Sorry to hear that you are having problems.
Welcome to the site though, hopefully we can help you and Pierre out.

First thing, I don't know about treating dropsy with Doxycycline. I have successfully treated dropsy using Maracyn 1 and 2, along with epsom salts and a medicated food called Metromed.

Where are you in the world?
If you are in the states this would be the treatment I recommend.

Of course the water being so bad and the tank so small I would think that needs attention asap.
A gf should be in at least 10 gals of water........even a hospital tank. Is this something you can do?

Ammonia that high will kill a fish asap. So I would to a 75% change, test an hour later and see what you get. If it is still above 0.25 do another change.
Also I didn't see a ph reading, can you provide this?

Now for th pebble, usually they don't swallow them. They eventually get them out. So I would think that is the course.
From your describtion I don't necessary think this is dropsy but a severe form of Swim bladder disease.
Are you familar with this?

I am in Australia. Last time I was at the lfs I asked about Maracyn but they had no idea what I was talking about - they told me there used to be many dropsy treatments around but for some reason there aren't anymore. pH reading was 7.2

I have done a 50% change (that was before I got your reply) so I will test the water soon. I originally thought that Pierre might have swim bladder which was why I changed his food in case the flake was causing him problems. My 10 g tank currently has two celestials in quarantine, and my main tank has the rest of my healthy goldfish in it, unfortunately I am all out of tanks.

Is there any way you can get your hands on one of those big buckets from bunnings? Here, let me show you



They are about 80-90 litres (20+ gallons) and make a good tub for a sick fish.

I think if you get your parameters under control - and I mean perfect, this should be a good start to helping your fish get well. Also, Australia is a poor place to pick up good meds but if it's bacterial, it's almost a case of hit and miss sadly. To give you an idea, a lovely fish of mine came down with a bad case of bacteria so I tried treating with Tetracycline - didn't work, then I tried Triple Sulpha - didn't work and then out of desparation, I used Science Products broad spectrum medication and 3 days later, she started to improve. There were about 3 times during her illness I thought she was dead but once I used the last med, it seemed to work for her.

In answer to doxycycline - this belongs to the tetracycline family and is available through aquariums as tetracycline. It may help but will depend on the strain of bacteria affecting your fish. I wouldn't buy the human form (which is an S4 product therefore only available on script) as tetracycline is virtually the same thing.

First things first though, a bigger tub and perfect water may show some improvement otherwise, do you have a decent aquarium closeby?

Hi Jen,

I won't be able to get out to Bunnings today, but my fish supplies are in one of those big plastic storage containers, which I think would probably be somewhere towards 15 g, so I'll empty one of those and put Pierre in there, and that way I can hook up the filter (I have a spare but it is too large for Pierre's little tank).

Should I fill that tub to the top? I only filled Pierre's container half way because I had read that a lowered water level was better for swim bladder. I have already bought the doxycycline - I thought this was the only thing available, there was no mention of any meds from either of my lfs. I am near both Manly Aquarium World and Hi Tech Aquariums at Brookvale, have you heard of them? I personally don't like Hi Tech but Aquarium World is a bit better...

OMG - we must be neighbours I'm on the northern beaches also and here's where we differ - I just love Hi Tek Aquariums (lord knows I spend enough money there) and the manager Ben is a true peach. He knows his stuff

Aquarium World also a top place but I tend to prefer Hi Tek

I think i know the tubs you're talking about and I use them myself. I would fill it to 3/4, give him an airstone and filter. If the filter hasn't been running then it won't be cycled so doing massive waterchanges daily will be the biggest step to his cure.

I agree that a lowered waterlevel is good for fish with swimbladder problems but moreso the fish that are constantly flipped over. If your guy hovers near the surface, the water level can be higher because more water keeps your levels that little bit lower (ie. ammonia etc..)

