h2o_croutons
New member
Hi all, I'd like some advice regarding whether or not/how I should sanitize my tank following my lotl's death. 
To preface, I've had a wild-type female for a little over a year now, and I love the little gal so much that I decided I wanted another female. I got a rimless 22-gallon (that's 36 inches long) and started cycling it in November with Dr. Tim's ammonia. By the time it was finished cycling in mid-January, I went ahead and got another female (Tamago), with the hopes of being able to house the two together. All was well at first, Tamago would eat night crawlers just fine but wasn't super active, although I knew they can take a minute to get used to new surroundings. I noticed chunks of her gills & tail missing, and I could only assume my wild-type was nipping at her. They were together for probably 4 days before I decided they needed to be separated.
So, I put my wild-type back in her OG 20-gallon long, with Tamago alone in the 22-gallon. After a few days I could see a bit of regrowth on her gill, which made me feel like she was making good progress. Last week, I noticed Tamago flipped upside down. I panicked, helped flip her back over, and kept an eye on her for a bit. Turns out she would walk into/alongside the decor in the tank, appear to lose her balance, and was unable to flip herself back over. I noticed it looked like she wasn't using her back legs/tail, as she'd try to swim to the surface but just kind of struggled along the bottom. Whenever she would flip over, I could see her using her front legs to try to turn herself over, but not her back legs. I became quite concerned with this behavior and thought maybe she just needed to take a poo, as I hadn't seen her poo yet. I fridged her for a bit, and sure enough, she pooped! I was hoping that was enough to make her feel better, as I had read sometimes if they're a bit constipated they won't use their back legs as much.
She seemed fairly normal after this but still didn't have much of an appetite. The flipping over continued to be a problem, and I was genuinely puzzled as to what could be causing this. The substrate in her tank is sand, and I don't have any rocks/pebbles or other items she could've consumed to cause an impaction. There wasn't any abnormal floating or anything, she'd just sit on the sand using her front legs to move, while her back legs dragged along. I was looking into exotic vets near me and while they were a bit of a drive, I was planning to try to get her seen this weekend after I got paid. Everything just escalated so quickly. I had also noticed some small red patches on her tail/body that almost resembled bruises, but figured maybe it was just trauma from the other lotl nipping her.
Fast forward to yesterday morning, I noticed she looked seriously unwell. She was very lethargic and pale, and I decided to tub her with an indian almond leaf in hopes she could hold out until I got home from work. When I got home from work, she was gone. I'm heartbroken and trying to understand where I went wrong. Her little front leg was noticeably red (although this was never like this before), and she was quite red on her abdomen as well. Water parameters just in case:
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 10-20 ppm
pH: 6.8-7.0
Temperature ranged from 64-66 F
All in all, I suspect that she maybe had an infection of some sort? I'm just not sure what else could've caused such a sudden deterioration of her health I just thought I had a bit more time. My question is, if she had a bacterial or fungal infection, would I have to completely empty out the tank & sanitize it if I wanted to put my wild-type in the 22 gallon? I assume that would mean restarting the cycle because bad bacteria would likely be living in the filter? Or would I be able to get away with dosing the tank with KanaPlex for a few days? I'm just unsure whether KanaPlex would be enough to kill any of the bad bacteria in the water column. Ideally I don't want to start from scratch, but of course will if it's the best course of action as I don't want to jeopardize my other lotl's health. She's living happily in her 20 gallon long so there's no rush, I'd just like to move her to the 22-gallon at some point.
Sorry if this post is unnecessarily long. I'm still trying to process what happened. Any advice/thoughts are greatly appreciated.
To preface, I've had a wild-type female for a little over a year now, and I love the little gal so much that I decided I wanted another female. I got a rimless 22-gallon (that's 36 inches long) and started cycling it in November with Dr. Tim's ammonia. By the time it was finished cycling in mid-January, I went ahead and got another female (Tamago), with the hopes of being able to house the two together. All was well at first, Tamago would eat night crawlers just fine but wasn't super active, although I knew they can take a minute to get used to new surroundings. I noticed chunks of her gills & tail missing, and I could only assume my wild-type was nipping at her. They were together for probably 4 days before I decided they needed to be separated.
So, I put my wild-type back in her OG 20-gallon long, with Tamago alone in the 22-gallon. After a few days I could see a bit of regrowth on her gill, which made me feel like she was making good progress. Last week, I noticed Tamago flipped upside down. I panicked, helped flip her back over, and kept an eye on her for a bit. Turns out she would walk into/alongside the decor in the tank, appear to lose her balance, and was unable to flip herself back over. I noticed it looked like she wasn't using her back legs/tail, as she'd try to swim to the surface but just kind of struggled along the bottom. Whenever she would flip over, I could see her using her front legs to try to turn herself over, but not her back legs. I became quite concerned with this behavior and thought maybe she just needed to take a poo, as I hadn't seen her poo yet. I fridged her for a bit, and sure enough, she pooped! I was hoping that was enough to make her feel better, as I had read sometimes if they're a bit constipated they won't use their back legs as much.
She seemed fairly normal after this but still didn't have much of an appetite. The flipping over continued to be a problem, and I was genuinely puzzled as to what could be causing this. The substrate in her tank is sand, and I don't have any rocks/pebbles or other items she could've consumed to cause an impaction. There wasn't any abnormal floating or anything, she'd just sit on the sand using her front legs to move, while her back legs dragged along. I was looking into exotic vets near me and while they were a bit of a drive, I was planning to try to get her seen this weekend after I got paid. Everything just escalated so quickly. I had also noticed some small red patches on her tail/body that almost resembled bruises, but figured maybe it was just trauma from the other lotl nipping her.
Fast forward to yesterday morning, I noticed she looked seriously unwell. She was very lethargic and pale, and I decided to tub her with an indian almond leaf in hopes she could hold out until I got home from work. When I got home from work, she was gone. I'm heartbroken and trying to understand where I went wrong. Her little front leg was noticeably red (although this was never like this before), and she was quite red on her abdomen as well. Water parameters just in case:
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 10-20 ppm
pH: 6.8-7.0
Temperature ranged from 64-66 F
All in all, I suspect that she maybe had an infection of some sort? I'm just not sure what else could've caused such a sudden deterioration of her health
I just thought I had a bit more time. My question is, if she had a bacterial or fungal infection, would I have to completely empty out the tank & sanitize it if I wanted to put my wild-type in the 22 gallon? I assume that would mean restarting the cycle because bad bacteria would likely be living in the filter? Or would I be able to get away with dosing the tank with KanaPlex for a few days? I'm just unsure whether KanaPlex would be enough to kill any of the bad bacteria in the water column. Ideally I don't want to start from scratch, but of course will if it's the best course of action as I don't want to jeopardize my other lotl's health. She's living happily in her 20 gallon long so there's no rush, I'd just like to move her to the 22-gallon at some point. Sorry if this post is unnecessarily long. I'm still trying to process what happened. Any advice/thoughts are greatly appreciated.
