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I am using an Aquacare medication for some cardinal tetras with white spot. This is the website: http://aquacare.com.my/products.htm
the medication I am using is the number 2-external parasites.

Will this kill the bacteria? Or is it safe to use on my main tank? Thanks!

Hi,
I cannot see the medications that are active in the
treatment you are using. Treating the main tank is
frequently not a good idea. Many times the mix of fish
includes some for whom the medication is toxic. In many
cases the active ingredients can kill off the bacteria
in the gravel bed that are responsible for the Nitrogen
Cycle causing the tank to recycle and further stressing
the fish.

It is actually probably best to move the fish to a QT tank
and treat them separately. If you remove the fish from the
main tank, and increase the temperature to 78 or 80 degrees
many of the unwanted critters will have accelerated life
cycles, and with no host, will die, naturally, and quickly.

If you have identified the problem and have a medication
that will eliminate it, then read the instructions very
carefully, and follow them to the letter.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Thankyou! That's what i though, i put the tetras in my quarantine tank with the mediciation, and none of the other fish in the main tank seem to be affected so i'll just leave it.

To quarantine fish or not is always a difficult call, It depend on a number of factors. The first and most obvious factor is whether the disease itself can survive in the tank without the presence of fish for over a week or so. If it can, treating them in a quarantine tank does nothing except make them well only to get sick again, and in those circumstances you should treat the whole tank, and therefore it is a waste of time, not to mention unecessary stress to move the fish, particularly into water that has not been cycled. Most roundworm parasite infections, or other parasite infections that are very contagious but their treatment does not usually affect the water, so treat them in situ.

Conversely a fish with a major cyst on its body, like those associated with trematode cercaridae, or cauliflower disease, should be immediately segregated and treated outside of the tank before the cyst explodes and releases hundreds if not many thousand infectious cysts into the water.

Basically I have a little rule of thumb that says treat fungus outside the tank, treat bacteria protozoa, and other internal parasites in the tank, and treat cystic diseases outside the tank. It has served me extremely well.

To be honest when diseases are very virulent,infectious, and persistant, seperating fish can irrelevant. You might as well treat the entire tank like a source of infection and blitz it. Recycling , if the meds are that severe will have to happen and is unavoidable. The real trick is finding meds that impact the filter as little as possible, and to be prepared to combat the effects of cycling as much as possible.

Quarantine is immensely valuable to new fish, and for protecting your community, but when an outbreak occurs in the community itself, I often find the value of segragating fish a bit doubtful, unless persecutory behaviour is making a given fish's life difficult, or the condition itself demands it for the presevation of the other fish.

To carpet bomb or not, that is the question, and for that you have to weigh the infection rates, type of reproduction the infectious agent uses, how late into the infection you are, and how lethal your choice of meds happen to be.

Pretty soon im going to produce a flow table of progressive and effective treatment with variables included, to help people come to an accurate decision instead of having to abide by rules.

In the meantime labrakitty, mention what disease or parasite you think you are dealing wirh, and ill try to come up with a sensible and inclusive approach to treatment for you.

Thanks, I mentioned in my first post that i was treating White Spot. I have the tetras in the hospital tank at the moment with the medication and there are no spots left on them anymore. None of the other fish in the main tank have any sign of white spot and i have turned the temperature up a bit in both tanks.