Just to give you an idea, Hi Tek (behind the counter) have the following:

- tetracycline (science products)
- triple sulpha (science products)
- myxazin (waterlife)
- broad spectrum medication (science products). This is the one I had most success with

I tend to keep all of these on hand just in case

I don't know the staff of Hi Tech by name, but I think I know the guy you're talking about. I called there for Pierre and they told me that my fish didn't really have a chance... anyway I've set him up in the tub, he has a filter and heater but no air stone.. I don't have enough plugs and all our extension cords are in my room - there are fish everywhere in here! I filled it right to the top, Pierre either hangs around the top or head stands on the bottom, which is what he's doing now, and he's swimming a little more.

Since I already have the Doxycycline, could I try using that? The strength is 100mg, do you know how much I should try to give Pierre?

I'm sorry they said that because there's always a chance. To be honest, I don't ask them advice on sick fish - just for the meds they sell.

I just don't know how the doxycycline is made up unfortunately and it would be so easy to overdose. Plus there would be compounds in there suitable for human uptake but fish are just so different than us. In all conscience I would have to say not to try them because if I wouldn't do it, then I wouldn't advise anyone else to try it either.

There is another thing to consider and that's with raised temps and eventually meds, he's really going to need some aeration. Both the heat and the meds will reduce the amount of oxygen in the water and one of the most important things in this situation is plenty of air.

Is there no way you can try either the broad spectrum meds or Triple Sulfa? Also, as a tip, do you know Petbarn along the Eastern Valley Way? If you go there, they have the largest range of meds available and are usually around $4 cheaper than any aquarium. I picked up a bottle of Triple sulfa tabs for $12 and they're $17 at Hi Tek.

If he's swimming a bit more then this is such a good sign. The only thing to remember is try to do 2 x 50% waterchanges daily. Ammonia may not climb too high in one day but for a sick fish, even 0.25 is way too much.

I will (hopefully) be getting a 7 plug adapter tonight so more plugs means I can hook up the pump. If I can't get it tonight, should I unplug the filter or heater for the airstone?

I think I went to Petbarn at Eastern Valley Way years back, but it is not really near where I live. There is a pet supply place in Brookvale next to Office Works, do you think I should try there? I'm going past there tomorrow so I might drop by and see what they've got. It is so nice to know Australian fishkeepers and know that the meds you speak of are available here!

Also, a different question - have you ever kept celestials? I have two new babies and they seem very different to all my other goldfish.. not nearly as active, they sit stationary in midwater for a while, or else they scavange on the bottom, and they don't react in any way when I approach the tank - all my other goldfish go crazy! Do you think this is because of their eye mutation? I have seen large adult celestials at Manly and Brookvale that just sit in midwater too, and since I can't see any signs of disease in these two I was wondering if it was normal for celestials.

You must be talking about The Real Macaw and while it's a great pet shop, their meds are extremely limited. They don't even stock Prime. If you have birds though, this is the first place I would suggest

As Hi Tek's just down the road, it may be best to pop in there and grab some meds - now you know what you're looking for, you can just buy it without needing the 'benefit' of their advice.

As for celestials, these are truly one of my favourite fish. I recently lost my beautiful little celestial Maddy to dropsy, plus she only had one good eye. She would swim all over the place until she became ill but the challenges they face is their sight is at best compromised. I have another baby celestial who spends a great deal of time around the base of the tank but he's definitely active. He will just 'hang' in one position for some time then go for a swim to the other end of the tank where he'll take up a new position. Right at this moment he's trying to chase my big fantail around the tank although she acts like his mother so puts up with it. The real problem they face is feeding time. I place food in the same place for him every day and watch to see that he can find it before the others do and I think this routine is now down pat.

I would love to see some pics of your guys

lol The Real Macaw.. I didn't realise it was a bird place! Oh well, I might have to go down to Hi Tek in that case.

