Ich Treatment Disaster
It's been an absolute disaster with this latest round of heat and salt treatment for a major and devastating ich outbreak in my tetra tank. I've lost half the fish.
The two emperor tetras who infected the tank were the first to die. Then tetras started dropping like flies. I'm down to 7 or 8 neons -- all of the cardinals are dead -- and 5 black neons. My clown loach also didn't make it.
This was an extreme outbreak of Ich. It was strange, too. At the outset it was absolutely ich then it seemed to change to velvet, which is smaller white spots which cover almost every part of the fish.
I was out of aquarium salt so I used a combination of epsom salts and kosher salt. Both salts have been recommended NUMEROUS times by aquarists who have successfully treated their tanks, often not losing a single fish.
I may have overdosed as I really added a lot of salt over the period of three days because the infestation was so terrible.
The heat was minimal, only 86-87, which the fish could absolutely take.
What's interesting, aside from the clown loach which is regarded as a "scale less" fish, my fish from south Asia, the gourami and danios, have not appeared to contact ich or velvet and have been untouched. This is pretty amazing as the gourami has eaten probably 5 dead tetras due to the rapid metabolism boost from the raised temperature.
Good news is things have appeared to stablize. I haven't lost any more fish in the last 12 hours. Two days ago I also did a 30 percent water change to reduce the salinity volume.
I'm planning to take the surviving tetras -- I'm wagering on 7-8 -- and making a "work" tank near my computer desk, dusting off the dormant 3 gallon eclipse and setting that up again.
I don't know what I'll do with the gourami and danios yet. But with the 29 gallon I want to remove the driftwood and turn it full brackish and get back into the puffer world again.
- Josh
PS: If you'd like to make me feel better, check out my site at http://joshday.com and take a look at my how-to guide on starting your fish saltwater aquarium. It would make my day if you bought a copy! :)
The two emperor tetras who infected the tank were the first to die. Then tetras started dropping like flies. I'm down to 7 or 8 neons -- all of the cardinals are dead -- and 5 black neons. My clown loach also didn't make it.
This was an extreme outbreak of Ich. It was strange, too. At the outset it was absolutely ich then it seemed to change to velvet, which is smaller white spots which cover almost every part of the fish.
I was out of aquarium salt so I used a combination of epsom salts and kosher salt. Both salts have been recommended NUMEROUS times by aquarists who have successfully treated their tanks, often not losing a single fish.
I may have overdosed as I really added a lot of salt over the period of three days because the infestation was so terrible.
The heat was minimal, only 86-87, which the fish could absolutely take.
What's interesting, aside from the clown loach which is regarded as a "scale less" fish, my fish from south Asia, the gourami and danios, have not appeared to contact ich or velvet and have been untouched. This is pretty amazing as the gourami has eaten probably 5 dead tetras due to the rapid metabolism boost from the raised temperature.
Good news is things have appeared to stablize. I haven't lost any more fish in the last 12 hours. Two days ago I also did a 30 percent water change to reduce the salinity volume.
I'm planning to take the surviving tetras -- I'm wagering on 7-8 -- and making a "work" tank near my computer desk, dusting off the dormant 3 gallon eclipse and setting that up again.
I don't know what I'll do with the gourami and danios yet. But with the 29 gallon I want to remove the driftwood and turn it full brackish and get back into the puffer world again.
- Josh
PS: If you'd like to make me feel better, check out my site at http://joshday.com and take a look at my how-to guide on starting your fish saltwater aquarium. It would make my day if you bought a copy! :)
posted by Josh Day at 10:49 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home