How Do I Treat This Sickness

[Duff83]

my little guy has been in the tank two weeks, and he started to act funny two days ago. hiding in the tightest caves possible and only coming out to feed or if he gets kicked out by another fish checking out the cave. i woke up today and it looks like he has some white spots all over him. looks like he was sprinkled w/ salt. he ate just fine, just now, but man he doesnt look good. i want to get him out of the tank and treat him, what is his illness and how do i treat it? i looked at the stickies and found nothing, then read a bunch of threads and still found nothing. can you help me.

 

[Netty]

Sounds like he has Ich.

Here's a link to info on it and how to treat

http/freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/ich.htm

Some more info would be useful too.

Tank size?
Filtered?
Tank Mates?
How long set up?
Water temp?

 

[Duff83]

sure is is it best if i take him out and quarentien him, or leave him in the 29 gal and treat the whole tank? is it contagious? should i just treat the entier tank to treat all of the fish?

 

[bronzecat]

Treat the whole tank You're gonna have to check whether the treatment is suitable for the invertabrates (shrimp) before treating though.

 

[pippoodle]

it could be cos he's in a community tank - and they dont usually do well in communitys
that the cherry barbs or someone is nipping him and stressing him when you're not watching
you might have to get him his own little tank when they are all cured

If you have shrimp in the tank it might be best just to increase the temp and aeration and remove the betta and put him in his own tank
as lots of white spot treatments kill shrimps

interpet anti white spot was the best i found - only killed half the shrimp and some snails
other products have wiped out my shrimp colonys

(when i didnt have a qt tank)

 

[Night61]

just make sure if you have an invertebrate that the ick meds do not contain copper, for copper will be fatal to snails and shrimp.
i used Ick attack to treat my tank when one of my mollies got it, it worked well and was safe for my snails.

 

[LionMom]

I know a lot of people recommend meds, but this is a tried & true (IME) natural cure - as long as shrimp can tolerate salt:

1st day
Raise temp to at least 80 degrees
add 1 teaspoon salt for every three gallons

2nd day
add 1 teapoon salt for every three gallons
Raise temp to 82dF

3rd day repeat every third gallon dosage for a total of 1 teaspoon per gallon- raise temp to 84 dF

4th day through 14th day - do nothing, but wait

14 day - start to reduce temp back down to 78 dF over the course of 24 hours
15th day start reducing salinity by normal partial water changes and maintenence

Ich should be gone forever ( until you add new fish) because you have interupted the Life cycle permanantly

 

[Duff83]

im almost positive my last shrimp has passed on. i cant find him any where and hes usually front and center... and i think the cory ate his body. so invert free as of tonight, but i did manage to find a 4th swordtail fry swimming around! its been over a week since she gave birth and i got thi one out and w/ his brothers and sisters... man i could tell the growth of the others because the one i just saves is smaller then them considerably.

so this salt treatment, s it going to hurt any of my other fish... im a little apprehensive about doing that.

 

[pippoodle]

DONT salt treat the tank if you have corys in there they dont do well with salt

 

[CTlovesKS]

like the others have said, it sounds very like ick or whitespot. Normaly this is caused through bad water conditions or stress. If one fish in your tank has ick then all your fish should/might have it. I would do a 25%-50% water change and then put some treatment in there for the fishys. Whitespot treatment is easy and cheap.. And only needs about 2-3 days for the whitespot to go away.

 

[LionMom]

DONT salt treat the tank if you have corys in there they dont do well with salt

I agree - if you have corys (or any scaleless fish) you will not be able to use the salt treatment.

Just make sure that any meds you DO use are ok to use with your corys.

 

[fishoz]

oh and half the treatment for tetras, small fish and scaless fish (perhaps corys too, they seem to hate everything lol)

 

[loraxchick]

cories are scale-less fish so usually need half dose. and KEEP TREATING even after the visible spots are gone as the parisite has just "fallen off" the fish and is still around in the substrate, etc....read the package directions for the treatment you chose and continue treatment through the whole recommended time!(normally around 2 weeks or more)...raising temp will help too as ich cannot tolerate high temps (it interrupts the life cycle of the parasite).

good luck with your fishes
cheers