Platy issues

TheZoo

Curiouser and curiouser!
Apr 12, 2006
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melting in Houston, TX
Platy/ Ich issues

Ok: I have 2 tanks. The 20H is being treated for ich at the moment. I am using Ich Clear by Jungle, but am only using 1 tablet (according to package I should be using 2) for this reason: when I started the treatment 3 days ago, using less than half of one tablet, my upside down catfish died. So now Im paranoid about the other fish, maybe needlessly. In this tank, only the platys show white spots, and only one of these platys is acting strange. She (?) hangs out in the current of the filter 90% of the time and has the most spots. The others just have them on their tails, but she has them on her body as well. I noticd today that shes also swimming a bit oddly.

In the 10 gal, I see no ich spots but also have an oddly acting platy. This one hangs out at the bottom of the tank 90% of the time.

My fish commmunities are as follows:
20T- 2 yellow vtailed platys, 2 orange vtailed platys, 4 fancy guppies, 4 zebra danios, 2 panda cories, 1 "misc." cory.

10, divided about 40/60 - 1 betta in small part, 2 black mollies, 2 orange platys, 2 blind cave fish

(I realise that I may be at the upper limits of my fish-holding abilities, but have no other tanks to put any in... the 10 gal was started to ease the burden on the 20! ANy fry will be handled on a "the strong will survive policy".)

Should I use the full dose of the Ick Clear on my 20 gal? I purchased some melafix (i think thats what its called, dont have the package in fron tof me) today, the one derived from tea tree oil. WOuld that be better?
 
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I am also treating my tank for Ich at the moment and everyone is recommending the salt & heat routine over any type of Ich medicine.

One of my Platies was doing the same thing not too long ago. I believe it was due to Parasites, so you might want to look into treating it for that.
 
Although the main ingredient of Ich Clear appears to be acriflavine, it contains Victoria Green, which is just another name for malachite green. Malachite green is toxic to catfishes (that includes corycats) and a lot of other fish that Jungle doesn't mention on their packaging.

If you don't have one already, get a liquid test kit and test your water for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Malachite green can damage your biofilter, which may be why your platy is acting strange.

What is the temperature of your tank water?

I really dislike some companies that put out medications with a decided wack of misleading information they put on their packages.

"Half dose for catfish and sensitive fishes". Right. If a half dose will kill ich, why use a full one at all? Probably because a half dose doesn't kill them all.

Regardless, IMO, put fresh carbon in the filter to remove the medications. Do a large waterchange of at least 50% and start the salt + heat method. It's safer for your catfish. Do NOT up the heat while the medication is in the tank. Malachite green becomes more toxic at higher temps.

Here's the article on treating ich with salt + heat: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39759

Roan
 
Ok. Have been doing the salt treatment (as per daveedka's article) for a few days. I am not heating the tank as I have no heater and cant spare the cash to buy one in the near future. The tank stays pretty constant at 78-ish degrees F. I did lose the one platy that had the most ich spots... How long should I continue after I see no ich spots? I only see a few now, on platy tails. I am at about 1 tsp/gallon salinity now, should I continue raising the level, do you think?
thanks...
 
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TheZoo said:
Ok. Have been doing the salt treatment (as per daveedka's article) for a few days. I am not heating the tank as I have no heater and cant spare the cash to buy one in the near future. The tank stays pretty constant at 78-ish degrees F. I did lose the one platy that had the most ich spots... How long should I continue after I see no ich spots? I only see a few now, on platy tails. I am at about 1 tsp/gallon salinity now, should I continue raising the level, do you think?
thanks...
Raise the salt level to 2 tsps per gallon. Continue your treatment for 7 days after the last spot falls.

Roan
 
Ive been using the salt treatment for ich for some time now - still no heater - and so far the one platy that had it the worst has died, as has one danio (unrelated, i think). Noone has ich spots now, but I just saw a guppy flashing something crazy off of the gravel. One other platy was flashing a little the other day but hasnt been doing it since. She does do a "shimmy", though, and rests alot. So Im to continue the salting for another week, just in case???? I need reassurance!
 
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