Parasites?

[twinsmom]

Hi, My tank stats are normal. Nitrates slightly elevated about 40. My temp is 79 and I have a 35 gal. with 3 mollies 5 female guppies, 3 male guppies, 1 baby guppy, 1 dwarf gouramie, sunset mickey mouse platy, 2 neon tetras, 1 mystery tetra, 1 baby neon and 2 snails. 2 female guppies sitting on bottom, 1 molly and gouramie have long white stringy poop, almost all fish are scratching on gravel or on air hose, Platy sitting at top of tank. My ghost shrimp that wern't eaten, are now dead I have none left I have done a water change and fish are still not acting right. Silver lyretail molly also has about 3 tiny white spots on her tail, the creamsicle molly's tail looks like someone burnt it because the entire edge of it is black. I have had internal parasites twice before and treated it with jungle drop in fizz tabs, and everything seems fine for a couple of weeks, then the gouramie starts with white stringy poop again, I treat them, and now it started again, but this time it seems worse. Am I doing something wrong? HELP!!!!!!

 

[tttnjfttt]

Could you possibly have Ich? I know white spots is usually associated with it, as well as the itching on different surfaces. There are a ton of Ich treatments out there, and I have no clue what is the most effective one. Until you can get to the store, turn the heat up in their tank to 82-84, and if you have aquarium salt, add some assuming your fish can tollerate it. I can't remember if this is a disease where the tank should be left totally dark or not, so hopefully someone else can jump in with it.

For the internal parasites, how about medicated food? This way, the medicine is getting right where it needs to be. I have no clue about the burnt look on your other fish.

Hope that helped!

 

[twinsmom]

Thanks tttnjfttt I added aquarium salt like I usually do after the water change the other day. I am not sure if I should add more. I will turn up the heat, and my fish wont eat the medicated food...lol I tried that the first time. As for ich, I am not sure which meds are best, I hope someone else has an idea. Could the salt possibly make them scratch like that

 

[tttnjfttt]

I'm pretty sure the salt is actually soothing to them. I know you can safely add 1TBSP/5gallons of salt.

The only ich meds I have ever used was the Jungle Tablets, and I don't think I've ever had positive results with those. However, the times I needed them were when I had made some major beginner mistakes, like a tiger barb and a molly in a 1 gal So don't judge that med based off of my experience.

Ok, I think I need to get off the computer now, its 2 AM here.

Good luck!

 

[twinsmom]

It's 5 am here, one of my girls is waking up, so I am getting off too. I added 6 tbsps of salt since I didn't change all the water. The jungle tabs must not be working, or it wouldn't keep happening would it?

 

[tttnjfttt]

The tabs I have specifically say Ich Clear rather than just parasites in general. No clue if the other should work or not. However, if all the fish have been exposed to all the meds, it could be weakening their immune system.

 

[twinsmom]

I went to the lfs and bought mardel copper safe. It says it will not harm the biological filtration ata ll. It also says it may be harmful to snails and plants. What would anyone suggest I do with the plants and snails. The plants are not heavily rooted yet. I am also not sure what to do about the internal parasites with the 2 fish. I bought an internal parasite treatment, but neither one says if it can be used with the other treatment at the same time. I also read about fish diseases, and when I read about ich, not only do my fish have almost all the symptoms, but it also says the treatment may be harmful to fish such as tetras. I asked the person at the lfs, he said copper safe should not harm them, but I am not sure if I would trust him 100% (I have gotten bad advice before from them)

 

[Tolak]

I treat angels who poop white/don't eat with 35mg/gallon metronidazole, daily water changes of 50%, & cranking the temp to 90-92F. After a few days I sprinkle a little metro on some frozen brine shrimp, once they start to mouth it, not even eat it, they are on the road to recovery. I do this for 10-14 days, in a 10 gallon tank. I've got a good 80% success rate with this, usually it's the pea size body or smaller angels who don't make it. Large ones have done well every time.

Metronidazole is sold a Flagyl, or hex-a-mit. I get mine online in bulk http/www.fishyfarmacy.com/products2.html

I don't know the maximum temp your fish can handle, find out & make sure you have plenty of aeration, warmer water holds less O2.

Tolak

 

[Squishiebabe]

I've had internal Partasites as well, and used the tabs. Not sure if they worked, as i see a white poop in my pots in there sometimes....I've treated 4 times with them (2 doble doses over 48 hrs like it says) and I think they worked. they worked for velvet, i'm sure of that lol
hope you figure it out,

 

[twinsmom]

Help, they are getting worse. I need to treat the fish now. They all seem to be suffering somewhat. They are scratching on everything, and 2 more fish seem to have internal parasites. I don't know which treatment to do first. I also don't know what to do with the plants and snails? My stats are still the same as before. I tried to raise the temp, but my heater seems to have just quit working on me. It will only stay on 80* I cannot raise it no matter what I do. One of my daughter's is waking up again, so I have to go check on her. If she wakes up, Any major thing I have to do will be impossible(ie water change or tinkering with the heater etc.) Any ideas. I don't want them all to die

 

[tttnjfttt]

Did you end up adding the ich meds? If you havent' becasue you are worried about your tetras, try using GOOGLE to look it up. Other than raising the temperature and adding salt, which you did last night, there really isn't too much you can do. I have heard of leaving your tank in total darnkess might help, but no gaurentees. Finding constant info on the web can be difficult.

You can do water changes to try to get rid of any ich in the free moving stage. If you aren't familiar with the ich life cycle, look it up. That will also give you some more info to help wiht your tank. I know the short version of it is there is only one stage when the ich can be killed, which is when they are not attached to the fish. Speeding up the life cycle will get them to the point they are able to be killed by the meds.

All I can say for the parasites is to follow the other members advice. the mixing the food meds in with a treat after fasting them for a day seems like a good idea. Kinda like giving medicine to my dog. I hide it in a piece of cheese, and she has no clue she took it.