20L Restoration: Step 2, The Waiting

[@marko@]

so recently i have had a few dead fish. ok a lot of dead fish. im left with 2 black neon tetras, 2 CPDs, 1 SAE, and a bunch of guppies.
i had a vet do 2 cultures and 1 biopsy. the culture showed harmful bacteria (though not TB, which i was considering). the biopsy confirmed the harmful bacteria, and showed that i also have an infection of parasitic nematodes in my tank.
for the bacteria i got an antibiotic (looks like some nice heavy stuff). it needs to be dosed daily for 7 days, with a 50% water change right before each dose.
for the parasites i got another medication. the vet explained its as a broad spectrum medicine against the phylum nematoda. it needs to be dosed once a week for 3 weeks. but before i start to dose that, i need to dose the antibiotics and wait one week inbetween.

anyway, since i wasnt sure if i would have to tear down my tank, i didnt trim it, dose it, or change the water in a LONG time. the fact that i didnt change the water didnt matter to my fish, the plants soaked up the nitrates until they were 0ppm. and they kept growing fast and no algae either (actually, my slight algal matter decreased to nothing in that time).
the tank looked like this:




then i trimmed the stems, removed the rotting bits of riccia, trimmed the HM (took FOREVER), and cleaned the prefilter and removed the purigen out of my filter. i still need to do a water change (well, i probably dont, but i will do one since i cant hurt). the results:




the medicine:

[will5]

Man that sucks I am sorry. Keep us posted on how it works out.

[@marko@]

yeah, now i see why people have quarantine tanks (i have no room though). though i have no clue which fish brought it in.

[@marko@]

the antibiotic treatement is done. the fish all look healthy. also, now that the tank is trimmed and orderly, i can see that i actually have 3 CPDs, not 2.

unfortunately, my crypts are melting. it may be the light, since they were covered by stems for a month, and now suddenly they are in full light; but i suspect the antibiotic. anyway the other plant are doing good. the riccia is growing, and the microsword is booming. i have one runner, that has grown 2 new plantlets in a week!

ill post the pics in a bit.