Help with Diagnosis and Treatment

[Shay]

I don't know my water parameters. Yeah, I'm an idiot and haven't tested my water. I have one fish with many white spots all over his body and maybe one other with the same, but fewer and only around the fins and head. The infected fish are lathargic, fins are somewhat clamped, the signs of general discomfort. They are eating.

I had recently begun doing small water chages daily. A bit less than half a gallon each time. I am currently using aquarium salt, not a lot though. The tank is a ten gallon, well planted with fake plants. I have nine Platies in all and that's it. They are new additions. Just a few weeks old and I already lost one to an open wound and fungus. Yes, I know my tank is somewhat crowded with nine Platies.

I was desperate, so I added a Maracyn tablet recently. I just now looked and the product expired two months ago. Uggg.

I don't seem to have any luck with my fish. Oh and the temperature is most often just under eighty degrees. Can anyone help me and let me know what I need to do? Soon. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Tolak]

First a few questions. How long has the tank been running, and what type of filtration do you have? The white spots are more than likely ich, pick up some rid-ich or a similar medication. Your temp is fine, but you could be doing larger water changes than that, just be sure to use a dechlorinater if you have city water. If you have your own well with well water this is not necessary. 50% water changes daily with water that is the same temp, plus some ich meds is the way to go.

Tolak

 

[Shay]

The tank has been running . . . I think three weeks before I put the fish in. I didn't want to get the fish so quickly, but the order came in earlier than expected. I use a bio-wheel filteration with carbon filters.

Could well water be to blame for them getting the ich in the first place? That's what I have, but I use Start Right anyway for the stress coat and everything.

Oh boy. I don't have the buckets for doing 50% water changes at the moment. Where do you get the five gallon buckets? Would walmart have them?

Can the fish wait until tomorrow? It's Sunday (everything happens on the weekend since the nearby stores are closed). Thank you so much for answering. I really appreciate it.

 

[Shay]

Are fifty percent water changes daily not a little too much? And am I supposed to or not supposed to disturb the gravel? If I do disturb the gravel, will it cause a bacterial bloom or something?

 

[leanne]

50% Would be too much for routine water changes but if you are having problems anyway it isn't going to harm them. I used to do 50% changes every week and it didn't stress them out - I thought this was better as the water was always fresh. But then with experience I found that it didn't need this much. Now I do 20% every fortnight. Half a gallon though really isn't enough to make any impact on anything.

As for not disturbing the gravel - do you have an under gravel filter? If so I wouldn't recommend the following quite so often as the beneficial bacteria are found in the gravel. If you have a canister filter you should be vacuuming the gravel at least once a fortnight to remove debris (poo).

The setup I have is I have 2 canister filers. I 20% water change every fortnight and when I do this I run the gravel cleaner syphon over the gravel to remove dirt. I then rinse one of the filter sponges in the watse water - this preserves the bacteria in the other filter. I then use the water to water my plants!

 

[Shay]

I don't have an undergravel filter. What do you use to vacuum the gravel? I have a Pulsar Hydro-clean gravel cleaner. It says to do quick up and down motion to get it pumping, but I had no luck with that. I couldn't get it going.


Back to the topic of the fish. I lost the one that was seriously inected. I have another that's headed in that direction. Tomorrow at ten am is the soonest I can get Rid Ich or another product. I just hope they last that long.

Are Platies and Betta and other tropical fish normally this hard to keep alive or is it something I'm doing/not doing? Thanks again.

 

[Shay]

Another question. Can I reuse the same charcoal filter after treating for ich or do I need to use a new one?

 

[jams.alaskan]

Get rid of the charcoal before you add the meds, otherwise they will stip the meds right out of your water before they have a chance to work. To get your gravel vac to work you can submerse the whole thing, tube and all in your tank and then keeping the vac part underwater you place your finger over the end of the spill tube and keep it there until it is lower then the tank in the bucket you are going to use for the waster water.
You can buy a large bucket at any building supply store like Home Depot.
Platties are usually a pretty tough fish but they succump to ich like most fish when their conditions are not good.
Best of luck with the ich. There are some great topics on this on these forums and I think some of them are pinned - do a search for some great information.

ALASKA

 

[Shay]

Okay, thank you. I thought my water conditions were good. I guess not.

 

[Shay]

Well, a couple more have died. I'm wondering if it's the meds. I'm using Ick Away.

Anyway I forgot to mention a symptom. They are doing an exaggerated swimming motion, kind of swimming in place. Does this have anything to do with Ick?

 

[Shay]

bump

 

[leanne]

Aw naughty. Sorry can't help you. My ich was in fact just stuck on sand... If your product isn't working try another. JBL do a good one...

 

[tstenback]

The swimming in place is called shimmy and can be brought on by disease, stress or poor tank conditions. So yes it could be related to the disease and it is very common in livebearers as a way to handle the stress of any of the above conditions.

 

[barbiya]

Hi Shay, I'm sorry about all the problems you're having.

I don't know hom many fish you have left now, I hope some will make it. Did you add all 9 at once? I read that it's a 10 gallon, had been set up for 3 weeks before the fish were in. Had you been trying to cycle the tank (with ammonia) prior to putting the fish in? It sure sounds like ammonia or nitrite spike to me. The ick is probably secondary to the water conditions.

I would change out about 3 inches of water daily for awhile, and try to get some test kits for ammonia and nitrite/nitrate soon! It will really help to know what your water parameters are. (I used to use clean, gallon milk jugs for water changes, before I got my bigger jugs.)

The same thing happened to me, after adding too many fish to my 10 gallon. I lost 3 fish, but the upside is, I found this site! Since I've learned about the Nitrogen cycle, it's made my fish and me much happier!

Good luck!

 

[Shay]

Down to four. I didn't try any cycling. I hadn't intended on getting ten fish at once. I'm doing the water changes now but no change.