Secondary Infection

[Radar]

Do you treat your fish for a secondary infection after you have treated for Ich? I am useing salt and heat to treat the ich. The guy at the pet store said I should treat for it.:confused: If you do treat for it , What do you use?
And do you wait till the ich salt treatment is over and are doing water changes to get the salt out , or do you treat for secondary infection while all the salt is in the tank?:help: And what does he mean when he says secondary infection? I did not understand him.

[Nolapete]

When the fish's resistance is low they are susceptible to bacterial infections or fungus on any cuts. I just add Stress Coat and watch them carefully. For bacteria/fungus I like to use Pimafix and Melafix together. I'd do a water change before using any meds and adjust the temp according to the directions on whatever med you choose.

[Radar]

O.K. thank's , I'll try the stress coat first. and if I notice any more problems I will try the Primafix & Melafix. Does either one of those discolour your water or stain?

[Nolapete]

Nope, they don't stain or discolor. You'll just have the fragrance of mellaluca coming from your tank. LOL.

[Radar]

Great, THANKS. I used Rid-Ich once on my 29 gallon for ich and it turned my seals blue and a real pretty white rock i had blued. So I try not to do that any more.

[ct-death]

I'm not sure what the reference to
what does he mean when he says secondary infection? I did not understand him. means, but Nolapete is right. A fish recovering from an illness and any fish placed through a treatment will be stressed and will be more susceptable to other ailments.

However, if I may, I would caution against 1st) treating for 2 things at once, and 2nd) treating for something that may not exist. Why stress the fish further by double medicating and/or treating for a what-if?

Is it true that stressed fish will be more susceptable, but the slat treatment to rid Ich is a very powerful tool that is extremely affective towards many ailments particularily parasitic.

At this point the best thing that you can offer your fish and 'community' would be to maintain an environment as healthy as one can establish through frequent water changes (WCs). Extra Stress-Coat is a great suggestion BTW!!! ;)

Pimafex and Melafex are aids to help fish heal external scrapes and cuts. If there is no physical signs of an injury, or a bacterial infection why add more "stuff" into your tank's environment.

Also, be sure to remove the salt in the tank slowly for de-acclimating your fish from the high concentrations.

After 5 days of no Ich, I generally lower the concentration by doing 15-20% WCs daily for a week, then I go back on my weekly routine (40-50% per week). This also ensures great water quality.

Just my 2 cents worth...

[severum mama]

I agree, except that I would leave the heat up for 2 weeks after you see the last signs of ich, just to be sure. I wouldn't treat for any infections that the fish don't have. While I agree that their disease resistance is compromised as a result of the ich, it it likely IMO that regular water changes (clean water) should be enough to prevent secondary infections. I think the LFS guy just wanted to sell you more stuff. Melafix/Pimafix are very mild medications and won't harm anything as a result of adding them, but I'd save the money if there isn't a specific reason to add meds.

Are your fish showing any signs of secondary infection?

[Star_Rider]

:iagree: :iagree: :iagree:
I will add..if you do see signs of secondary infections treat them accordingly.
if you don't ..then keep the water clean.
pimafix and melafix are mild. they probably won't hurt anything but your pocketbook.

[cmartin]

I just went through a battle with Ich as well. No secondary infections afterward.
Just keep the water the best you possibly can and give the fish a chance to recover.

[jm1212]

treating diseases is stressful for the fish, and the last thing you want is to switch medications all of a sudden to treat something that they "might" get. adding stress coat though, will help a bit.

[Radar]

The only other signs of anything wrong is my 2 white angels seem to have a milky colour at the end of there fins.
Now I did a 30% water change today and cleaned the gravel and replaced the salt that was taken out with the water change and added stress coat.
But my water is not clearing up as it usually does it is kinda cloudy. My water is checking out great Ammo 0 NitrIte 0 NitrAte 10. Could it be the salt that it is cloudy? I am useing pickleing salt at 2 teaspoons a gallon. And also I can not get my temp to 86, 82 is as high as it will go. I have it turned all the way as high as it will go .Will 82 do the trick of killing ich or is it time to buy a bigger heater tommorow? This is a 55 gallon tank that I just seeded 3 weeks ago from my 29 gallon. The heater came with it 200 Watts. How big of a heater do I need? I even stuck a little spare heater in there last night and still can not get above 82.