View Full Version : Newbie Fish problem!
Hi everyone, I have a 55 gal setup that did contain 2 baby red oscars a beta and a kissing fish and I think it' called a ghost eel? I think my beta ( the newest memeber ) came into my tank with ick :sad , treated the tank at first sign with Ick Guard 2, the Fishstore man said that was the stuff to get because of the eel. he said to pull the carbon from the filters get lots of air going, get the temp up to about 80-82f and treat, wait 24 hours and treat again if nothing looks better, well my beta died :: moment of silence :: within that 24 hours. So I retreated this am, Up to tonight everything looked and seemed okay until I noticed both my baby Oscars are covered in spots!! they are still swimming and eating just fine..I am at a loss, should I do a 50% change tomorrow am Stat and treat again? should I try something else other then Ick Guard? :confused: :confused:
Thanks everyone =)
Nuriel
10-19-2004, 11:36 PM
when i have suffered ick i have used coppersafe. Of course, you have already been treating with what I suppose is the safest treatment for your eel. I would add a teaspoon of salt every couple hours - one teaspoon per gallon-?(i would read up more on using salt to treat ick- btw, are the spots gold like or are they more grainy?),and turn up the heat to 86degrees. Also, check out the search on this site, you can find alot of good info....good luck!
btw, are the spots gold like or are they more grainy?
Grainy, Looks like they where sprinkled with salt.
macman7010
10-20-2004, 9:32 AM
Well you are defenantly a beginner. First, keeping a betta with oscars is just a bad idea. Oscars are somewhat aggresive cichlids, and that betta would have been toast in no time. On your ick situation! First off Ick Guard 2 is what you need to cure the ick on your eel, since it must be scaleless. Though I fear that ick guard 2 will not cure the ick on your oscars, and for this I would recommend the high tempature setting of 86 degrees F, and the aquarium salt, and a prodcut called Quick Cure.
I would house the eels somewhere else and treat them with the ick guard. Remember Oscars get over 1 foot in legnth and eat anything that fits in thier mouths.
travislopez
10-20-2004, 9:38 AM
i also recommend Quick Cure for ick. it got rid of mine in 4 days (though it may be an extraordinary case). my LFS actually suggested it! score one for them!
TheBlackPhantom
10-20-2004, 9:52 AM
Beta with Oscars? Really bad choice! That Beta will be gobbled up! Oscars are very agressive and owners need to properly inform themselves before adding "companions".
Also, concerning Ich, the medication you'll be using will have little effect on your fish. In a big tank like yours, you'll find those small bottles pretty useless and the Ich will come back again and again!
Fear not however, read other threads in this Forum and read about the water heating/salt technique that you'll use for 2 weeks before you go further. Make sure your fishes can handle that temperature though!
My two oscars are covered in white spots. I'm treating with ich guard 1, and I started the first treatment today after changin 75% of the water. When should I start seeing improvements? My tank's water temp is 86 too, and I slowly raised that up to that point.
puresouthern
10-21-2004, 10:41 AM
My two oscars are covered in white spots. I'm treating with ich guard 1, and I started the first treatment today after changin 75% of the water. When should I start seeing improvements? My tank's water temp is 86 too, and I slowly raised that up to that point.
Kaat I'm a newb but I just battled this booger with my 55g tank and have spent numerous hours reading anything I can get my hands on. Someone in a previous post mention make sure your fish can handle that 86F alot cant and you could be causing more stress on the fish. Stress is what brings ICH on. 82 is the highest in most research studies. However when you your water changes you want to wash everythign in higher than 86. You need DAILY water changes everyday until a few days after the last spots are seen. Up to 25%. As for salt, that one is highly debatable, you'll find alot of conficting info on that. Why give salt to a fish that isnt use to salt water.....more stress. ICH meds. Your choice and wallet. :D I went thru BOTTLES and just lost more fish. Best articles I found were the ones that said fish dont have meds in the wild......FIND THE ORIGIN OF THE STRESS AND TREAT THAT. Thats what I did and I know what I'm about to say is gonna cause controversy. I stopped the meds quit using so many darn chemicals. Found out my fish like warmer water (which I had at 74) I put the carbon back into my filters. Did a 50% water change (remembering to wash everythign I used vaccuum etc in over 86F water) Next day I saw results FINALLY. Proceeded to do water changes (25%) daily. I stopped losing fish and its all but gone. I only use a stress coat and conditioner. No meds and not alot of chems that can further stress them. Beta may have been stress from Oscar I dont know your there, but I'd find what it was. Do really good researches on your fish, use more than one site cause you'll find that they conflict each other. As will any treatments. The salt is the most contreversy I've seen. Fish dont have meds in teh wild..........JMO
OrionGirl
10-21-2004, 10:49 AM
Stress does not cause ich. Stress reduces the fishes ability to fight the parasite, allowing sub-clinical infections to become full blown infections. Removing the stress enables the fish to once more fight the parasite effectively, but seldom to completely eradicate the parasite from the system. Salt, high heat, and meds are used to eliminate the parasite from a tank so that should a stress event occur in the future (despite best efforts, sometimes things happen), the parasite won't be present to cause a serious outbreak.
Your tanks, your call. I'd rather know that the parasite isn't in my tank than be happy that I didn't use salt or meds, in the short term, to prevent a problem. The fact that fish in the wild don't have meds is ridiculous--they don't live in glass boxes, or closed systems where they are an easy target for the parasite, or have their food delivered from the sky.
puresouthern
10-21-2004, 11:25 AM
Stress does not cause ich. Stress reduces the fishes ability to fight the parasite, allowing sub-clinical infections to become full blown infections. Removing the stress enables the fish to once more fight the parasite effectively, but seldom to completely eradicate the parasite from the system. Salt, high heat, and meds are used to eliminate the parasite from a tank so that should a stress event occur in the future (despite best efforts, sometimes things happen), the parasite won't be present to cause a serious outbreak.
Your tanks, your call. I'd rather know that the parasite isn't in my tank than be happy that I didn't use salt or meds, in the short term, to prevent a problem. The fact that fish in the wild don't have meds is ridiculous--they don't live in glass boxes, or closed systems where they are an easy target for the parasite, or have their food delivered from the sky.
Your right about the ICH not being cause by stress, I failed in the translate of that better. However, its been proven in studies that once a fish has had ICH and survives it seems to build up an immunity to it. Which may account for why 4 of my fishes never got a spot and all came from the same tank.
Prevent the stress prevent the immunties from going down. And while fishes dont have meds in wild maybe rediculous to you, giving salt to a non salt water fish sounds even more insane to me. Id rather save them all. Then just save the couple that can handle the saturation.
I posted this article in another post take a look at what NOT to do. You'll find articles like that all over the web http://www.aquamaniacs.net/ich.html
OrionGirl
10-21-2004, 11:27 AM
The point is--you're saying not to use medications, but that article indicates the use of medication. You're contradicting yourself.
puresouthern
10-21-2004, 11:51 AM
The point is--you're saying not to use medications, but that article indicates the use of medication. You're contradicting yourself.
No I dont remember if was this post or anther that said this article was the best and I followed it to the letter with the expception they recommend Rid ich. I found many more numerous articles that said find your stress and treat that. So I basically combined non meds with the daily water schedules and such in this one. I also wash everything after I get done with water changes in over 86F water so to get the parasite off the equipment such as stated in this article. This article was one of the best I just opted out on the meds, they werent working. But its there wallet so I wont make that recommendation. What I will recommend is they do alot more searches on the salt water treatment that is being doled out here. I have visited numerous forums and this is the only one I have yet to see do this, most caution against it. However the atmosphere here can be more relaxed.