How to pretreat/raise baby peacock bass from ich and parasites

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ruincccc

ruincccc

Exodon
MFK Member
Nov 27, 2021
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Hi there, I really would like to raise and keep some peacock bass but haven't had much luck. Despite the difficulty to get them, I managed to get on hold of some from 3 different vendors but none survived. One kelberi grew from 1.5'' to 4'' but died of bloat most likely from overfeeding (lessons learned), but the rest were all lost to ich in multiple attempts.

I tried simply putting them in a quarantine tank vs treating with heat and salt vs dripping in SeaChem ParaGuard for 2 hours, but eventually all were lost to ich. any pro tips to help me out here? i'm not particularly fond of having 86+ degrees of water all the time, but if this is the last resort I'll take it. but what if the fish is already infested with ich, and having 86 degrees will just accelerate the worsening? any other pre-treatment (i.e. dosing API General Cure) for parasites recommended? any reputable vendor to have healthy specimen? thanks!
 
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ruincccc said:
Hi there, I really would like to raise and keep some peacock bass but haven't had much luck. Despite the difficulty to get them, I managed to get on hold of some from 3 different vendors but none survived. One kelberi grew from 1.5'' to 4'' but died of bloat most likely from overfeeding (lessons learned), but the rest were all lost to ich in multiple attempts.

I tried simply putting them in a quarantine tank vs treating with heat and salt vs dripping in SeaChem ParaGuard for 2 hours, but eventually all were lost to ich. any pro tips to help me out here? i'm not particularly fond of having 86+ degrees of water all the time, but if this is the last resort I'll take it. but what if the fish is already infested with ich, and having 86 degrees will just accelerate the worsening? any other pre-treatment (i.e. dosing API General Cure) for parasites recommended? any reputable vendor to have healthy specimen? thanks!
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Sorry for your loss. What part of the season were the baby PBass shipped to you from the Vendors?
 
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ruincccc said:
Nov through Feb. Had one DOA due to cold weather, but the rest at least appeared healthy upon arrival .
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I suggest trying to order them if possible during the warmer months. I remember a couple of years back a shipment of fish came in at a lfs in November. The bags were actually fogged up and the temperature was around 50° Fahrenheit. Most fish from warm climate's would easily be susceptible to ich in water that cold and the stress of transport.
 
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Would cont to quarantine any and all new fish. Cont with heat and salt, 3tsp per g, combo if the ich develops. See what bassinmike85 bassinmike85 thinks about it.
 
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If ich develops try malachite green at 1/2 the dosage it states on bottle on day 1 then repeat same treatment on day 2. Keep tank temp at 80 degrees and monitor fish.
 
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I have localy fish stores treat loaches and other scaless fish with malachite green at 1/2 dosage on day 1, then full dosage on day 2, etc and have no issues. Seachem Paraguard dip won't work since the ich parasite is immune to medication as white spots on the fish. You have to use it long term for 2-3 weeks, and re dose everyday. You do not need to raise the temperature any higher when treating medication because any temperature above ~77F won't make the ich life cycle go any faster than 3 days.
 
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Rocksor said:
You do not need to raise the temperature any higher when treating medication because any temperature above ~77F won't make the ich life cycle go any faster than 3 days.
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Good to know. Is there any literature on this as I would like to show this to a LFS that insists on raising temp to 80 degrees which with some species I believe would only add additional stress.
 
QT is not just about keeping new diseases out.
Your tank may still be infected with some agent your fish previously had, something that your old fish are now immune to, but new fish are acutely susceptible to.
If you had ick previously, there may be inert cysts waiting in the substrate, all it takes is one.
As kno4te said, all new fish should be Q.T.ed, but if this continues to happen when fish are added to an old tank, I would suspect something latent in it.
Many diseases can go dormant, until the perfect opportunity arrives. It is possible for ick to be among those.
I believe Ick is one, as is Columnaris and many others.
 
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aussieman57 said:
Good to know. Is there any literature on this as I would like to show this to a LFS that insists on raising temp to 80 degrees which with some species I believe would only add additional stress.
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""At warmer water temperatures (75–79°F), use of 4–5 g/L (= 4–5 ppt) salt (sodium chloride) in a prolonged bath for 7 to 10 days is another effective treatment in smaller systems, provided the fish species can handle the salt concentration. Because theronts are intolerant to increased salinity levels of 3–5 ppt, salt is often added to aquaria or tanks that are being treated with formalin to enhance the response to treatment. Most freshwater fish can tolerate 5 ppt salinity for several weeks and many can live in 3 ppt permanently; ""
edis.ifas.ufl.edu

CIR920/FA006: Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (White Spot) Infections in Fish

Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (Ich) is a protozoan parasite that can cause severe losses in aquaculture and aquariums. It is introduced via new fish, substrates, plants, or equipment. Preventive measures include quarantining and treating new fish, holding plants without fish, and disinfecting...
edis.ifas.ufl.edu edis.ifas.ufl.edu

This one shows that one part of the lifecycle (hatching) doesn't go any faster
"...theronts escaped tomocysts already after 16–27h at 25°C and 30°C" (77f-86f)

This one doesn't state that any higher than 75F will get you a quicker lifecycle
"To complete its life cycle, Ich requires from less than 4 days (at temperatures higher than 75o F or 24o C) to more than 5 weeks (at temperatures lower than 45o F or 7o C)."
See Table 1... no treatment option after 75F, since treatment is for everyday already at that temperature.


Page 182, Table 1 under the Sodium Chloride (Salt) treatment for Tandus tandus, 23-26C for a 7 day period

None of these studies show going to 80F has any benefit. The last one even has a range of 73.4f-78.8f for a treatment period of 7 days with salt.
 
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