Itch?

[centuryan]

i am baffled,

been treating my clown loaches for whitespot since thursday,
put last dose in yesterday as i could only see 1 spot left,
checked the fish this morn, all whitespot gone but 1 clown and 1 dalmation molley are flicking on everything??
thought once whitespot had gone the itch would go with it,

please help,

getting fustrated now

 

[sunflower]

I think you should really carry on treating Ich for a few days after you see the last spots as it could still be in their systems even though you can't see anything.

 

[centuryan]

even though im treating for whitespot, with esha exit,
am i ok to do partial water change and vac today
then carry on treating half the dose as specified
thanks

 

[jollysue]

Have you tested the water quality.

Follow the directions for treatment on the medication. It should give a recommendation for secondary treatment.

Ich is a parasite and is not internal but external. Nevertheless it follows a cycle of several stages. Sometimes after a brief respite with some meds it is necessary to retreat. In most cases you should complete the treatment, then do a 50% (?) water change and reinstall the carbon filtration to clear the med. Then if necesary treat the water again after a rest. Flicking can also be a sign of water quality.

You are in the UK so I am not familiar with the med. If there is no visible sign of the ich then it is not in a treatable stage. What do the directions say?

You are dealing with a parasite not a bacterial infection. A parasite, like fleas, goes through stages. It is treatable in the white spot stage on the fish although the water may be treatable.

By all means do water changes if water quality could be an issue.

 

[centuryan]

jolleysue,

thanks for the advice,
if you have a day to read this post then by all means lol,
my tank size is aprox 95 litres, i have had this up and running now for over a year,
about 6 months ago, i bought 2 clown loach which i have to say, never did anything when i introduced them into the tank,
they were dosile and shy, never moved about, they themselves got whitespot within a couple of days,
think after a week they both died within a day of each other,

i carried out the treatment of whitespot for the rest of the fish and everything went back to normal,
other than clown loaches, i have never really had any problems with keeping fish or problems with my set up,

a few months ago, my mother had an illness which forced her to close her pet shop, so i ended taking quite a few fish from her, since then, i found this site and started to pick a bit of info up and found i had too many odds and sods in my tank although i never experienced any fighting or damaged fish, so i went to my lfs who agreed that i should concentrate more on grouping of fish i had, so they ended up taking a few fish from me,

it was then that i sugested clown loach to them as i love em lol,
i have since bought 3 of them and thats where my whitespot came from,
these clown loach however are still young and are a joy to watch as they are very active,

last friday i ended up taking my family to my wifes sisters for a few days,
i bought the esha exit and a new heater as my old 1 was not very good and i couldnt get the temp above 23/24,
i learnt on here to turn heat up for whitespot lol
my cousin was supposed to treat and feed the fish till we retuned on the sunday,
however when we returned, 1 of my black skirted tetra has had his dorsal fin and part of his back bitten off, ripped off, im not sure, also i have 4 columbian tetra and two of them look unwell, they seem to have black marks around their mouths, same as my 2 skirted tetra, the fish actualy look quite dirty if that makes any sense, i put the tank temp upto 26,
it is all quite strange really,

which brings me back to the whitespot and itch
plus doing a hoover and water change,
il give you a few to read that so far lol,

thanks again

lee

 

[centuryan]

oh by the way, water stats were fine before i started treatin and my fish are..........

1....ruby shark
2....black skirted tetra
4....columbian tetra
3....clown loach
2....dalmation molley
3....silver molley
1.... khuley loach
1....shrimp

 

[jollysue]

Hi Lee

Yes, Ich is the bain of the clown loach. I always try to remember to treat the tank with a dose or two of Aquarisol when I add loaches to a tank. It is a very mild anti parasite and is a good preventative. Adding it w/o taking the carbon out does no harm to the tank and will treat the water for any active parasite. I have gotten confused with the new information that has come out about the Ich cycle. Nevertherless, some will treat every water change with Aquarisol just in case. I did that for awhile, but I stopped. Still if I think to when fish seem stressed I am liable to single dose the tank.

I got four 5" wild caught clowns a while back for my frontosa tank. I dosed the tank with Aquarisol as a preventative, and they all did fine. The only time I ever had a problem with ich was when I first started and got my first clowns. I lost one to ich, got two more and lost them to columnaris. The survivor from my first batch is now in the Rift tank with the fronties and new clowns.

I don't know what the black stuff is.

Tetras are nippy fish. They are related to the piranha and have their teeth in the front. Even the small ones can do some harm. Some one in my community tank is offing other tank mates and I have my suspicions. I had a serpae once that was a terror. If I find out which guy is the culprit he is going into isolation. Whole tail lobes have been chomped off my phantoms, green fires, rosies and Emperors.

I would say try to keep the water clean and fresh. It is the first rule of desease fighting. Many hobbyist do not use meds, just clean water--maybe some salt.

