Review on 🐠 Tetra 77326 Tetra LifeGuard Tablets, 32-Count: The Ultimate Solution for Keeping Your Aquatic Pets Healthy and Happy! by Rob Allen

Short story = Bought a black moorland goldfish which infested the other 4 goldfish in my tank. Whether it was all of these medications or a combination of raising the temperature and adding aquarium salt, my original fish were cured of the disease after 10 days of treatment and all are very happy again. However, the Black Moor did not survive, perhaps he was too young and weak/sick with an illness to endure the temperature change/treatment. Details = So I made a huge mistake by putting a newly purchased black bog in my aquarium instead of quarantining it. for a few weeks. In the past I've always been lucky with new fish, but this time my luck ran out, the lesson learned, and next time I'll definitely be quarantined. Anyway, a week after I brought the fish home, the black swamp litter along with the 4 original goldfish in my 55 gallon tank all had ick. This was my first experience with IC after 12 years with goldfish, so I spent hours reading everything I could on the internet about treatment options. I had read about the standard treatments of malachite green or methylene blue etc but these bailout tablets caught my attention as there was nothing in them that would turn the tank green or blue and I wanted to avoid that as my tank was sand backed acrylic and had lots of decorations , all of which are painted. So after spending hours reading everything I could find online about how ick (parasite) works, here is a summary of what I found out and what exactly I did in my aquarium... First it's important to understand, what are the three stages of the life cycle that the ick parasite goes through, and YOU ARE VULNERABLE TO EVIL ONLY ONE OF THEM! The first stage is when they are actually on top of your fish and forming a protective, round, white, cyst-like structure around them (hence the term white spot disease). As long as they feed on your fish in this cyst, they cannot be killed. No medication including life jackets or malachite green etc. can kill them while on your fish/in these cysts. After they stop eating for a period of time (affected by water temperature, more on this very important point soon), the cyst falls and settles to the bottom of the tank, which is the second stage in which a single cyst hatches. Over 100 parasites. This brings us to the third stage of the parasitic flea life cycle when newly hatched fleas swim freely in the aquarium only to find fish to attach to and start the whole process from Stage 1. This phase of their life cycle When they're swimming around freely in the aquarium looking for fish to attack, this is the ONLY phase where any treatment will actually kill the Ek. The entire 3 step life cycle process can take from more than 4 weeks in colder water to less than a day in water over 80 degrees. Therefore, it's extremely important to raise the tank temperature high enough to speed up the ick's life cycle, allowing it to fully cycle through at least a few times while you're actively healing the tank. If there is at least one cyst left on your fish or lying on the substrate and it hasn't hatched yet due to the lower water temperature and it's past your treatment window, your bladder infection will come back soon because there's no medicine left in it. water to kill it in step 3. However, here are the exact steps I took to treat my condition, including using these life-saving pills. I had 5 goldfish in my aquarium (one of which was a recently purchased black swamp that introduced bed bugs), 10 snail snails, artificial plants, a sandy substrate and 2 large air rocks.1. I removed my nerite snails from the tank as most ick meds can harm invertebrates including rescuers. They went in a makeshift 5-gallon bucket that I only use for fish-related stuff (so there's no soap or chemical residue left behind), along with a small air stone that I set up to stir the water in the bucket. The snails remained in the bucket throughout the 10-day treatment window. I changed the water in the bucket every 3 days just in case. They feed them seaweed waffles and zucchini. By the way, snails don't get sick. 2. Aquarium salt has been added to the aquarium. Not only is salt good for fish health, it also seems to be an effective natural remedy for colds in high enough doses, although I haven't used super high concentrations. I add 1 tablespoon for every 5 gallons, so that's a total of 11 tablespoons in my 55 gallon tank. I took maybe a half gallon of water from the reservoir, completely dissolved 11 tablespoons of salt in those half gallons, and then slowly poured that water back into my main reservoir in small batches, pouring in a cup about every 15 minutes. If you have live plants you will need to remove them as the salt will damage them, but since my plants are fake I didn't have to deal with that extra headache.3. Removed all coal from my tank. This is VERY important as the charcoal absorbs the drug from the water. If you're using ammocarb chips or carbon fiber cartridges like mine, you'll need to remove all of this. I bought a separate filter filament to collect debris as the filament/carbon cartridge is gone. This stuff worked great - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002AT7GG?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s004. You need to increase the rate of oxygen exchange in the water because warmer water doesn't store oxygen either. I already had a very powerful air pump (AP300-whisper http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002563QI?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s02) so I turned it on full blast and got tons of blisters. of my two 14" Airstones and creating an increased surface roughness.5. After all the invertebrates are removed and the carbon is gone, it's time to take the medication. I add one Lifesaver tablet per 5 gallons of water every 24 hours. The means 11 pills every day in my 55 gallon tank for 10 days I just threw all 11 straight into the water every night and they sank to the bottom and completely dissolved after a few hours And finally temp rise... I did the temperature of the water gradually increased to at least 80 degrees over several hours on the first day of treatment and the following days of treatment I was able to slowly increase the temperature all the way up to 86 degrees I got this heater from Amazon which worked great - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006QI8304?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00 I read that at 86 degrees most fish actually die naturally, but since goldfish prefer cooler water you will need to monitor the fish's health/stress levels and adjust the temperature accordingly by observing the fish and backing away when they show up. an increased sign of anxiety beyond what is already causing the nausea. Take a separate thermometer and place it in the water at the opposite end of the tank from the heater to check what temperature the heater is reaching. I have this one and it seems to work fine http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002AQITK?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00. They will maintain the water temperature at or above 80 degrees for the duration of the treatment to ensure that the entire egg goes through all 3 stages and is destroyed by the medication. The next few days will also be the toughest for your fish as the disease spreads incredibly quickly as it circulates so quickly in warmer water. The day after I raised the temperature, the spots on my fish tripled in number and they were clearly very unhappy. They sit on the bottom, mostly flexing their fins, now and then they dart desperately through the aquarium and rub against everything. Three days later I lost the black moorland that was causing the problem *sigh*. I suspect he was already too weak/sick from having been sick for a while to cope with temperature changes, meds and stress…. RIP ObieBlack Goldfishie, may the force be with you... 7. After 4-5 days of treatment the spots on my original 4 fish started to disappear dramatically and after 7 days the spots on the fish were no longer visible at all. I subjected the treatment to a full 10 days to ensure all the mites hatched and died in the water.8. I fed the fish during treatment but they were only getting half the flakes they normally were getting each day. Turn off the heater to allow the water temperature to drop gradually over the next 24 hours, and return the activated carbon to the tank filter to absorb any remaining medicines while the water circulates for the next few days2. Performed 30% water changes over the next two days to slightly reduce salinity3. 3 days after the activated charcoal filtered out all the medication and the water was changed twice, I put my gangster snails back in the tank. A few weeks later my original fish are very happy with not a single white spot left. . I know the steps I took on my own would have helped cure the cold, so maybe the lifeguard had nothing to do with it, or maybe it did. All I know is that the disease is gone, I'm very happy that my original fish survived and I didn't get any green or blue spots in the tank from other standard medications. Your process and results may of course depend on how soon you start treatment (the sooner the better if you want as many fish to survive as possible!), your fish species/aquarium setup, their starting condition, etc. Good luck!