I ordered my celestials from Manly as I have only seen two others, and they were 15+ cm, and I like babies because I can watch them grow! These two celestials I have are not of the best quality - but then none of my fish are hehe, I still love them. One of my little celestials is the wild colour.. or at least I think he is; he has a bronzey brown colour on his back, which goes down to an orangey tan colour, and then silver on his stomach... his fins are tan with brown tips - I think the wild colour is just as interesting if not moreso than the fancies, I guess because we do not see it often. He also has a tiny little fin near the base of his tail, a mutation of the dorsal I suppose. The other little celestial I have has red on its back and then white on its stomach. I've had trouble feeding these guys, but I watch them as well to make sure everyone gets some food, as they're kept with pearlscales, ranchu and bubble eyes. But I have noticed that the bubble eyes can see food falling above them while the celestials cannot so they just search around the bottom insanely until they happen to suck something up - or at least that's what mine do! I'll try to take some photos of them for you soon, but I am pretty terrible at fish photography hehe

That's what mine did too until I set up a feeding station (I put a small dish in the tank & had a tube going into the dish so the food would be directed. He always knew where to go - in fact it was pretty funny, I had a pearlie in there & when it was feeding time - everybody "assumed the position" where they knew their food was gonna be! )

Lol - I have to drop food in for my bigger fish up one end of the tank and then sneak some food up the other end for my celestial. He's one fat little thing so he certainly gets a lot of food

Bis, your celestials sound wonderful and I hope you can get some good pics to show us all

The Real Macaw caters to all animals (they take up both floors of that factory) but their specialty is more birds/reptiles so I would rely on the aquariums for the majority of my fish supplies....

I tend to feed all my larger and faster fish first, and while they are floatinging there chewing away at their food I drop some in for the celestials to find while the others are preoccupied. It is so funny the way they all go crazy, people don't believe me until they see my fish at feeding time, then its an eye for an eye and every fish for his own. I hadn't considered the feeding station idea though!

I might check out the Real Macaw anyway since I'll be in the area, but I will also try to drop down to Hi Tek to see what they have. If Pierre recovers, will I be able to put him in the main tank with the normal salt eventually or will this draw fluid back into his body and cause problems?

Forgot to mention - we got the 7 plug adapter so I can hook up the airstone!

Once he's well and your certain there's no more illness, then yes - i'd move him back into his tank.

I do have a question for you - how many fish do you have and what size is the tank?

How is the ammonia in your tub? Keeping it low will unfortunately take lots of changes but you get used to it I have to change roughly 150%+ in my hospital tank daily which is 10+ gallons (45 litres) and I've got into the habit of doing 50% before work, 50% lunchtime and 50% when I get home. The only reason I do this is if left, the ammonia creeps up to 0.25 and my ill fish starts to sicken again. It's amazing how water quality really does impact their health... Even though my sick fish has improved enormously, as a precaution, I will keep her in quarantine for a futher 3 weeks.

Adding your fish back to a tank that's salted isn't such a bad idea either but you only want to do this if your fish is completely well.

PS. I think the feeding station is a great idea also

I have a 140 litre tank - currently there are four 2" goldfish in there, Pierre is also 2" and the celestials (who are currently in the QT) will also go in there, but they are only 1" so far). I know this is tremendously overstocked - my filter is massive though and pumps 1000 l p/h. Once the fish grow a little more (won't be long - how very fast they seem to be growing) I am definately going to upgrade. All this trouble with Pierre started when he was in a 30 l tank with two other fish when they were all only 1" - poor old Pierre hasn't even been able to enjoy the bigger tank yet!

I am glad the Jen is close to you. With her being a fellow Aussie, her knowledge of meds and such will do much better then my "guessing" what to use and do.
Glad you have a "koko" buddy.

I do appreciate your trying Laurie! But yes, it is good to know what's in Australia.. most of the goldfish sites I have been reading are American and my lfs have good stock but unfortunately do not seem to give the best of advice.

I totally understand. I am so pleased Jen can help you. Good luck with the fish.

Thanks Laurie!

Hi BB, how did you go with getting the meds? Any improvement yet?

Hi Jen,

I wasn't able to get down to Hi Tek, but my father got me some Vibramycin because I was worried about Pierre. I thought it was worth a shot since I've got it here with me. There have been no ill affects on Pierre so far (I have used the smallest amount that I thought would have effect). Pierre is no longer head or tail standing (when he was stationary he would do this). Before using the Vibramycin I would occassionally find him lying on his back, I only saw this once or twice but have not seen him do it since. He can remain upright and stationary in the water now, but still has problems manouvering and when he tries to reverse he has a tendency to have his back end go up. I think his bloating has gone down (hard to tell as he is a pearlscale), at any rate his scales are not protruding as much. His appetite is as voracious as ever! I'm still doing the water changes, Ammonia is now down to 1.0, that was yesterday at least, I am in the middle of water changes now so I'll update you when I have tested!

