Very mysterious death

[David]

One of my most cryptic fish deaths ever: my smaller clown loach, after looking seemingly active and healthy this morning, is found dead upon my arrival home after school today. The only thing I can think of is the incredibly persistent ich infestation that has plagued my tank from the start, and I have had several unsuccessful attempts in completely wiping it out. I suppose the meds I am using may be having a harmful long term effect on my clown loaches. I now have only 1 left. Now I am faced with a grim decision... keep treating for ich and possibly kill my last clown, or terminate treatment and run the risk of my entire tank being overrun once again by ich.

To treat, or not to treat, that is the question. And a very troubling dilemma it is. What to do, what to do?

 

[Leslie]

If it is indeed Ich get yourself some Ich-X if you haven't already tried it. We use it at the LFS I help out at and I've used it at home as well with amazing results. It's a 4 day treatment with a 30% water change before the first treatment and every day during.

 

[G_Sharky]

Try raising your temp up to 30 C/ 86 F and for sure your ICH problem would go away... I used to have problems with ICH too, but eversince i kept my temp to 30 C all the time I never saw ICH again... I don't like using meds because when I first started this hobby with a 10 gallon Ich and meds killed 11 fish.... Well it's my fault for not knowing about the whole cycling thing too....lol....

 

[G_Sharky]

Ohh yeah I see that you have a Discus on that tank.... If I were you I would heat that tank up to 30 C and keep it at this temp, your Discus would do alot better.....

 

[canarsie11]

 

[David]

My tank is already at 30. I know how to cure ich, I have a med called rid-ich and it seems to work very well, but apparently some of the parasites survive and keep coming back, as there are always one or two spots on some of the fish's fins. It's really annoying. And the biggest problem is I fear they may be developing a resistance to the medicine.

 

[LoveMyOscar]

...

 

[Puffer_freak]

If you use meds (though I agree this isn't the best bet) you should use Protozin. Its really good stuff.

 

[Angry_Platy]

The biggest problem here is the clown loach and the fact that you can't use salt. I have found in the past that ich meds won't work on their own....also, the salt help the healing process from the scars left by the ich.

The other concern you have now is a solo clown loach...chances are he won't be outgoing anymore and may be under stress....this may also lead him to be more prone to ich....

You should keep treating for the ich if it is still in your tank then 2 weeks after....the higher temp will have helped as well....

Are you planning on buying more loaches after the tank recovers from this?

 

[David]

You do know that raising the temp to 30 is only speeding up the ich life cycle and not killing it. You have to do a combo of raising the temp and daily water changes to rid a tank of ich. What troubles me is why they are keeping ich. If the fish are stressed from being picked on, or poor water quality ich will show it's ugly face. It is usually not until a fish is stressed because of the reasons I listed above that they actually show the signs of ich.

What are you water params (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH)?
How often do you do water changes and how much water do you change?
Have you noticed any fish picking on the others?
Do you have fluxuations in pH or temp often?

If you can answer these questions we can get to the root of the problem and find out why you are getting ich.

Yes, thank you, I do know this. I do that because hopefully the meds will act faster and destroy the ich. Water params are stable at ammonia 0 nitrite 0 don't know nor do I care about nitrate. (Can't test for it). I do weekly water changes of 40-50%. No, I have not noticed any fish picking on others, and there are no fluctuations in pH or temp. My clown loach is, strangely enough, much more active now than he was with his little friend. Before he would always hide in his little log, and now he swims all over the place. I know that the ich was not introduced by bad water quality, it was introduced by the first two clowns I bought. And no, I am not planning on buying any more of them as they have caused me ebough grief already as it is. I don't think I want to go through the whole trauma of adding another one and watching it with my eyeballs glued to the glass for the next week to make sure it is ok. I am planning on getting some cories for this guy to school with, woudl that be okay?