Scaleless Fish with Ich & Cotton Mouth

[Jacqueline]

Hi

I have an Ich problem with my aquarium that came about after I purchased 2 new clown loaches.

My 200 litre tank is home to 3 ghost knifefish, 5 clown loaches, 2 bristlenose catfish & 2 kuhli loaches. Water parameters are

Ph - 7.0
Nitrite - nil
Nitrate 40 ppm
Hardness 150 ppm
Ammonia - Nil
Chlorine - Nil

Apart from a Nitrate spike - these parameters are constant and do not fluctuate. To date, I have treated the Ich with Protozin (by Waterlife) at half strength (carbon filter media has been removed). I have completed the initial 3 day dose and it is currently day 5 - next treatment is scheduled at Day 7. The Protozin had done nothing - the Ich is much much worse. The Loaches have started to flash and now I suspect my oldest loach (5 years) has cotton mouth. I have no idea what to do from here. I *think* the treatment for cotton mouth is triple sulfa but I don't want to further stress the fish by adding triple sulfa in light of the Protozin.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Jacqueline

 

[WILDER]

40gal tank not ideal for that many clown loaches, as they really need a 90gal tank, plus they are very prone to itch, i can take a while to get rid of whitespot, have you half doseed with the clown loaches as it will take longer, before you redose do a gravel vac and water change, as it helps to get the parasite out of the gravel, sometimes it can take two rounds of meds, you will have to be patient the one with the mouth fungus can you issolae it as it sounds like a secondary infection now has kicked in with the stresss.
http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/hdcolumn.htm

 

[boxman]

Have you turned the temperature up to 80oC? I personally use Interpet no 5 for ich.

Have you removed the carbon from your filter? This would filter out your meds.

Sorry, but I have to say this 3 GHOST KNIFE FISH IN A 200L!!!!!!!!

Even though this isn't your question you have a potential 66" of fish just with those 3 alone!

Also wilder said clownloaches aren't suitable for this tank either (one would be fine.

200L = 52.84USgal (or just under 44UKgal) - 50" of fish (at a rough calculation).

Once your ich and any other infections have gone I would suggest you take the BGK and clowns back to your LFS - did they ask you what size tank you had and did they tell you how large they can (and do) get. Clowns are best in groups and you don't have room for 3. BGK, well one would be fine, but you wouldn't be able to have any smaller fish when it gets older as they will eat them (neon / guppy size, maybe bigger).

I'm definately preaching from experience with the BGK, I just had to sell mine on Saturday as I hadn't done my research and was told it would be fine in a 22gal - hmm!

 

[tttnjfttt]

Actually, with the "mouth fungus" aka columnaris in the tank, it is better to not raise the temperature, because this bacteria thrives in warmer temperatures. Columnaris will kill alot faster than ich will, so its better to get that knocked out before raising the temp to deal with ich.

 

[Jacqueline]

Temp is 27 celcius. The ghostknife fish are all juvenile as are 4 of the clown loaches. Whilst I have never had 5 clown loaches before, I have kept 3 ghostknife fish and when they get bigger I trade them for small ones at my LFS. I have been doing this for about 3 years without it being a problem. The oldest fish I have in my aquarium is one of my clown loaches who I have had for approx 5 years and he seems to be a bit of a runt - he is only about 5 cm long.

Jacqueline

 

[WILDER]

The clown loach isn't growing as you are stunting his growth in that tank.