Ammonia ia still at 1.0, but hopefully with the changes will continue to go down... will the constant changes slow down the cycle?

Also, I've noticed that one of my celestials in the qt tank has been looking a bit patchy. The dark colouration on his back seems to be going a light tan colour in patches. The patches aren't fuzzy and it doesn't look like fungus to me, its not red or raised, just patchy. They aren't showing any other symptoms, just thought I should figure this out before they get introduced to the main tank - what a happy day that will be when there is just one tank of fish all together!

I know what you mean

There is just one thing that's so important to know - you should never, ever medicate with ammonia or nitrites in the water and the reason is because high toxin levels will lower the immunity of a fish enormously. If a fish is going to fight bacteria, it needs the strongest of immunity as the meds are there to work in conjunction with their immunity.

So if the water still shows 1.0 ammonia (this is actually a high number) then his immunity won't strengthen and any meds you put in may show some superficial improvement but bacteria is one of the easiest of illnesses to return with a compromised immunity.

So in short, try if you can to get your ammonia to 0 - it will help the meds do their job with a better chance of your fish fighting it off successfully

What are the parameters of the water your celestial is in?

Ah ok.. I didn't know about the toxidity thing, I will stop medicating for now... the params for the celestials - Ammonia 0.25, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 20, PH 6.8. There was already one patch when I got him but I assumed that it as just some missing scales or an injury from being in with all the others..

I've recently had an ill fish and there's really only one way I handled it. I got her into the 10 gallon hospital tank and while I had filters running on the tank, the meds killed my cycle. So every day I changed 50% of her water 2 or 3 times and I add back 50% of the meds also.

I think your guy might be in need of these meds so is there any way you can up the waterchanges? If you do 50% each time, you can add back 50% meds - it's really easy

Is there any way you can post a pic of your celestial?

Also, this is what I found on Vibramycin/doxycycline:

DOXYCYCLINE-also known as 6-Deoxyoxytetracycline and vibramycin. A tetracycline antibiotic active against Rickettsiae, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, agents of psittacosis, ornithosis, agents of Lymphogranuloma venereum, Granuloma inguinale, and Borrelia recurrentis. The following gram-negative microorganisms are susceptible: Haemophilus ducreyi, Pasturella pestis, P.tularensis, Bartonella bacilliformis, Bacteroides spp, Vibrio comma, V. fetus and Brucella spp.

Sounds like it may be an effective alternative

The celestial in need of Vibramycin? Which meds? I have been going 50% changes on that tank also as I had an ich outbreak and the ich meds killed my cycle also - I hate that!

I just noticed in my main and (apparently) healthy (hopefully) tank that one of my bubble eyes is gulping at the surface. None of the other fish do this, and his behaviour is otherwise normal. I have a canister filter and heater on his tank, but no aeration- do you think raising the spray bar might help (its below the water atm)

I'll try to get a pic of the celestial now!

Everything is going wrong Jen! Everything!

Why?

Let's work this one step at a time and all will come good.

First:

Water - keep up the waterchanges as much as humanely possible.

Second:

Main tank - i'd turn the heater off. It's not necessary and the temps are currently sitting at 70 degrees (just checked my tanks) which is a good temp for them. Plus heating a tank will lower the oxygen making it harder for them to breath.

Yes to moving the spray bar up to the surface - it will give excellent water agitation and give them the necessary air they need.

Let's talk about what else is happening. Post back soon

PS. You know what will make this easier? Can you walk me through where you're at? What are all the current symptoms? Who is in trouble? Then we can work out how to fix it

Tried raising the spray bar... its skimming the top but not agitating..

Ok.. so I have three tanks going at the moment..

Pierre in his tub who you already know about.
Celestials in qt tank - Little Amsterdam with the patchy back (I have a photo but it is too big to post and I don't know how to compress it! Ahhh)
and Agent Orange (other celestial) also gulps, but otherwise fine. No heater on that tank, a millennium 1000 filter, it has an in-box aeration.. thing.. but not as good as a pump I would imagine. The only pump I have is on Pierre's tank.