I hate to treat my community tank. I always lose some fish, even when I only treat with MelaFix. I lost both of my aggassazi red tail apistogrammas to MelaFix treatments. Each fish acts a little differently to meds.

Has Wilder given you a diagnosis on the black mouths?

sue

 

[centuryan]

hi sue,

im hoping for a little input from wilder if he sees this post lol,

would you recomend doing a 50% water change now, a hoover, new water then treat for whitespot again


other problem i got is the skirted tetra,
i have im in an enclosure in the same tank, he has no dorsal fin now and a good chunk out of his back,
i personaly didnt think he would survive but he looks competely unfased, still as sharp, normal breathing and moving just as he would on any other day,

im too worried to let him back into the comunity as when i did it yesterday, the other black skirt started messing with him, it didnt look as if they were biting each other, just nudging and barging each other but at great speed,

lol, my head is well scrambled, just dont know what to do for the best

thanks for listening sue

lee

 

[jollysue]

Wilder is a lady And a blessing she is. She has held my hand lots of times.

Yes! on the water change. I might even do a couple before I started another treatment. But what do the directions say? I even called a manufacturer's techie line once for advice. I had a virulent columnaris: The Great Columnaris Plague!

I know how you feel about the indecision and muddleness. It is too often not cut and dried. So often secondary infections set in. I would keep the Tetra separate. Any anti bacterial would help. Perhaps MelaFix and Pima Fix would be sufficient. They can be very effective helping with regrowth as long as there is no serious infection.

I am at a loss as to the black mouth. My immediate response is to suspect some sort of bacterial infection, but I am not familiar with anything of the kind and can only recommend separation and clean water.

I must admit loose as many battles as I win. My biggest failing at all times is not keeping the water clean enough. Bugger the med; give the fish a fighing chance with clean water; then do the meds.

 

[centuryan]

Wilder is a lady And a blessing she is. She has held my hand lots of times.

Yes! on the water change. I might even do a couple before I started another treatment. But what do the directions say? I even called a manufacturer's techie line once for advice. I had a virulent columnaris: The Great Columnaris Plague!

I know how you feel about the indecision and muddleness. It is too often not cut and dried. So often secondary infections set in. I would keep the Tetra separate. Any anti bacterial would help. Perhaps MelaFix and Pima Fix would be sufficient. They can be very effective helping with regrowth as long as there is no serious infection.

I am at a loss as to the black mouth. My immediate response is to suspect some sort of bacterial infection, but I am not familiar with anything of the kind and can only recommend separation and clean water.

I must admit loose as many battles as I win. My biggest failing at all times is not keeping the water clean enough. Bugger the med; give the fish a fighing chance with clean water; then do the meds.

i knew wilder was a lady really ahemahem..................lol, sorry wilder if you read this, gulp

just been to lfs with black tetra with bite outa his back and also took along my worst looking columbian,

they drew a blank on the black markings, and to be honest, said same as you regarding skirted, keep him seperate but he is healing fine,

asked about water change, told me to leave it and do whitespot treatment for couple more days,

other than that no more to report lol,

thankyou very much for your advice and patience sue,

much appreciated lol

would you like to become my first friend on here lol,

thanks again, your a star x

 

[jollysue]

Your lfs sounds like a good one.

I am honored

Did they test your water?

Always get all the advice you can, then do your best. We learn more from the efforts and experience than anything.

As far as the water change, I suppose I would follow the med directions first. But I have lost some battles where I later felt the fish would have done better with some clean water. Did they test the water? It is always possible to add more meds after the water change.

But if they were satisfied that the water was ok and felt the treatment should continue, it is a reasonable approach.

 

[centuryan]

Your lfs sounds like a good one.

I am honored

Did they test your water?

Always get all the advice you can, then do your best. We learn more from the efforts and experience than anything.

As far as the water change, I suppose I would follow the med directions first. But I have lost some battles where I later felt the fish would have done better with some clean water. Did they test the water? It is always possible to add more meds after the water change.

But if they were satisfied that the water was ok and felt the treatment should continue, it is a reasonable approach.

no they never tested the water, i only have the testing strips as they had no liquid test kits in.

oh well, il give it a couple of days, time will tell

 

[WILDER]

Black patches can be ammonia burns that are healing, cancer growths to mybaceruim never spell that right.
Fish can also get black mouths through digging and fighting.

 

[WILDER]

Look under black patches.
http/www.fish-disease.net/diseases.htm

 

[centuryan]

the easha exit i have used says
day 1...20 drops
day2...10drops
day3...10drops
and extended dosage
day4...10 drops
day5...10drops

so in veiw of that, i have gone a day over the dosage rate,
what would you sugest i do now??
the whitespot looks as if it has gone but some fish are starting to flick and rub,

thanks again