Syphoniera
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Thanks to andywg's posting (thread:
http
/www.fishforums.net/index.php?act=Po...mp;qpid=2196759
I was able to sort out what the peculiar, large white spots - much too big to be ich - on some Harlequins and other fish bought over the past year, had most likely been been.
It worried me sick - and it recurred.
Others had also been also curious and concerned over similar problems occurring on fish they'd bought.
When you're not sure exactly what a problem is, medicating becomes a whole lot trickier - and nobody seemed to have any ideas on this at the time.
And since the problem is likely to continue to spread further, I've taken the liberty of trying to draw this to general attention.
For any others with fish suffering from this, now or in the past:
(bless you, Andy)
http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml
... Though they all follow the same life-pattern, there are countless strains of Ich, some harder to kill, some more virulent. Bad news comes in from all over: Ich has traditionally succumbed at temperatures over 85oF, but in the 1990s new Florida "strains" were reported that could survive temperatures as high as 90o, which might overstress most tropical fish. In Oklahoma, university researchers studied a closely-related ciliate, identified as a "strain of Ich," in which the reproducing stage doesn't drop away but remains under the fishes' epidermis and releases the tomites from that secure position. This is a one-shot deal for the trophont, which dies in the process. The free-swimming tomites/theronts are still the only stage vulnerable to medication. In this close relation of Ich, the lesions are larger, looking like carp pox, flattened and waxy appearing. (There is more at www.koivet.com ) ...
http/www.koivet.com/koivet/index.php?opt...s&Itemid=43
... Ich rapidly kills smaller tropicals and goldfish, while often sparing the larger varieties (fish such as Oscars and Koi). Damage to the gills is the primary way it kills, but damage to the skin with secondary bacterial infection may also figure prominently.
Its life cycle is roughly 2-5 days, but can be longer (5+ weeks!) if the water is cool, much shorter if the water is warmer. There is the old rumor that warm water eradicates it. This is substantially true when temperatures exceed 85 degrees, however; there are strains coming out of Florida and detailed by researchers at University of Florida that can survive and thrive up to NINETY degrees or more! Recall that many of our bread and butter species of tropicals come from Florida, and so may harbor this heat tolerant strain.
The parasite has a phase that encysts in the epidermis of the fish as previously stated (called a theront). It matures under the skin and finally drops off, falling to the bottom (becoming a trophont) to divide into numerous (hundreds) of tiny swarmers (tomites) that actively seek out a host on which to encyst and renew the cycle of infection. Because an important phase of its life cycle occurs on the bottom of the aquarium, it is for this reason that you can help limit infections with water changes made by siphoning the gravel, removing those dividing Ich packets.
Interestingly, some research at Oklahoma has revealed a strain of Ich that does not have to leave the fish and whose Ich packet (trophozoite) remains under the epidermis (safe from medications) and the tomites swarm out under the epidermis. The lesions look much like Carp Pox lesions, being large, flattened, and waxy looking. This parasite is harder to clear because it is the free swimming tomite that we can kill with medicaments.
Prevention is attended at the wholesale level by the maintenance of a 0.3% salt solution which crenates (kills) the emerging tomites. We do not recommend that you as a hobbyist maintain this salt level all the time because live plants can be killed by this, and all species of fish are NOT universally tolerant of this. Still, many have found that salt is a very effective annihilator of Ich infections if normal precautions are observed.
There are numerous reasons to reach for salt, first, for Ich.
1) It does not harm the majority of fish species.
2) It does not push sick fish 'over the edge.'
3) It eliminates, QUICKLY, most of the serious pathogens of tropicals.
4) It does not get bound out of the system by organics or sunlight.
5) It does not pose a health risk to humans contacting it.
6) It is CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP.
7) It WON'T harm your filter if administered in divided doses.
To recap my points, here's the nuts and bolts of Salting Ich..
1. Remove valued live plants.
2. Raise temperature to 80 degrees, tops.
3. Increase aeration!
4. Add one teaspoon of salt per gallon.
5. Twelve hours later, add another one teaspoon of salt per gallon.
6. Twelve hours later, add another one teaspoon of salt per gallon.
7. Within 48-60 hours of the second salt dose at 80 degrees, the Ich will be gone.
8. Leave salt in the water for another 3-5 days unless you're worried about your live plants.
9. Remove salt via partial waterchanges. (30-40% at a time if desired)
(And, something that pertains to us all, regarding resistant strains: )
http/www.koivet.com/koivet/index.php?opt...s&Itemid=43
...
Salt resistance has arisen in the following parasites:
Flukes - 20% of cases are completely resistant to salt treatments at any level. Most cases are cleared at zero-point-nine-percent but less than thirty percent still clear off at the old zero-point- three-percent standby level.
Trichodina - 20% of Trichodina cases do not clear at even zero-point-six-percent. There are rare cases where trichodina does not clear even at zero-point-nine-percent which is also stressful to the fish. Formalin or potassium permanganate are recommended.
Chilodonella and Ich have never been recorded as being salt resistant in the least bit.
Costia has shown some resistance and it is part of the reason for this article.
