I recieved 50 flowerhorns (1-3") almost 3 weeks ago. Some of them were already spoken for and immediatly went to new homes. As of yesterday I have what appears to be a severe case of ich on all of them. Some of them were in different tanks but it all hit the same. Even the ones who went to different house hold came down with it. It seems like a long time after the fact for it to be appearing. Over the last few months it has popped up out of no where, usually after water changes. The water seems to have things floating in it specks and even what looks like bubbles. The water parameters are excellent, each tank has at least a sump or canister in combination with a emporer 400, I do regular water changes, gravel etc. everything possible. I do have knowledge of fish care and run our local pets stores aquatic department. I just cant figure it out. With in the last hour in popped up in my 150 none of the flowerhorns were placed in this tank. It is covering my texas, red devil and jack dempsey. Several months ago I lost over night a red texas and my beloved flowerhorn. I have been unsucessful with coppersafe, marcyl, quick cure and plain old aquarium salt. Temp have been raised slowly to 82-86. Everyone else seems to be having no luck combating the problem either. How do you end up with it in 2-75, 125, 150, 65, 40, and 10 tanks. I just don't understand all of them. Any advice would be helpful and appriciate it. If I lose any more fish I am out of the hobby all together. Thanks
Any Thoughts to help
- Thread starter lexie
- Start date
I'm not big on meds; they typically create more of a problem; killing friendly bacteria, pushing fish farther away from good health. Have you actually seen the ich on the fish? Ich typically attaches itself to a host. It won't survive long free floating.
The tiny bubbles you see in the tank are more than likely supersaturated gases from your tap water; concentrated amounts of oxygen that fish can't tolerate. Increasing your surface action or working the tap water over will eliminate these dangerous gases.
Back to the ich; if you're reasonably sure it's a parasite; here's a link to a really good salt treatment if you're interested. You say you've had no luck with salt, but if you use it properly, it should get the job done. It's important to do a second round in order to kill the larvae. Follow instructions carefully.
http://goldfish-emergency.com/news.php
Best of luck, Venus
The tiny bubbles you see in the tank are more than likely supersaturated gases from your tap water; concentrated amounts of oxygen that fish can't tolerate. Increasing your surface action or working the tap water over will eliminate these dangerous gases.
Back to the ich; if you're reasonably sure it's a parasite; here's a link to a really good salt treatment if you're interested. You say you've had no luck with salt, but if you use it properly, it should get the job done. It's important to do a second round in order to kill the larvae. Follow instructions carefully.
http://goldfish-emergency.com/news.php
Best of luck, Venus
I agree whole heartedly with VENUS , the heat/salt method is the way to go. Bump your heat slowly and keep it around 84. Add one rounded tablespoon of salt per 5 g (slowly over 2 days). The Ich will appear worse before it gets better and that is simply because the Ich parasite is too small to see when it first attaches to its host. It then grows to the size of a large grain of salt and then drops off and multiplys in the substrate. It is at this stage the salt kills the parasite. So unfortuantely your fish have to go through the life cycle of the Ich in oreder to get rid of it. I have used this method for years and have had 100% success. If you are treating at the first signs of Ich you shouldn't lose any fish. I have had some very sorry looking Clown loaches loaded with Ich pull through with this method. It is important to keep the treatment up for a good week after there are absolutely no signs of Ich on the fish. Then slowly decrease temp and decrease salinity through several small water changes. It is also important to keep up regular water changes while treating only replacing the salt in the amount of the new water added.