Copper Sulfate to treat Ich

[dgebhart]

Here Are some pictures of the Blood parrot. Sorry they Aren't better.

The water parameters are: PH 7.5 and Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates all 0. I don't have a hardness test kit but the PH has been steady for a long time. I added the salt and bumped the temp to 82. I didn't want to go higher than that because the other parrot started acting weird when I had it at 84.

 

[popss]

nitrate should never be 0. what test kit you using? if so, either test kit wrong or you are taking tests wrong or both and tank is not cycled.

 

[dgebhart]

I was using the api kit and I realized I shook the wrong bottle. I just retested my nitrates and they are between 5 and 10 ppm. It's my fault for not reading the directions carefully. Now it makes me wonder how many times I have done this before.

Sent from my GT-P6210 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

 

[popss]

I was guilty of almost the same thing many moons ago, I was shaking the test water for the prescribed time, and not test bottle #2 before adding to the test water. Ya , just read the directions stupid. any way that sounds better. Water change at 20.0ppm, that's target water change reading. once you know what your nitrate creep is for the tank, can just do water changes at that time with out needing to test all the time. I still test every 3 or so weeks to make sure nothing has changed or taken to over feeding.

 

[dgebhart]

Thanks for the information. I am kind of new to the testing water thing, this is my first serious tank.
Did you see the pic of the parrot? Do you think that is the aftermath and healing from the ick or maybe some other kind of infection or reaction?

 

[Aquanero]

This looks like Costia which can occcure as secondary infection to Ick. Mardel makes a product called Quick Cure which containes Malachite Green & Formalin. This is a good choice for this. I would also mention Velvet is another possibile cause for what you are seeing and can also appear secondarly to Ick however since you already used Copper sulfate which is one of the treatments for Velvet I'm leaning towards Costia. As a side note Quick Cure is somewhat effective against Velvet as well as Cosita but for Velvet there are better choices. Go with the Quick Cure for this as MG and Formalin is what is needed here. Do a large water change 50% and treat as per directions on the bottle. If you see no improvement in 72 hours or it gets worst repost and we'll go in another direction with this.

 

[dgebhart]

I have been reading some stuff about malachite green or formalin being incompatible with salt. Is that why you recommended a 50% water change? Should I not add salt to the new water?

 

[Aquanero]

I recommended the water change to get as much of the pathogen out of the water as possibile before starting treatment. Do not does for about 30 mins after using water coditioner. You do not need to add any additional salt once you start this treatment. The amount of salt left after the water change will have no effect on the fish.

 

[dgebhart]

Hi Again, I thought I would post some follow up pictures. I did a 50% water change last night after work and added the quick cure. Yesterday morning the white blotchiness was gone and it seems like its color is coming back but now it has black areas near its tail and it looks like its fins are turning black. So do you still think this is a stage of the Costia and that the quick cure should heal it or maybe something else. I don't want to medicate more than I need to. My other parrot had ich a tiny bit in the beginning but has recovered but our EBJD and Chalceus have seem to come thing this all unscathed. I dont want to stress them more than I need too. Thanks for all of your advice it has been a relief to find out what is going on

 

[Aquanero]

I don't think the black has anythig to do with Costia and is just part of the fishes normal fading process. Continue to follow the directions on the Quck Cure and treat for a few more days. The fish look much better.