GETTING UPSET!

[MXPX4318]

so my 2 black swordtails got ich ON MONDAY and today IS FRIDAY, one has also got a bacterial infection. I have been treating for ich since monday and started treatment on bacteria yesterday, so the temp is at 83 and I've added 2 tablespoons of salt (10g tank) and I've been treating ich with formalin (formaldehyde 37%) every other day so monday wednesday friday, I dropped a Jungle brand Fungus clear tablet into the tank yesterday and the ich started with just like 5 spots or so on each fish and then went away a bit and then last night they've got like a million spots all over them and I thought that formalin would kill the free swimming parasite so this is very upsetting, should I change ich treatment to something else (like a jungle brand ich clear or something like that, even though so far after a day the fungus looks the same...) THIS IS VERY UPSETTING TO ME!

 

[WILDER]

You have used to many meds you will irriatate the fish with them all, I have had whitespot once and had to treat twice, sometimes it dosn't clear up the first time, do a gravel vac and water change run some carbon to remove meds, then retreat the whitespot.

 

[dolly_daydream]

so my 2 black swordtails got ich ON MONDAY and today IS FRIDAY, one has also got a bacterial infection. I have been treating for ich since monday and started treatment on bacteria yesterday, so the temp is at 83 and I've added 2 tablespoons of salt (10g tank) and I've been treating ich with formalin (formaldehyde 37%) every other day so monday wednesday friday, I dropped a Jungle brand Fungus clear tablet into the tank yesterday and the ich started with just like 5 spots or so on each fish and then went away a bit and then last night they've got like a million spots all over them and I thought that formalin would kill the free swimming parasite so this is very upsetting, should I change ich treatment to something else (like a jungle brand ich clear or something like that, even though so far after a day the fungus looks the same...) THIS IS VERY UPSETTING TO ME!

hi
ok heres what you,(well its what i do anyway and it works for me )do a water change to get rid of all the chemicals you have put in,dont forget to dechlorinate your water,then get 1 treatment that treats whitespot and stick to it,i use anti whitespot plus,and put the required amount in,and in a few days add the same again,raise your temp to 83 and wait,dont keep mixing chemicals as it does more harm than good,for instance the medication im on at the moment says i cant take indegestion tablets with them,and once i did,and boy was i sick,anyway just be patient and above all be PATIENT,let me know how it goes and good luck
claire

 

[MXPX4318]

well i've stuck to the same med for the ich, Formalin, and the ich just isn't going away it's getting worse, then I've got another med in there for the fungus, which on the back of the label says it can work with other meds so that's why i went ahead and added it. I was also told that the fungus could kill the fish before the ich would... But I guess I could do a water change and put some carbon in over night and start over tomorrow, I just hope my fish don't die by then because I can be patient, fish don't ever seem to, they tend to die quickly, or in my experience with sick fish...

 

[bigfish]

First of all don't panic!!!!! calm down and take 10 deep breaths.....................

Have you taken carbon out when treating tank? as it just absorbs the meds and won't do anything.

How long have you had your tank up and running?

Are you using a correct amount of meds and following instructions on the back?

Don't mix different meds for the ICH as it just weakens and stresses the fish even more?

How are the fish acting? laying on gravel? hanging near water surface? give us more info?

I know how frustraighting treating ICH can be we've all been there BUT main thing is DON'T PANIC!!!!

 

[MXPX4318]

ok here's some more info:
The filter never had any carbon in it to begin with, it's an aquaclear mini, with filter sponge, biomax cartiridge, and ammonia remover cartirage.

The tank is a quarantine tank (just set up for when I get new fish) and these are the new fish i got last saturday. So the tank has been set up since then, bare bottom, 2 fake decorations with fake plants attatched. The filter was hanging on the back of my display tank for 2.5-3 weeks before I got the new fish.

I am following the directions word for word as far as adding meds to the tank 2 drops a gallon every other day for as long as needed for the ich meds, and 1 tablet every 4-5 days for the fungus, 1 tablespoon of aquarium salt for every 5 gallons. Temperature is as close as I can get it to a constant 83 degrees.

Fish are swimming around and eating fine, every now and then I'll notice the both of them swimming to the top of the surface for a bit and then while swimming around in the middle of the tank I'll notice the one with the fungus breathing heavier then the other one. Every now and then they'll both get on these swimming spurts where they'll dash around all over the tank like a crazy person.

I guess I'm just panicing because I've heard so many people say "o my ich was gone 3 days after treating" and I've been treating and instead of getting better it's getting worse! But I'm clam now I believe.

thanks again,
Phillip

 

[fufanu360]

if you have access to a diatom filter, it filter out the ich in the free swimming stage... i think all lfs's should have one for rental if peoples tanks need a ''polish''

 

[Polardbear]

I hope I didn't jinx your black swordtails!

I picked up a pair of blacks myself Monday afternoon. They started acting kind of lethargic and strange within 48 hours. Seems like every new swordie I get lately develops a problem and it's very discouraging. I was really feeling like it was my fault but Thursday night I went over to the LFS where I got them to see how the others from their tanks were doing and every one of them had small traces of fungus on their fins. So at least now I'm not blaming myself. I had already started them on Kanamycin Wednesday and they have improved 100%.

I really think that swordtails get stressed very easily by shipping and then overcrowding at the pet stores and subsequently are more susceptible to illness. About all you can do is watch them real closely when you bring them home and start treating them as soon as you see any symptons. Even then it's a crap shoot whether they make it or not.

Hang in there, hopefully they'll recover!

 

[English Lion]

I got ICH in my tank the at the start of the week (no I'm not a 'gone in 3 days ' person). Like you I increased temp and started treating. I have an understocked tank and the water quality is always good, I've tested regularly throughout and it's stayed good.

As far as I can see I've done everything right but so far have lost 2 bala sharks, 9 cardinal tetra a glass catfish and 5 swordtails aren't looking great.
On the other hand my plants continue to thrive and my Ram and Ottos seem undisturbed by it all.

My conclusion is - do what you can but unfortunately sometimes these things happen.

 

[MXPX4318]

ok well glad to know i'm not the only one with the problem, I just called my LFS and talked with them for a bit and discovered that though formalin is good for helping with general external problems it is not specificly for treating ich and the guy I talked to said he's never heard of using formalin to effectivly treat ich. So I decided to start over, I put a fresh carbon insert into the tank and now am in the process of removing ALL medication from the tank, with a thirty percent water change how long will it take to remove the medicine from the tank? Anyone know? I was thinking I'd just start fresh tomorrow.

 

[WILDER]

Should be fine to redose if you run the carbon now.

 

[MXPX4318]

alright so I let the carbon run overnight, today I went and got some jungle "ich clear" tablets, so i put one ich tablet into the 10g tank, then I set up another 10g tank that I had laying around, with a heater and an air pump/stone, and put a tablet of the ich clear in there and a tablet of fungus clear in there, and moved the one swordtail with the fungus (fin rot I'm thinking now as the top of her tail is starting to disappear and I saw red around the edges today) and ich into that tank by herself. so hopefully in the next few days this will all be cleared up.

 

[WILDER]

Red around the edges is bad it's septicemia you will need an antibiotic treatment, good luck.

 

[MXPX4318]

update: the one with the 'fungus' or whatever it was has died , the other though is looking a lot better the ich is dissappearing quickly, hopefully it'll all be gone tomorrow (and it will at the rate this is going) then I'm going to start treating with the fungus clear (says it treats a variety of fungus AND bacteria related conditions) just in case, so that nothing develops on this one, so hopefully by the end of the week all things will be nice and cleared up.

 

[WILDER]

Sorry for your loss.