i guess i haven't been treating for it long enough (not hot enough) -- thanks everyone for the pointers...
perpetual ich -- advise appreciated.
- Thread starter gil
- Start date
so i fear i may have been too aggressive with the ich meds -- my barbs get these little white spots on their shoulders -- it looks like they have maybe lost some scales. at first, i thought it was a fluke, but it just happened to the third one today. then what happens is those spots sprout what looks like fungus...
what to do? i feel like the meds are causing more damage than they are curing...
i'm willing to write the barbs off, but should i be worried for my cichlids?
advice appreciated.
what to do? i feel like the meds are causing more damage than they are curing...
i'm willing to write the barbs off, but should i be worried for my cichlids?
advice appreciated.
Your barbs are probably getting secondary infections from the prolonged ick infestation. Check your water parameters. If you have bad water and are not doing regular water changes, then the bad water will cause stress which will allow the ick to take over. Ick happens, but when it won't go away then there is some underlying cause. Check for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. My bet is that you will find one of these to be way off.
remove the infected fish and put them in a hospital tank treat and cure them there..that would leave your main tank empty while the fish are being treated..ICH needs a host in order to live and since your main tank would be free of any fish, the eggs left in the main tank would eventually mature and die out..leaving your tank ich free until the fish are cured and returned..
"sick fish" threads run on and on full of personal cure information. All advice is good but, as is the norm, it fails to address the real problem. It's like running your car with no oil, then taking it to the shop and asking them to fix the motor because it's smoking, then leaving and driving with no oil again.
*Something* is stressing your fish and making them susceptible to the infection. What could it be? You fix that, you fix your problem. USUALLY it is a water quality issue.
Post
Given that information, it will be easier to pinpoint your problem. Don't throw a bunch of off the shelf cures in the tank without checking the oil.
*Something* is stressing your fish and making them susceptible to the infection. What could it be? You fix that, you fix your problem. USUALLY it is a water quality issue.
Post
Tank Size
Filtration
Substrate
Occupants
Temp (if possible, use more than 1 therm)
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
pH
Given that information, it will be easier to pinpoint your problem. Don't throw a bunch of off the shelf cures in the tank without checking the oil.
I'm guessing that you're refering to the post with the vortex diatom filter? Yes, this filter will remove ANYTHING bigger than 1 micron from the water. I'm treating a tank now by raising the heat to 87-88 and running the diatom filter to remove anything that survives to enter the water.gil;717810; said:
A couple days ago, I treated my other tank using Quick Cure (which has worked fine for me in the past). For whatever reason, this time it ended up killing all the fish in that tank save one! I treated in the morning (this was the third day of treatment), and by the time I got back in the late afternoon I had lost 2 clown loaches, 5 tiger barbs, 1 honduran red point, and 1 spinossisimus. Only the rainbow cichlid survived (and he was touch and go for a couple days). Only thing I can figure is that somehow the bacteria were wiped out and I had a nitrite spike. From here on, medication will be the last resort.
i hear ya -- it's just that i cannot identify the underlying problem. water parameters are well within norm, and the system is currently overfiltered for its bioload -- they might eventually grow into needing some more -- but right now i have a 150g tank and a 50g sump for a tank of juvenile fish.
the ONLY thing that is at all amiss is the pH (partially due to high PH tap water, and perhaps partially due to the concrete background that i constructed). i started with 7.8 and have been very gradually buffering it down to it's current 7.2/7.4.
if fact, i have been changing water so much that i'm wondering if unconditioned tap water might be the problem. i de-chlorinate it and add it VERY slowly to my sump, but it's still been 25% tank volume 2x/week for some time now...
the ONLY thing that is at all amiss is the pH (partially due to high PH tap water, and perhaps partially due to the concrete background that i constructed). i started with 7.8 and have been very gradually buffering it down to it's current 7.2/7.4.
if fact, i have been changing water so much that i'm wondering if unconditioned tap water might be the problem. i de-chlorinate it and add it VERY slowly to my sump, but it's still been 25% tank volume 2x/week for some time now...
