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  • #16
    Re: Ick

    well i just did another water test and low and behold my ammonia is up as well as my nitrites. I added bacteria in a bottle. I am guessing that my biological filter was thrown off due to my absent minded water change and gravel change the other day. Big lesson learned. I am doing daily water changes now with chemicals for everything. I will get my hospital tank setup tomorrow for the worst ones and keep treating for ick in my main tank. Thanks.
    Live Fast, Die Young, Leave A Good Looking Corpse!

    Been in hobby since March 2006

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    • #17
      Re: Ick

      Sorry to hear about your fish tank troubles. Believe me, we've all been there. Ive watched my husband freak out over stuff.

      Not long ago, my black shark was getting attacked by one of the flower horns, was sporting some battle scars...and the large flower horn looked like he was getting ich. So, we added aquarium salt. Maybe its the water temp or something, I dont know, but Ill be dammed if the flower horn is cured! Not a speck of white on him anywhere! So, maybe you should add some aquarium salt to you tank....i dont think you have to remove carbon for salt (we didnt anyway), and just follow the dosage on the carton and youll be fine. Now Im not saying this will cure your problem...but its a start, and salt is more natural than any chemical you could add to the tank...I like more natural stuff. But thats just me. Good luck and I hope you get this beat!!

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      • #18
        Re: Ick

        ick is a very tricky little *******. its a naturally occuring parasite that lays dormant. if the temperature fluctuates or the fish becomes stressed there slime coat is affected and the ick gets a leg up, if it does that it can breed more and overwelm the natural defensies on a fish. i have treated for ick so many times in stores that i worked for i lost count. but there are severla factors that will help. the lifestages of ick are sped up by higher temperatures. most treatments will kill ick on in one stage of its developement, some will kill all invertebrates (like coppersafe which i cant use because of shrimp in my tank) now scott made a very good point about salt being a good treatment in another forum dsicussion and he is right in that smaller organisms cannot adjust to fast changes very well, including a change in salinity, i have treated saltwater ick and other parasites by doing a short freshwater bath on the fish and you can watch the parasites drop off sometimes. i like to have a little salt in my aquariums because there is almost always a little salinity in most water ways. but to help treat ick say with quick cure i would take out the carbon (because it will remove the medication) turn up the heater so say 80-82 and treat as the label direct. not with the other diseases it looks like are popping up i would look them up online and try to identify them. it sound to me like either fungal or bacterial infections, and there are some broadspectrum treatments to help with those like melafix and primafix that if i recall are made from tea extracts and natural ingredients so as not to be too stressful on the fish.
        Never fear I is here
        David Abeles
        Vice President
        Greater Houston Aquarium Club

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        • #19
          Re: Ick

          Well it was definitely a long road and is still in the process of being corrected. I am guessing that when I cleaned everything, I lost the bio filter, which in turn left my fish easy targets for ick. As for the ick, I think it is either supressed or gone. Either way its under control for the most part. I am trying to get my bio filter back, so I am using bio in a bottle. I also had an ammonia spike, so I am in the process of treating with ammo lock. I have lost a total of four fish, and I am thinking another three will not fully recover. This really sucked the big one, but I guess all in all out of high twenty of fish and only going to lose maybe 7, not too bad. I will be continuing with treatments for another week or so, then I may try to get rid of some of the fish I dont care for too much and get a few to replace. I am looking to do a mostly yellow, blue, and black fish coloration, not all in the same fish of course but in a few different. Thanks again all for your help. This was my first experience with any of this and I kinda freaked. Losing fish sucks bad.
          Live Fast, Die Young, Leave A Good Looking Corpse!

          Been in hobby since March 2006

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          • #20
            Re: Ick

            Sorry to get off topic but if you still have those puffers, then you should include crustaceans(probably spelled wrong) in their diet. Feed shrimp, krill, snails, etc. to keep their teeth from over growing since their teeth never stop growing.

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            • #21
              Re: Ick

              I have been feeding them shrimp and they love it. I dont think I will ever have a problem with them eating, unless they stop eating. They are little pigs and doing great. All of this never even seemed to have phased them.
              Live Fast, Die Young, Leave A Good Looking Corpse!

              Been in hobby since March 2006

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              • #22
                Re: Ick

                Originally posted by Coop";p="
                I dont think I will ever have a problem with them eating, unless they stop eating.
                I imagine you won't!!
                Scarecrow : I haven't got a brain... only straw.
                Dorothy : How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?
                Scarecrow: I don't know... But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking... don't they?
                Dorothy: Yes, I guess you're right.

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                • #23
                  Re: Ick

                  the only time i ever knew a puffer to stop eating(and that apparently includes me on the menu, i have a nice scar) is when they are no longer breathing.
                  Never fear I is here
                  David Abeles
                  Vice President
                  Greater Houston Aquarium Club

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                  • #24
                    Re: Ick

                    Nice. I did try to feed by hand, or should I say fingers, but they just go to where the rest of the food is.
                    Live Fast, Die Young, Leave A Good Looking Corpse!

                    Been in hobby since March 2006

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                    • #25
                      Re: Ick

                      well i got bitten by a dogface puffer (may they always rott in *@#$) when i was cleaning a tank an another one of the lfs i worked at, and the darn fish bit so hard it came out of the tank still attached to my finger. IT was a 6 inch puffer!!. freshwater or brackish ones have never really given me a problem.
                      Never fear I is here
                      David Abeles
                      Vice President
                      Greater Houston Aquarium Club

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                      • #26
                        Re: Ick

                        Well it looks like my tank is back to normal. The readings have been great the last week. I am down a puffer since last posting. I will be getting rid of a few just basic african cichlids I have. I added a yellow fin borley and a rusty. Now I need to get rid of this huge pleco and get a smaller one. I also am thinking of getting rid of this convict. He just keeps picking on one fish inparticular, so I think its time for him to go. he is about 4" if anyone is interested. Also pleco is 9-10". Looking for three clown loaches and a small pleco of some sort, maybe even an algae eater. Thanks all for your help through that difficult time. Hopefully that will never happen again, or at least not for a long time.
                        Live Fast, Die Young, Leave A Good Looking Corpse!

                        Been in hobby since March 2006

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                        • #27
                          Re: Ick

                          no dont say for a long time, stick with the hoepfully never again. no one ever wants to go through a bad disease stint, just like we never want to go through a bad alge stint. but it happens to the best of us sometimes, especiallly with all the tanks and fish we sometimes get. you did well throuhg all this though good job keeping your cool and trying to save as many fish as possible. a great many people would have just given up and started over.
                          Never fear I is here
                          David Abeles
                          Vice President
                          Greater Houston Aquarium Club

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                          • #28
                            Re: Ick

                            So true, glad you stuck with it!

                            Just one thing - make sure that the new pleco you get isn't the same kind, as you'll just be trying to find him a new home again sometime down the road! But there are a lot of dwarf ones out there that can definitely hold their own.
                            "Millennium hand and shrimp!"

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