Gold Nugget Pleco Ich treatment- case study
- Thread starter SoCalDiscus
- Start date
That looks more like oodinium than ich to me. Gold nuggets are prone to it. It tends to attack their gills so the warmer water can reduce the amount of oxygen they get to critical levels. I use metronidazole, daily water changes, and warm water to treat it. Usually only see it like that when there's ammonia in the water or the fish are REALLY stressed though. Bummer that you lost them.
Barbie
Barbie
There are two threads on GN Plecos and ich.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137554
The method I have suggested in that forum is what I have used every time with ich and I have never lost a pleco due to that treatment. Currently treated successfully with the above treatment regime are L066 Tiger, L182 Starlight Bristlenose, and L176 Peppermint and all of them are wild caught.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137554
The method I have suggested in that forum is what I have used every time with ich and I have never lost a pleco due to that treatment. Currently treated successfully with the above treatment regime are L066 Tiger, L182 Starlight Bristlenose, and L176 Peppermint and all of them are wild caught.
Update
The final pleco died a week after I started treatment. It is possible that it was oodinium and not ich, but if I remember correctly, the treatments are similar. The last pleco died on Sunday 12/16/07 a little more than 48 hours after we switched to treating with general cure. I don't think that the general cure was any harder on him than the salt was. In the future, I would not hesitate to start treatment with general cure immediately. This is the original general cure with copper sulfate in it, and not the new stuff.
Salt Dosage Information:
We added salt 2 teaspoons at a time several hours apart over several days. We dissolved the salt into a cup of tank water before adding. The total salt level we reached was 24 teaspoons in a 17.3 gallon tank which is ~ 1.4 tsp/g.
We tried heat and salt first, and I would say it was not effective against this particular bug. At 88 degrees, we never saw a decrease in the number of cysts on the body of the fish.
The bottom line-
Gold nugget plecos can survive for at least 48 hours with:
88 degree heat treatment w/ aeration
86 degrees & 1.4 tsp/g of salt w/ aeration
86 degrees & General Cure (Copper Sulfate & Metronidozole) w/ aeration
In my opinion none of the treatment methods by themselves were fatal to the fish given that at least some of them survived for at least 48 hours of each particular treatment method. I think if any of those treatment methods were going to kill the plecos then there would have been a reaction where the fish started acting disoriented.
The final pictures that I have to post are what happened fairly soon before one of them died on Friday (12/14/07). This was with the salt treatment, but no general cure yet. It appears to be blood that was oozing possibly from where one of the cysts fell off. If anyone knows what it is, I would be interested to hear your opinion on what it is.
The final pleco died a week after I started treatment. It is possible that it was oodinium and not ich, but if I remember correctly, the treatments are similar. The last pleco died on Sunday 12/16/07 a little more than 48 hours after we switched to treating with general cure. I don't think that the general cure was any harder on him than the salt was. In the future, I would not hesitate to start treatment with general cure immediately. This is the original general cure with copper sulfate in it, and not the new stuff.
Salt Dosage Information:
We added salt 2 teaspoons at a time several hours apart over several days. We dissolved the salt into a cup of tank water before adding. The total salt level we reached was 24 teaspoons in a 17.3 gallon tank which is ~ 1.4 tsp/g.
We tried heat and salt first, and I would say it was not effective against this particular bug. At 88 degrees, we never saw a decrease in the number of cysts on the body of the fish.
The bottom line-
Gold nugget plecos can survive for at least 48 hours with:
88 degree heat treatment w/ aeration
86 degrees & 1.4 tsp/g of salt w/ aeration
86 degrees & General Cure (Copper Sulfate & Metronidozole) w/ aeration
In my opinion none of the treatment methods by themselves were fatal to the fish given that at least some of them survived for at least 48 hours of each particular treatment method. I think if any of those treatment methods were going to kill the plecos then there would have been a reaction where the fish started acting disoriented.
The final pictures that I have to post are what happened fairly soon before one of them died on Friday (12/14/07). This was with the salt treatment, but no general cure yet. It appears to be blood that was oozing possibly from where one of the cysts fell off. If anyone knows what it is, I would be interested to hear your opinion on what it is.