Some outbreaks of Costia have been known to be salt resistant for at least two years. I saw my first case of salt resistant Costia in late 1996 on some Japanese imports straight from Los Angeles California. The Costia resisted zero-point-nine-percent stiff salt solutions and finally required Formalin for clearance, which works extremely well.
Costia is responsible for a lot of the recent fish mortalities we've seen after Japanese style shows.
There are several reasons for this, which I wanted to discuss here.
Costia resists drying. Empty tanks, nets, even dried nets and hoses, can transmit infective Costia from one group of fish to another. Folks are not very cautious about nets and bowls. A retail facility that does not rinse or disinfect their nets and bowls between tanks is capable of infecting every fish they sell, whether they originate in infected tanks or not. ...
(And I recall seeing somewhere a statement that ich may sometimes appear to be filled with bubbles, and wonder if it could actually be something like this: )
http/www.koivet.com/koivet/index.php?opt...s&Itemid=43
Chilodonella
Written by Dr Erik Johnson
Thursday, 03 April 2008 19:21
Chilodonella - "Killer Don" as referred originally by Dr. Jack Gratzek - this is the one that kills so many fish so fast in the Springtime. Treats easily with, salt. I have never seen an exception. Clears almost overnight, so salting save the lot of fish. Salt levels of 0.3% tend to be quickly curative. I'd recommend looking at the salt article in order to "do it right."
Chilodinella is one of the hottest fish killers there is. Under the scope you may see a heartshaped organism, or a large round organism full of tiny bubbles. Alive, the Chilodinella resembles a heart shaped onion, with a fuzzy end where you could imagine the onions roots would be. These are actually cilia. Dead, Chilodinella are motionless round balls full of tiny bubbles. They may resemble Ich but they do not have a crescent nucleus nor do they move in their dead, rounded state.
Chilodinella clears EASILY with salt. Leave the salt in for 14 days, and be sure to supplement aeration, as gill damage d/t Chilodinella may be severe in the survivors. Chilodinella should be suspected anytime large numbers of fish are dying on the surface, or who roll over on their sides except when disturbed, the Koi dash madly.
And as a number of aquarium fish are apparently pond/outdoor tub-raised, we dare not dismiss even those parasites requiring vectors (such as wading birds, etc.) not typically present in home aquaria.
http/edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/FA/FA04100.pdf
Maybe everyone else already knows all this by now, but it seemed of great interest to me.
Since the Harley's (and other affected fish bought from the same place) are still suffering blackened fins, they are still undergoing various treatments for this, at the moment Jungle Fungus Clear, which I finally obtained - and a large white thing is again becoming apparent on ones twitchy and obviously itchy tail...
http
/www.fishforums.net/index.php?act=Po...mp;qpid=2196759I was able to sort out what the peculiar, large white spots - much too big to be ich - on some Harlequins and other fish bought over the past year, had most likely been been.
It worried me sick - and it recurred.
Others had also been also curious and concerned over similar problems occurring on fish they'd bought.
When you're not sure exactly what a problem is, medicating becomes a whole lot trickier - and nobody seemed to have any ideas on this at the time.
And since the problem is likely to continue to spread further, I've taken the liberty of trying to draw this to general attention.
For any others with fish suffering from this, now or in the past:
(bless you, Andy)
http
/www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml... Though they all follow the same life-pattern, there are countless strains of Ich, some harder to kill, some more virulent. Bad news comes in from all over: Ich has traditionally succumbed at temperatures over 85oF, but in the 1990s new Florida "strains" were reported that could survive temperatures as high as 90o, which might overstress most tropical fish. In Oklahoma, university researchers studied a closely-related ciliate, identified as a "strain of Ich," in which the reproducing stage doesn't drop away but remains under the fishes' epidermis and releases the tomites from that secure position. This is a one-shot deal for the trophont, which dies in the process. The free-swimming tomites/theronts are still the only stage vulnerable to medication. In this close relation of Ich, the lesions are larger, looking like carp pox, flattened and waxy appearing. (There is more at www.koivet.com ) ...
http
/www.koivet.com/koivet/index.php?opt...s&Itemid=43... Ich rapidly kills smaller tropicals and goldfish, while often sparing the larger varieties (fish such as Oscars and Koi). Damage to the gills is the primary way it kills, but damage to the skin with secondary bacterial infection may also figure prominently.
Its life cycle is roughly 2-5 days, but can be longer (5+ weeks!) if the water is cool, much shorter if the water is warmer. There is the old rumor that warm water eradicates it. This is substantially true when temperatures exceed 85 degrees, however; there are strains coming out of Florida and detailed by researchers at University of Florida that can survive and thrive up to NINETY degrees or more! Recall that many of our bread and butter species of tropicals come from Florida, and so may harbor this heat tolerant strain.
The parasite has a phase that encysts in the epidermis of the fish as previously stated (called a theront). It matures under the skin and finally drops off, falling to the bottom (becoming a trophont) to divide into numerous (hundreds) of tiny swarmers (tomites) that actively seek out a host on which to encyst and renew the cycle of infection. Because an important phase of its life cycle occurs on the bottom of the aquarium, it is for this reason that you can help limit infections with water changes made by siphoning the gravel, removing those dividing Ich packets.