Main tank - one of my bubble eyes gasping at the top.. I just saw the other do it too, but the pearlscale and ranchu aren't, I might try lowering the water level for the spray bar. These fish are all active and eating. I had the heater on because this tank is near a window and I didn't want the temp fluctating too much.. should I turn it off or just turn it down? Its at 26 at the moment..

Well with the spray bar, I know you can twist them around a bit so it's sort of spraying in an upward motion. I had spraybars on my cannisters and used to do this (now they just flow out).

You can try turning the heater down because just under 80 is pretty warm. Try turning it down to 22 (lower 70's) and this lower constant temperature will also help raise the c02 in your water.

Just on Pierre - have you still got meds in his tub? Here's where it's a pain but you do get good at it quickly. I use that big blue bucket (I showed you earlier) and fill it every morning. During the day I use it to do waterchanges on my sick tank - that way I'm not having to run around filling up buckets every few hours (it makes it real easy). Then, each time I would do the 50%, I would add back 50% of the meds.

The meds your dad picked up - are they for humans or fish? What do the instructions say?

Now for your celestials. You can post a pic and there's a real easy way to do it. Go to www.photobucket.com and open an account. Once you are registered, click on the browse button and select the pics you want to show. It will resize them for you. Then when you've uploaded your pics to photobucket, copy the url below the pic and then when you get back here to respond, you will see an IMG button above the reply screen, click on it and paste the url. It will link us to your pics...

Just on the gulping - it could be a lack of air but just to check, what is the ph of their tank?

Is there any way you can get a small pump and airstone?

Ok.. spray bar is better I think, but only half is out of the water because otherwise the hood doesn't fit.. and the heater is at 22 now.

There are still meds in Pierre's tub, yes. Vibramycin for humans.. well it says Doxylin 100mg, which it then says is actually Doxycycline hydrochloride, which is Vibramycin.. anyway.. it says "the tablets must be taken with liquid during a main meal or with a glass of milk. They must not be taken immediately before lying down." I guess that doesn't help much does it..

I have been adding 50% of the medication back to Pierre's tank with the water changes, but I should stop now because of the Ammonia right?

Ph of the main tank is 7.0.

I don't think I'll be able to get another airpump tonight, don't have any fish keeping friends and no spares..

I will go do the photobucket thing and get back to you!

I have an uneasy feeling about these meds - especially as we don't know how much to administer so that your fish doesn't overdose. I still don't think I would use them.

There is something else you can try which may be gentler on your fish. You could go with perfect water and salt. In your situation, this is exactly what I would do.

Try adding 1 teaspoon of rock, sea or aquarium salt to every 4 litres of water predissolved. This will give you a salinity level of 0.1%. Together, these 2 are a mighty powerful combination for fish health. Salt can get rid of several kinds of parasites, plus, it will help keep the bacterial count in the water down. Then, 12 hours later, you can raise it to 0.2% and 12 hours after that to 0.3%.

What brand of dechlorinator are you using?

Is Pierre still pineconing at all? Is he pooping ok?

Isn't normal salt bad for bloating fish since it draws water into them instead of out? And would it be ok to add that salt with the meds? (Not with more meds, just since they happen to be in there already)

My dechlorinator is called Vita Pet Safe Start, and Pierre is still pooping fine. The pineconing seems to have gone down - it was never full blown, but it looked as though they were starting to come up.

Here is the photo of the Little Amsterdam, I hope it works this time!

Eugh! It says dynamic pages with the [IMG] tags are not allowed!

Actually... http://s61.photobucket.com/albums/h65/Just...t=celestial.jpg
...That works..

No, salt doesn't cause bloating, infact it can help its decrease. The reason for this is bloating can be due to osmotic failure to process chloride and salt puts more chloride ions in the water thereby helping fish process fluids more easily.

I have used salt with tetracycline with no adverse affects so it shouldn't cause any problems.

Your celestials are lovely Was the darker one always that colour? When you say patchy back - is there a lightening from darker scales to lighter, more orange?

