Hi,

As some of you may know ive been battling with lathargy in my two fish for the last serveral months. They spend approximatly 80% of their time on the gravel. I have realized my pH rises from approximatly 6.0 to 7.4 about a day after, so i have switched to 25% change weekly ( 38 gal two fish approx 4'' including tail). Im am getting increasingly worried as i have seen them yawning (not too often maybe once or twice every half hour), they are not eating as eagerly as i know they should be and tend to spit out their food. As well as ive noticed them clamping their fins a bit every now and then. The gold one has blood streaks in his tail, and the black one i dont think i would be able to tell. I think ive seen a shake or two and possibly some flashing although i may have misinterpreted this as ive been watching them like hawks. In addition their poop is stringy and white. Ive salted up to 0.1% will incrfease to 0.2% tonight and 0.3% tommorrow, i am using regualr aquarium salt. Im waiting on my medi gold to arrive any day, shipped monday and im in NY so should be here tomorrow or the next day. Im am considering picking up some parasite clear and treating with that also. Should all else fail ill try some prazi as the only thing left i could think of would be flukes. Is it ok to salt, medigold and paraiste clear at one time? will this be too much for them? will my cycle be ruined? Any other suggestions? How long should i wait to try the prazi? Any other suggestions?

Yes, Parasite Clear is the one I would suggest as well. It could be very well flukes, considering that they are yawning and spitting out food. Gill flukes in particular are nasty little buggers, since they sit in the gills, which are the "breathing organs" or the fish. Anything irriates the gills, and the fish have problems getting oxygen in.
I would try a round of Parasite Clear first, since it contains a smaller amount of Praziquantel (Prazi), and an antibiotic as well. And yes, all three (salt, medigold and ParasiteClear) go well together. And with the correct dosage, the Parasite Clear shouldn't be doing anything crazy on your filter's cycle.

Alright picked up the parasite clear tonight. It says it can be used for two doses 48hrs apart. Is this what you would suggest to do? So im going to do the salt increase now, wait about an hour dissolve the tablets and add it in. I really hope this works. Ive also gotten them some anti-parasite medicated food. Should i feed this or wait for the medigold so i can attack if its either bacteria or parasite instead of just parasite? Also if i remove my carbon i have to remove the spongy part of the filter as there isnt anyway i can take it out. I do have two bio wheels, gravel, and two spongy things with crushed coral. Will this cause a big bump in my cycle?

Wish me luck guys. This is kinda scary for me.

Alright i added the salt and parasite clear... but my one fish that has always seemingly been the healthier of the two now has his fins entirely clamped and is barely moving, and seems to be convolsing every once in a while. Im scared for him. Does it get worse before it gets better?

Sorry to keep being a pain about this, i just dont want to mess up. Anyway the parasite clear reccomends two doses but from what ive been reading, if it is flukes it may take several generations to kill them off. So is two doses 48hrs apart really enough? Should i pick up another box or two today as its cheap enough and one box is only good for two doses. Good news is, although all their other symptoms remain, the black one is not clamping like he was last night Tested the water today

Ammonia and nitrite... 0ppm
nitrate 10ppm

How long before i should expect to see them starting to pick up a bit?

Thanks for all your help guys. I understand you all have lives and are very busy and any time you can spend is very much appreciated. I know there must be alot of people like me asking questions all the time.

I would do the first 2 treatments and see how it goes.

Concerning your ph and the water, have you tried a little test where you set a glass of water out, test for ph and leave it out all night and see if it changes 24 hours after the first test?
I would recommend that.

Another member is having problems right now with that. And if you leave out your water overnight before doing a water change it helps to maintain the ph without it bouncing so much.