I recently bought a catfish. I'm not sure what it is. I went though planet catfish's whole database and could'nt find it. I think its some type of asian catfish. Well anyways the catfish has a small white spot on it kinda looks like ich. So I busted out the ich medication (quick cure) and dosed the tank. The catfish had a reation to it. Its slime coat increased and its started swimming funny. After 24 hours I thought I might loose him so I did a water change and filled my filter with carbon. I waited 2 days took the cabon out. Then I bought some Cupramine by Seachem its a copper based medication. I followed the directions and Its been 48 hour the white spot is still there. Anyone know what I should do? The fish is eating and the white spot don't seem to be speadind to the other fish. I've had the fish a week and its not spreding would ich have spred by then? Any sugestion would be greatly appreciated.
Calling all disease experts
- Thread starter jd_7655
- Start date
i had a catfish a long time ago that had white spots appear and it was normal for it to be this way. i cant remember the name of the fish either but it was a kind of cream colour and the *ick* was more of a bump than a spot.
your catfish may have not acted well to the meds as they are scaleless and meds need to be given at half the dose.
hope some can help you more soon.
your catfish may have not acted well to the meds as they are scaleless and meds need to be given at half the dose.
hope some can help you more soon.
Smooth skinned fish are generally more succeptable to ich than fish with scales, and they are also more sensative to treatment.
Ich could take over a week to fall off of your fish at normal temps. ICh cannot be killed while it is on your fish so when it drops off in a few days you can expect a bigger outbreak if the tank isn't treated to kill it.
I personally don't like to add heavy metals to my tank, they will stay in the tank in some form or another, and are damaging to all life forms at some level or another. This article covers the life cycle of ich well, and also covers several types of treatment including salt, which is far less stressful IME than any ich med. This article is well worth the time it takes to rea it.
http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml
Dave
Ich could take over a week to fall off of your fish at normal temps. ICh cannot be killed while it is on your fish so when it drops off in a few days you can expect a bigger outbreak if the tank isn't treated to kill it.
I personally don't like to add heavy metals to my tank, they will stay in the tank in some form or another, and are damaging to all life forms at some level or another. This article covers the life cycle of ich well, and also covers several types of treatment including salt, which is far less stressful IME than any ich med. This article is well worth the time it takes to rea it.
http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml
Dave
Word of caution, though I do agree with daveedka, be careful if you use the salt treatment, most fw cats can't handle the salt dosage very well. I would reccomend using a diatom filter, if you can get one, when the Ich begins to fall off, then after a day or two treat with meds. or salt (use about half the dosage) and within at least two weeks you should have no more ich. The site that daveedka explains how to perform a salt bath.
Good luck
Good luck
As a rule, cats that are normally considered salt sensative will have no problem with short term salt treatment as used for Ich, I used 2+ tsp per gallon with my pictus and saw far less sign of stress than I did when using ich meds at half dose. At the same time, salt at full dose while less stressful was far more effective at killing ICH permanently. The caution against cats being salt sensative is more for the hobbyist who mistakenly beleives that salt is needed in a freshwater tank at all times. It would be far more stressful to undertreat and allow ich to remain in the tank for future outbreaks. The diatom filter may help a little, but won't help much, If you own one it won't hurt to use it, but I wouldn't buy one. It is true that if it is running when the ich are freeswimming it may catch some of them, but I wouldn't expect it would make much difference on the recurring outbreaks. Gravel vaccuming will also help after the ich falls off the fish, but it won't ensure that all ich is erradicated. They need to be killed or eventually you will risk an outbreak in the tank again.
Dave
Dave
Agree with daveedka...except...
At "normal" aquaria temps (74-78F), the entire life cycle is only 3-4 days. I don't have citation to specific duration of each "step" in the cycle but it's unlikely to take more than a week to fall off the fish. I know, minor point.
One other note to mention. The encysted form doesn't necessarily have to reside in the gravel. Studies at fish hatcheries using bare concrete raceways and setting up boards to cause water to flow along the bottom (in effort to wash away encysting form) proved ineffective. They found residing "cysts" attached to the walls above the flow and I thought they were floating also. So it seems they could attach to decor and plants too. This isn't mentioned at theskepticalaquarist though. Just in case one thought to remove items in the tank temporarily to another tank.
At "normal" aquaria temps (74-78F), the entire life cycle is only 3-4 days. I don't have citation to specific duration of each "step" in the cycle but it's unlikely to take more than a week to fall off the fish. I know, minor point.
One other note to mention. The encysted form doesn't necessarily have to reside in the gravel. Studies at fish hatcheries using bare concrete raceways and setting up boards to cause water to flow along the bottom (in effort to wash away encysting form) proved ineffective. They found residing "cysts" attached to the walls above the flow and I thought they were floating also. So it seems they could attach to decor and plants too. This isn't mentioned at theskepticalaquarist though. Just in case one thought to remove items in the tank temporarily to another tank.
I used a product called Aquari Sol and it worked great. I caught the Ich fairly early and the aquarisol did its job. Even the sensitive fish in the tank like cardinal tetras were fine.