Interestingly, some research at Oklahoma has revealed a strain of Ich that does not have to leave the fish and whose Ich packet (trophozoite) remains under the epidermis (safe from medications) and the tomites swarm out under the epidermis. The lesions look much like Carp Pox lesions, being large, flattened, and waxy looking. This parasite is harder to clear because it is the free swimming tomite that we can kill with medicaments.
Prevention is attended at the wholesale level by the maintenance of a 0.3% salt solution which crenates (kills) the emerging tomites. We do not recommend that you as a hobbyist maintain this salt level all the time because live plants can be killed by this, and all species of fish are NOT universally tolerant of this. Still, many have found that salt is a very effective annihilator of Ich infections if normal precautions are observed.
There are numerous reasons to reach for salt, first, for Ich.
1) It does not harm the majority of fish species.
2) It does not push sick fish 'over the edge.'
3) It eliminates, QUICKLY, most of the serious pathogens of tropicals.
4) It does not get bound out of the system by organics or sunlight.
5) It does not pose a health risk to humans contacting it.
6) It is CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP.
7) It WON'T harm your filter if administered in divided doses.
To recap my points, here's the nuts and bolts of Salting Ich..
1. Remove valued live plants.
2. Raise temperature to 80 degrees, tops.
3. Increase aeration!
4. Add one teaspoon of salt per gallon.
5. Twelve hours later, add another one teaspoon of salt per gallon.
6. Twelve hours later, add another one teaspoon of salt per gallon.
7. Within 48-60 hours of the second salt dose at 80 degrees, the Ich will be gone.
8. Leave salt in the water for another 3-5 days unless you're worried about your live plants.
9. Remove salt via partial waterchanges. (30-40% at a time if desired)
(And, something that pertains to us all, regarding resistant strains: )
http
/www.koivet.com/koivet/index.php?opt...s&Itemid=43...
Salt resistance has arisen in the following parasites:
Flukes - 20% of cases are completely resistant to salt treatments at any level. Most cases are cleared at zero-point-nine-percent but less than thirty percent still clear off at the old zero-point- three-percent standby level.
Trichodina - 20% of Trichodina cases do not clear at even zero-point-six-percent. There are rare cases where trichodina does not clear even at zero-point-nine-percent which is also stressful to the fish. Formalin or potassium permanganate are recommended.
Chilodonella and Ich have never been recorded as being salt resistant in the least bit.
Costia has shown some resistance and it is part of the reason for this article.
Some outbreaks of Costia have been known to be salt resistant for at least two years. I saw my first case of salt resistant Costia in late 1996 on some Japanese imports straight from Los Angeles California. The Costia resisted zero-point-nine-percent stiff salt solutions and finally required Formalin for clearance, which works extremely well.
Costia is responsible for a lot of the recent fish mortalities we've seen after Japanese style shows.
There are several reasons for this, which I wanted to discuss here.
Costia resists drying. Empty tanks, nets, even dried nets and hoses, can transmit infective Costia from one group of fish to another. Folks are not very cautious about nets and bowls. A retail facility that does not rinse or disinfect their nets and bowls between tanks is capable of infecting every fish they sell, whether they originate in infected tanks or not. ...
(And I recall seeing somewhere a statement that ich may sometimes appear to be filled with bubbles, and wonder if it could actually be something like this: )
http
/www.koivet.com/koivet/index.php?opt...s&Itemid=43Chilodonella
Written by Dr Erik Johnson
Thursday, 03 April 2008 19:21
Chilodonella - "Killer Don" as referred originally by Dr. Jack Gratzek - this is the one that kills so many fish so fast in the Springtime. Treats easily with, salt. I have never seen an exception. Clears almost overnight, so salting save the lot of fish. Salt levels of 0.3% tend to be quickly curative. I'd recommend looking at the salt article in order to "do it right."
Chilodinella is one of the hottest fish killers there is. Under the scope you may see a heartshaped organism, or a large round organism full of tiny bubbles. Alive, the Chilodinella resembles a heart shaped onion, with a fuzzy end where you could imagine the onions roots would be. These are actually cilia. Dead, Chilodinella are motionless round balls full of tiny bubbles. They may resemble Ich but they do not have a crescent nucleus nor do they move in their dead, rounded state.
Chilodinella clears EASILY with salt. Leave the salt in for 14 days, and be sure to supplement aeration, as gill damage d/t Chilodinella may be severe in the survivors. Chilodinella should be suspected anytime large numbers of fish are dying on the surface, or who roll over on their sides except when disturbed, the Koi dash madly.
And as a number of aquarium fish are apparently pond/outdoor tub-raised, we dare not dismiss even those parasites requiring vectors (such as wading birds, etc.) not typically present in home aquaria.
http
/edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/FA/FA04100.pdfMaybe everyone else already knows all this by now, but it seemed of great interest to me.
Since the Harley's (and other affected fish bought from the same place) are still suffering blackened fins, they are still undergoing various treatments for this, at the moment Jungle Fungus Clear, which I finally obtained - and a large white thing is again becoming apparent on ones twitchy and obviously itchy tail...
