Fish Help Please

Cosmic

Cosmic

Member
Youi WILL notice I said "generally" in the above statement. A stressed fish brings about a breakdown of the slime coat, which in turn leads a fish to being MORE SUCSEPTIBLE to contracting the ich parasite. I am fully aware of what and how the ich parasite works.
I made that statement due to the fact that he stated he now had RO Water and therefore improving water quality. My whole point being that the high PO4 is not the problem. Most likely it is stress induced or even temperature induced with the weather changes this time of year. Sure, any fish can contract the ich parasite, but it begins showing on the stressed fish first in almost All cases. Perfect example in case here with the blue morpho tang. Easily stressed, first to scratch. So I stand corrected on my above comment...Stress does not CAUSE ich, it GENERALLY breaks down a fish' slime coat to allow a parasite to MORE EASILY attach.

Literally yours,
Cos
 
Scooterman

Scooterman

Active Member
I agree with COS, he was directing his post based on Gumby's post as to why he is having these problems. It is very difficult to diagnose from what one types or tries to explain so providing as much information helps determine what can be the cause or problem, trouble shooting is very difficult, you just can't throw out a cure without fully understanding the problem. (This is a general statement not pointing to anyone, just acknowledging what it takes to properly help someone over the internet, without actually being there.)!
 
Craig Manoukian

Craig Manoukian

Well-Known Member
Good job everyone. Lots of good information and I would agree that ich, as with any pathogen, will attack a weaker victim first. Low lying fruit and the most bang for the buck principle. The primary purpose of the pathogen is to procreate so it will attack a healthy host if that is all that is available.

A low stress environment and Cleaner Shrimp are exxtra "vitamins or insurance" in my experience. Two years, two tangs, and no ich! Knock on wood, eh?
 
C

cheeks69

Wannabe Guru
RS STAFF
I am fully aware of what and how the ich parasite works.
Click to expand...

I am sure you know much more about this subject than I do and the only reason why I posted was I felt I should elaborate a little more on that point. Hope you didn't take that the wrong way:)



I would agree that ich, as with any pathogen, will attack a weaker victim first
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The parasite will not discriminate and will look for a host wether or not he's healthy and I agree with COS "it begins showing on the stressed fish first in almost All cases".

If you introduce this parasite to your tank unless you quarantine and treat your fish and leave your tank fallow for a minimum of 4 weeks then you'll always have an Ick problem although not always evident. JMHO
 
Xanareef

Xanareef

Member
Originally posted by Gumby
Day 3 of drugging my fish. (using Marycin and halfing the dossage so I can treat longer)
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I'm not entirely confident in halfing a dose of any medication unless it's a pain killer and you're half the size of a typical person.

If I remember correctly Marycin is an antibiotic, so what you're treating is a bacterial infection?

Halfing a medication can give the organisim causing the infection the opportunity to develop a strain of itself that's immune to the treatment.

You read or hear about this with human diseases that are commonly treated with Penicillin. Some people don't use their antibiotic for the full treatment time, or they skip doses, etc., and the bacteria mutates and is no longer treatable by penicillin and you have super infections :(

If whatever is infecting your fish develops a mutated strain after the 3'd day of treatment the rest of the treatment becomes nullified and you have a horrible organisim preying on your livestock. Overtreating with a correct dose can also lead to your livestock losing their beneficial bacteria.

I hope this makes sense to you.

Alexis

*edited for grammar, sentence structure and the way it sounded when typed :)
 
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G

Gumby

Member
Last night, all of them were swimming around which is a very good sign. The clown still twitches a little. I have yet to see the royal gramma eat, but he doesn't look like he wasting away, so I don't know what the deal is with him. The regal's red spots are almost gone.

I am out of marycin.

I am turning on my protein skimmer tonight and am adding a bag of carbon to get the green out of the water. I typically add some "cycle" (bottled good bacteria) to the water after I drug my fish.

If my fish are still sick by the end of the weekend, then I will try Marycin 2 and do this all over again.

Thanks for the concern and helping me out on this everyone.
 
G

Gumby

Member
Ich is back. Its on my Blenny's eye (poor little fat guy) and on the regal (one spot that I can see).

I'm rechecking my params this evening and will start dosing with Nox-Ich, unless anybody else has any ideas.

I really thought my tank params were real good because of the snail eggs (somewhere I read that your water has to be pristine for them to drop eggs) and the astreas doing their thing.

It would stress the fish out more if I try to remove 90+lbs of LR and chase them around to put them in a QT Tank. So I'll have to dose the whole friggin' tank.
 
Scooterman

Scooterman

Active Member
Fish Trap!

I use the one from my LFS and it works easy.

It is a box, acrylic with a sliding door with fishing line attached, I put food in it and sit back about 5ft or so. I let the door down slow after the fish goes inside.
 
G

Gumby

Member
ok,
here are my params:

SG 1.025
ph 8.3
am 0
Ni 0
Na 0

I do not have a PHosphates tester, but before I first put this thread up, my water was tested at the LFS and it was zero (or just over zero).
 
Scooterman

Scooterman

Active Member
Ok what is NOX ICk, what is it made of & how will it effect your aquarium? Wal-mart has these 10g tanks cheap you could treat them with but then you still need to wait long enough to let the ICK die off in your main tank, I also hear a UV helps, may even rid you tank of it completely once your fish are healthy again but at this point with LR in your tank I'd be scared to add anything that the porous rocks can absorb. Read the articles posted by cheeks, if not already, by them maybe someone like Cos can post in again, maybe shoot him a PM, before doing anything, I agree at this point more actions are needed, if you treat these fish & rid your tank, we need to make sure that something else isn't causing stress, your Prams look good though, so I'll ask, you some questions you may be tired of hearing. One Test kits, how old are they & what name brand? How is your water temperature, is it raising up and down every day, have you been checking it day and night randomly and often? How are the fish getting alone, any chasing the others wildly? Sorry just trying to help, I know I may seem repeating here but I do want you to get through this successfully.
 
G

Gumby

Member
Today, nothing on the blennys eye, its not even cloudy. Regal looks clean. BLenny looks to be breathing a little hard (but he has done that since day one).

I don't know what to do at this point.

Nox Ich come in a botttle, it say reefs reef safe, approx 2oz of liquid per (I think) 50g. You dose the tank every 4 days. I'll probably head to the LFS tonight and I will get the actaul chemical that is being used to combat the ich.
 
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