Help with diseased L. Pictus

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pimbuddy

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 9, 2007
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Miami
I've had the pond going strong for like a month+ and no problems. Last week I got a UV filter for green water and my L.Pictus likes to hang out directly under the intake hose. Now both sides of his body behind the gils have white spots. Spots look like ICK. I introduced water lettuce so he would hide in a different area but no luck, I'm guessing the lettuce that came out of another pond is the culprit. I asked my buddy and he says those fish are ok. All the other fish, 14 comets and 4 albino oscars are perfect. I've enclosed pictures please look. Could he be getting something from the UV, I doubt it. Are pims more suseptible to ICK. Read the sticky on ICK in disease section but not sure what to do for a pond or more importantly the L. Pictus. Any help would be great.:(

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It looks like ick... watch out what you use cats have "powder-fine" scales and they can over med-ing can really irritate their skin and possible kill them. If you use quick sure I'd use 1-2 to 3-4 the dose.. But i'd start with like a 50% water change aquarium salt and a temp of like 83 and watch her for a day or two. If they doesn't start getting better you can try quick cure or some other ick med.... IMO best of luck....
 
Thanks for the help. Temp is between 83-84 during the day and drops to like 81-80 the lowest at night. Started with some salt. Pond is like 300 gallons. Put 20 tblspoons of salt, to treat like 100 gallons to start, will treat another 100 gallons in the morning. Tuff to do a water change, can't get that much RO water. Only way is to fill the pond with tap and treat the pond with declorination and bacteria culture. So Im stuck doing partial water changes of like 30 gallons. Will this do? When do I know when I need to use meds. Have quick cure with malachite green, and another wit Copper sulfate, called copper safe. Which is best for the cat? Thanks guys any info helps.
 
I think the copper sulfate is safer... not as strong... I'd say wait out the high temps/salt for a couple of days if you are seeing progress that is good, it might take up to 7 days to cure. As soon as you see it getting worse I would use the meds... And yea 30% with declor every other day would probably be fine...
 
Awol your the man! Ok im gonna hit the next round of salt in the morning and in a few days will let you know what goes down, If it gets worse I'll run with the copper at 1/2 dose. Thanks again, I really want this fish to live. It's the only L/pictus I found in great while of lookin'. Thanks again.
 
copper works better but will kill any snails or shrimp i think its bad for plants too but no more than 1/2 does to start. things can go bad fast when treating these kind of fish
 
I agree with the salt and temp treatment. It treats the water. Once the pustuls are gone off of his bodies doesn't mean he's cured. You have to continue the high salt treatment for a while until all the free floating ich in the tank is killed off. They naturally die after a few days free floating. That's also when they reproduce, and your fish get reinfected, but if you have high temps and salt that should be eliminated. I just keep salts high in my tanks always. As a secondary treatment I sometimes use melafix or pimafix. That's just to keep them from getting a secondary infection. Keep us updated that that cool kitty of yours.
 
Thanks alot for the help guys. The pustuls have seemed to ruduce in number from yesterday but I'll have a better idea this afternoon when the sun is high and I got a better view. Put more salt in as well, will put in another dose later today. Bought the Melafx, should I just go with the specified amount per the packaging or do you guys reccomend differently. Fish all seem to be in good shape, everyone is eating and so far no adverse side affects to the salt so as things shape up Ill post again.
 
i don't think malafix helps with ick but keep the temp stable and things should be okay heat is important because it speeds up the life cycle of ick when there free floating they fall down harden and burst and let out lots of little ick bugs so a really fine filtration helps alot
 
Really appreciate the help guys, AS of this morning right side appears free of spot, and just a spot or two on the left side. Found some ick-attack at the LFS but Im waiting to see if it clears up with the salt. KILLERFISH, I know that fluctuating temp can bring about ich but my temp only fluctuates a few degrees, should I set the heater to keep temps up at night, I thought they were pretty high as is at 83-84. Is is safe to keep the fish at this temp.
 
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