White sticky 'things' & tail rot

[obhobh]

Hello. my RTG is having some white sticky 'things' or liquid around its body and eyes. I have bought some medicines from a local (KL) aquarium and after 3 days of treatment, it seems like there is no improvement at all. Worst of all, my RTG's tail begins to rot at an enourmous speed. Could anyone give me some advice on what should I do?? I'm still very new to Arowana and would appreciate any helps. Thank you.

[Isna]

hey bro, u need:

a) salt. not table salt, but aquarium salt or rock salt etc.
b) de-chlorinator solution.

what to do?
1) Change 40% of tank water. Make sure u add the dechlorinator n mix it well for 5 mins. Add a generous table-spoon of salt per 10L( standard bucket). also, check the temp. of the water. make sure it's the same as the tank, then u can pour it in, or gently siphon it out...

2) perform a salt dip.
firstly, u should know that salt dips r extremely safe compared to stuff u can get from the LFS--formalin, malachite green, methylene blue etc
it is also highly effective.

get a small container and fill it with some water from the tank. make sure u measure this amount of water. for every litre of water, add 20 grams of aquarium salt or rock salt( NOT table salt pls)( ( 80 grams per gal). a generous tablespoon of salt is about 16-20 grams....

stirr till the salt dissolves, and net the fish into this container. he might get excited initially, but should soon settle down. monitor him constantly. should he loose his balance, or become hyperexcited, immediately transfer him back into the tank. otherwise, leave him in the dip for a maximium of 30 mins. what this does is to eliminate all surface bugs on his skin. salt at this dose also stimulates protective mucus production.

u might want to consider treating all the other fishes once. salt dips r now a recommended routine procedure for quarantining fishes worldwide.
however, do be careful when dealing with tetras n corys/other catfishes. they may b more sensitive to salt at this dose. so the key thing is to MONITOR constantly. a dip as short as 5 - 10 mins is often better than none. i strongly recommend u perform it.

keep the water oxygenated( airstone ) if possible, n check constantly that he is responsive to stimuli( wave your hands above him to check his visual reflex. he should respond with a startle). if negative, try touching him gently with a finger. he should respond with his body, fins etc. as long as he responds n keeps breathing, he should stay in as long as possible within the 30 mins time limit. some fishes tend to lean on their sides and rest on the bottom, while others simply maintain a calm stationary position in midwater. whatever the case, as long as he is responsive, he'll b OK. feeling confident??

3) now u can relax n have a think of what's actually going wrong. mayb it's your filter, mayb it came from the feeder fish...mayb it's a new tank....mayb it's the water... anyway, if u want to get to the bottom of this, try filling out a history sheet/checklist at "approaching a case'( at the top of AroMedics page).

what sort of medicines did u use?? your filter might b 'crippled' because of this....

[Jefflicv]

\talking about salt, may I use artifical salt dor the marine fish ? If the answer is yes, should the dosage be the same ??

[arofans]

Originally posted by Jefflicv
\talking about salt, may I use artifical salt dor the marine fish ? If the answer is yes, should the dosage be the same ??

Its aquarium salt 4 freshwater use not marine salt.

[Jefflicv]

Arofans - is the salt that make the water yellowish ? I can't buy 'salt for fresh water fish' in the LFS in HK. Any other substitutes ? where can i buy rock salt ??(apart from LFS)

[Isna]

marine fish salt from the lfs shoud b fine bro. in fact, there is some debate that it's superior to plain sodium chloride( rock salt), as it contains other minerals such as Mg, Ca etc that help the gills maintain osmoregulation. yes, go for marine salt from the lfs, but be careful of sea salt n other similar products from the supermart. Never use salt with added ingredients such as anticaking agents.

[Jefflicv]

Thanks, isna.
The question is : should the dosage be the same ? Is artifical marine salt 'saltier' than rock salt ?

[Isna]

No worries Jefflicv,
yeah, the dose is the same.:D