Disease Chiclid

Jpc749

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I have had a 60 gallon tank of Chiclids for about 10 years. I recently had two of them come down with a slime and what appears to maybe be Ick. I also noticed an increase in Algea growth on the decorations is this hurting my fish or is the Algea ok. I have used a dose of super ick cure and raised the temp to 82 degrees it's been 3 days and I have noticed a slight increase. I just did a 25 percent water change and added some salt. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I also posted a few pictures... Thanks for any and all help
 

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it is not ich or the photo isnt clear. treat in hospital tank with something else but im not sure what
 
It's excess mucous caused by poor water quality, a dirty tank or something in the water irritating the fish.

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Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for 2 weeks. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Stop adding chemicals, but do add some salt if there is no improvement after a couple of water changes and gravel cleans.

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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

When you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

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Take the ornament outside and hose it off. Then put it in a bucket of bleach and leave it to soak for 30 minutes. Remove the ornament from the bleach and rinse it off really well under tap water. Soak item in a bucket of tap water for 24 hours and then rinse off again. Put item back in tank.
 
It's excess mucous caused by poor water quality, a dirty tank or something in the water irritating the fish.

------------------
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for 2 weeks. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Stop adding chemicals, but do add some salt if there is no improvement after a couple of water changes and gravel cleans.

------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

When you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

------------------
Take the ornament outside and hose it off. Then put it in a bucket of bleach and leave it to soak for 30 minutes. Remove the ornament from the bleach and rinse it off really well under tap water. Soak item in a bucket of tap water for 24 hours and then rinse off again. Put item back in tank.
Wow unbelievable thank you so much in 12 hours it's off the fish they are much healthier.. I have a question so I normally do a 50% change of water in a gravel vacuum once a month and I change the four filter cartridges as I have two 75 filters in my tank which has 10 cichlids all of which are big in the 60 gallon tank. based on the amount of fish in the problems I've been having do you recommend that I do a 50% water change every two weeks with a gravel vac instead of one every 30 days to eliminate the chance of bad water Any help would be greatly appreciated Thanks again for the information you provided me
 
Thats great to hear :) If a water change has made such a big change so quickly I would say there is something up in the tank, the fact you have had an algae bloom is interesting too. Brush and hair algae can be to do with the levels of Co2 and Oxygen in the water as well as using excess nutrients that can come from decaying organic matter such as dead fish, plants, poop, dirty filters etc.

What are the 10 cichlids you have in there? I can see in the pics your Midas and a Convict? Are they all 10 years old or have you added over that time? It could be that the mass of growing fish has reached its limits in this sized tank.

I'd like to see you doing 50% water changes with gravel vacs each week and maintaining your filter once a month, you dont need to replace the cartridges you can just rinse them in old tank water when you do the water changes.

Did the current issue flare up around the time you changed the filter cartridges? I'm wondering if you inadverantly removed too much bacteria when you cleaned the filter?

Wills
 
Thats great to hear :) If a water change has made such a big change so quickly I would say there is something up in the tank, the fact you have had an algae bloom is interesting too. Brush and hair algae can be to do with the levels of Co2 and Oxygen in the water as well as using excess nutrients that can come from decaying organic matter such as dead fish, plants, poop, dirty filters etc.

What are the 10 cichlids you have in there? I can see in the pics your Midas and a Convict? Are they all 10 years old or have you added over that time? It could be that the mass of growing fish has reached its limits in this sized tank.

I'd like to see you doing 50% water changes with gravel vacs each week and maintaining your filter once a month, you dont need to replace the cartridges you can just rinse them in old tank water when you do the water changes.

Did the current issue flare up around the time you changed the filter cartridges? I'm wondering if you inadverantly removed too much bacteria when you cleaned the filter?

Wills
Such great information thank you This is the second time it's happened in the past 60 days with this flare up on the fish I'm not sure what it is to be honest with you I've had a few of the cichlids for many many years and every so often I add new fish but I've always made sure I had extra filtration in the tank hence the two 75 filters so it wouldn't be an issue I don't plan on adding any new fish and what I'll do is for the time being do a 50% water change every two weeks and a gravel vac at the same time and see how the fish do with that again thank you for everything I appreciate all your help
 
Such great information thank you This is the second time it's happened in the past 60 days with this flare up on the fish I'm not sure what it is to be honest with you I've had a few of the cichlids for many many years and every so often I add new fish but I've always made sure I had extra filtration in the tank hence the two 75 filters so it wouldn't be an issue I don't plan on adding any new fish and what I'll do is for the time being do a 50% water change every two weeks and a gravel vac at the same time and see how the fish do with that again thank you for everything I appreciate all your help
What fish do you have in there? Is it just the 10 cichlids or are there any others? Catfish, Schoolers etc?

Wills
 
I would do a 50% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for the next week, then do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once a week.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

The reason for more water changes is to clean the tank conditions up and dilute any disease organisms in the water. A 50% water change and gravel clean each day for a week should get the tank into a nice clean state. Then a 75% water change and gravel clean each week should help it stay clean.

Older fish are more prone to health issues and will be the first to show symptoms if the tank is not clean or there is a water quality problem. Doing more frequent water changes and gravel cleaning will help them live long healthy lives.

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As mentioned by Wills, you don't want to replace filter media/ materials unless they start to break down. If you have filter pads/ cartridges, you can replace them with sponges that last for years.

Filters should be cleaned once a month and every couple of weeks is better. If you have 2 filters, you could clean one each fortnight.

When you clean the filters, wash the filter media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the lawn/ garden.
Wash the filter case and impellor assembly under tap water. Reassemble the filter and get it running again.
 
What fish do you have in there? Is it just the 10 cichlids or are there any others? Catfish, Schoolers etc?

Wills
I have 2 convicts as well plus a cat fish who's about 4 inches long
 

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I have three Oscars total The baby Oscar and the baby yellow one that you see on the bottom was added about 40 days ago to the tank
 
Cool so I can see in the pics

2 x Oscars, 1 Gold Severum, 2x Midas, 1 Jack Dempsey then if we add an other Oscar and 2 Convicts in there that gets us to 9? Do you know what number 10 would be? Is the 4 inch catfish a pleco?

Wills
 
Do you know what your water parameters are? I'd ideally like to know your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels as (and I hate to say it) but you are over stocked with a lot of very high polluting fish. A lot of your fish should outgrow a 60 gallon too as 6-7 of the fish are capable of growing to a foot long. How old are the fish we can see like the Oscars and Severum? Do you ever have aggression issues?

I would suspect that the health issues are being caused by high nitrates which Colins plan above will help fix in the short term but without getting a bigger tank or having less fish you will struggle to keep it at a safe level and avoid this sort of issue in the future.

Wills
 
Do you think if I start doing bi weekly cleanings I will see a difference I haven't had my water tested in forever.....
 
Water changes should be a least once a week and with the fish you have, large water changes. The gravel should be cleaned at every water change.

I change the four filter cartridges
Is there anything else in the filter besides the cartridges? Throwing away filter media means throwing away the bacteria that remove ammonia and nitrite. If there's other media besides the cartridges, they'll soon make up the loss, but if the cartridges are the only media it will take much longer to make up the numbers.
 

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