One of my Rosy Barbs has become very itchy. He should not have any unicellular parasites since he was salted for 14 days in the past. This fish hides in the plants all the time and flashes like crazy. I've taken him out of the main tank and put him into the hospital tank to isolate him. All my other fish are acting normal. Since he was salt treated, I decided to treat with Rid Ich+. He does not seem to be showing stress from the medication. Maybe it could be a form of Costia that is salt resistant (I've heard of costia thriving in 9 teaspoons of salt per gallon). Was this the right course of action. The boards were down so I had some trouble consulting with you guys prior to taking this approach.
Itchy Fish
- Thread starter rrkss
- Start date
Well, if the salt didn't get it, and it is Costia, the Rid Ich should do it. I'd be leary of remaining pathogens (parasites) in the main tank which I'm sure you are.
Flukes is another possibility, that can cause flashing. Salt will do nothing to treat them. Prazi would be your best treatment option, and it doesn't disturb boilogical filtration.
Its only one fish that is flashing. If he does not respond to the malachite/formalin treatment and I try Prazi, would I have to worry about live plants. If I am treating for flukes, I might as well treat the main tank as well as those animals are highly contagious.
Prazi has no negative effect on live plants. I treated my main tank with it as well. I also left my snails in while I treated and they were fine.
Just for grins, test your pH. I got a big surprise tonight with one of my tanks. It is an established tank, but for some reason yet determined, the pH took a dip. Low pH was the last thing I expected, but I had one fish flashing and another with fungus, while the rest were fine. I rarely have these problems, and never have excessively low pH, so I was stumped for a bit. Anyway, two 25% water changes (with time in between) and vacuuming some of the mulm out will bring it back in line. Just thought I'd mention it here.
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