Just a second ago in my main tank, one of my pearlscales kept flashing against the corner, continuously for about 10 seconds.. there seemed to be this white thing on him (I'm not sure if it was a loose pearly part of the scale or what) but it didn't seem to be part of him so I held him in the water and pulled it off with tweasers.. and now he seems fine... WHAT IS GOING ON JEN?!

I think I should just sell my tank and cut my wrists...

Oh no you shouldn't.... This will make you an excellent fish keeper once it's all sorted

Lets look at the history a bit more. How long have you had your fish? Was what you pulled off him a one off? Was it a worm of some description? Can you see any more?

I've had Pierre and the four in the main tank (including the flashing pearlscale) for about 2 or 3 months. The celestials I have had for about a week.

It seemed like a one off.. not a worm.. I poked it, it was hard and didn't move, perhaps it was one of his scales? He was just flashing so much he seemed desperate to get it off. I'm doing my water changes now.. I am an expert siphon wrangler now (years ago I tried to do it and got a nice big mouthful of fish water) did you see the picture?

I still manage to suck out a mouthful of water each time (gross).

It could have been a scale and if the celestials aren't with them, I think it may have been a one off. After 2-3 months, you would have seen problems before now. Fish will flash if something is irritating their skin so keep an eye on him and post back if he continues to flash.

Yes I did see the pic (see my respones a couple up) and now I know you only just got them, that answers one of my questions. What I did want to know is - are the blotches more of a colour change?

Well... I just had a closer look and I don't think its a colour change. One of the patches is a patch of missing scales, it looks a little strange, I might lift him out and have a better look... if its something that salt would fix, would it be worth putting them in with Pierre (or vice versa), thus solving the aeration problem (the orange and white celestial is still gulping, so is the bubble eye in the main tank even with the spray bar) or it is too risky to have Pierre exposed to them (and again, vice versa?)

No, I think they will survive with the spraybar agitation. Are you able to get a small pump in the near future? Without knowing exactly why your celestial has lost scales or the reason Pierre swelled up in the first place, it's best to keep them separate to avoid cross contamination. I would add salt to your celestials tank though - especially if they're new. Whenever I get a new fish, I isolate him/her in a quarantine tank and salt it at 0.3% for 2 weeks. This is just in case they bring in any nasties, plus salt is the gentlest form of medication for fish

Where did you get your celestials from?

Ok, so one teaspoon of rock salt per 4 litres for both Pierre and the celestial's tanks... then again at 10am tomorrow, and again at 10pm tomorrow night.. right.. OK! I got my celestials from Manly, they ordered them in for me. They have (or had, perhaps its gone) this absolutely gorgeous calico crowned pearlscale.. but it was a really nice quality one, with the completely round wens that the Eastern ones all have... if I had the space I would buy it in a heart beat. I think you should go check it out hehe

Hey, I got my pump from Big W at the Mall years ago.. go you know if they still sell them/how much small pumps cost?

Oh, don't worry - I will (tomorrow)

Your celestials are beautiful. Hopefully the salt will show some improvement for all of them.

I picked up a small pump from Petbarn for $14 (including airstone and tubing). So I'm thinking BigW will be a bit cheaper. To be honest, I didn't even know they sold them. I would never buy one from any aquarium - way too expensive but seriously, Petbarn is the cheapest place to buy any pet items from

I think I might have to go fish shopping tomorrow too, to get this pump. I pre-dissolved the salt and put it in.. the water's so salty you can see it! I got mine from Big W but that was maybe.. 6 years ago haha.. so I hope they still sell them!

That's great And I hope they still sell them too.

So, how do you feel now? A little better?

lol yes, feeling better, I just hate to see my fish sick, and all this stuff keeps going wrong.. I wanted to have it all good to go and settled because I go back to school soon and I'm doing the HSC, and when the animals get sick I feel as though I can't do anything until they're better..

I know what you mean - i've taken a day or 2 off work to tend to my sick fish

Will you post back tomorrow with an update?

I will, and I shall venture forth to get the pump. I think I'm going to go to bed now hehe.. goodnight!