Curiously the tanks to the side of the window and those straight in from the window were not effected. Their population densities were modest and the water somewhat frequently changed.

There is a running argument as to how close to guppies Endler's are. For purposes of lilustration let's consider them at least guppies from brackish water.

Humm... maybe these are GuppyAdict's brackish guppies. :)

At any rate, the fish room is at a pretty cool temperature for a fishroom. I like it in the lower 70s and try to mostly select fish who are  also comfortable at that temperature. Some weeking can be done on a three tiered stand because if the middle tanks are 73 degrees, the tiers above and below will be 2-3 degrees above or below the middle.

This meant that the Endler's tank in the middle level wouldn't be raised to 80 degrees. However Cloe's suggestion of using Ich Guard was followed.

Clearly the tank was a candidate for a disaster. It had a couple of times more fish than it should. A lot of mulm on the bottom was testament to the fact that water changes had  been neglected.

That first treatment day a lot of the mulm, most of the bodies and 70% of the water was removed.

Some Ich guard was dissolved in the first batch of water to be added. Less than the recommended one teaspoon to five gallons of water was used.

I usually add water to such tanks by taking clean gallon milk jugs which have had the top 2 " cut off with a pairing knife. (They are soaked with hot water first, cut and then placed in the bleach vat for a day - and afterwards left in the declorinating vat for a day.)

The open top makes adding and dumping water easy. In this case, water was siphoned into the target tank with a length of hard airline tubing attached to some of that flexible green silicone airline tubing. That siphon gradually added slightly warmer new water and hopefully eased any adjustment needed.

3 of the 5 new gallons added to the water was from a Poecilia (Limia) melanogaster tank I use to start all new tanks. It is the only tank I have a heater on.

Interestingly the next day no discoloration of the water from the medication was evident. The mulm on the bottom and the heavy cover of water sprite seemed to be absorbing some of it.

Our village has a municipal water softening system. It works just the same as a basement water "softener". Scott L. or someone else may want to correct my pop chemistry here, but basically for every molecule of calcium or magnesium taken out, TWO molecules of sodium chloride are added to the water. So salt was being added since of the 160 ppm water "hardness" about half of that was sodium. (This is not that good for high blood pressure people or house plants.)

Day two saw 50% of the water and most of the remaining mulm removed. "New" water which had been seasoning for several days in a heated 30 gallon container was added.

Day three again saw about half of the water removed. Medication was added with the new water. Water changes contined for another few days until we went away for a week, sort of. We dropped back half way though for a couple of appointments, some serious feeding in the fishroom, roof patching and another water change and medication on that tank. A small group we attend wasn't attended.

A 45% water change and medication was done again today and a couple of days ago. The 20-30 youngsters look great. New ones dropped by the two large females in the last week are maintaining themselves despite a checquered feeding pattern. Two good looking males also survived.

One female who was incredibly emaciated and spotted is coming back pretty well and even putting a little weight on. Will she ever bear healthy young again? Only time will tell.

Maybe in another few weeks I will feel comfortable taking fish or plants out of that tank. The fact that an abused, but well established talk was restored to the point where medications and pretty big water changes could be made without disturbing the healing fish is testament to why established tanks and their biological systems are to be cherished.