Sick SEVERUM

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love4fish

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Jul 19, 2004
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I am so confused.
I have made my Severum sick .
He's about 5 years old and 5-7 inches in size.
I Noticed my silver Dollars having Ick.-
Brand new fish should not have dropped them in that tank ~but didn't have the other one set up because we moved.( hospital tank)
Now it's up and fish are being treated in there.
I Called LFS- he said (Owner of store)
ASked me First Why Are you upping the temp?
Does nothing but speed life cycle of ick.
DO NOT add salt to tank-
You can treat with Medication but 1/2 dose for scaless fish.
I am so confused.
I have not delt with ick in years-It's very common.

But I used to always use different tank first then move fish after several weeks. to 180.

But it was a pain- Now this is more of a pain!!!!

How do I save my Severum and get rid of ick in tank? with the dragon in there?

I am going to create a new BW tank. But until then any suggestions?:sick:
 
Yes, up the temp because it does speed the lifecycle and that is what you want. You have to catch the little &$%$& freeswimming and you want to do that as soon as possible. They go from eggs, to freeswimming, and then on your fish.

There are some medications that are better for scaleless fish but I have not dealt with ich for a long time. I am sure someone will post some more helpful data.

God Speed!
 
upping the temperature to speed up the parasite's life cycle is beneficial - makes treatment time shorter, therefore less stress on the fish.

Salt helps the fish secrete a thicker slime coat, guarding them against the parasites, so adding salt is also a good idea (but yes, use a 1/2 dose with sensitive/scaleless fish and add it slowly over a few days so they can adjust. If your corys show signs of stress from the salt, do an immediate water change and stay at a lower dosage. Corys don't tolerate salt well but they can handle it for a short time) .

I recommend daily water changes of 25% - 35%, vacumming the gravel; ich has a stage where it lives on/in the substrate, and you can get a lot of the parasites out of your tank this way before they have a chance to attach to the fish.

Treat your tank with the above methods, and if you like, a suitable medication (though if you're diligent with water changes, vacuuming, salt and heat often times you can conquer the ich without adding meds) for several days _after_ the cysts drop off the fish to make sure the parasites are gone (if you're using a medication, it can only kill the ich parasites that are in the free swimming stage, not those attached to the fish).

If you've caught it early enough, your fish will be just fine, don't worry!
 
What do you guys think is going on with the Severum?

The LFS-
Said it was the salt and temp change.
But the temp went only from 76 to 78 over about several hours.
Then I read about Iodized and Non Iodized not making a difference- on other threads
So I used Iodized.

He's usually really happy and healthy.
And I noticed the other Severum Flashing On the Decor.

I know they will do that from Ick-
But the new fish has only been there since- 7-18-04
Noticed Ick yestarday. Added salt 7-20-04
Today 7-21 Severums Not happy.
Silver dollars out of 180.

Today I did a 25% h20.

I am just confused.
The LFS acts Like I'm an idiot.

He's owned this store for over 20 years.

But I seem to trust the forums more.

Should I not have used the Iodized salt?
 
You told us about ich and that will cause the sevrum to rub itself against the decorations. What else is it doing?

Yes, the LFS owner has been there for 20 years selling products. The longer ich takes to cycle out of your tank, the longer you treat and the the more product he sells.
 
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HE's just resting his tummy on the bottom- and leaning up against a decoration- with clamped fins.

And he's usually really active, He came up for food and right back down to the bottom.

I know the other severum just started that- (flashing)

He was fine before I started to treat the tank.

Do you think it could be the salt?

The owner is strange.
 
Ich

The problem with treating scaless fish is that most of the meds for ich have malachite green in them. That is what the scaless fish don't like, and does the most harm.

If you want to treat a tank with scaless fish.
1 - you can't use salt. That is worse than the malachite green
2 - you can't use copper. In fact copper IMO should never be used. To may cons opposed to the pros.

Raising the temp will help. Ich life cycle is something like (don't quote me I'm going off of memory here) 12 to 16 days depending on the tempurature of the water. The warmer the water the faster the life cycle.

Water changes are good as previously mentoned.


The med I have found works the best for all fish including scaless is Formalin. No need to half dose like any of the malachite green products and with some of the tougher fish it can be double dosed. Although I don't recommend doing this.

Remember that ich can only be killed in it's tolmite stage. So one thing I also do is.
The day after I see the last fish in the tank with ich clear of all spots. I treat for four (4) more days. That way you are sure to have killed off all of the ich that may still be in the gravel multiplying.

[edit] sorry blinky. I didn't cocmpletely read all of the posts. I repeated some of the stuff you already mentioned. [edit]
 
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Don't know about that sevrum. I do not think it is the salt. It could be the result of the ich or the beginning of a secondary infection.

I also red the post from ScottoMacD and there are those who have used salt with scaleless fish, IE Blinky, with success and those who have not. I have used coppersafe without any problem whatsoever.

It is better to err on the cautious side and I would use something other than salt just to be careful. As I said, I haven't had an ich problem in a long time.
 
Copper

LongTime.

It's not that copper dosen't work.
It does but.. The after effects are the worrisome part.

Once copper is introduced into a system it is almost impossible to remove afterwards. Then what ends up happening is eventually the parasites that the copper was ment to kill become immune to it. So the only way to kill them is to add more and then more copper. Then it becomes just as toxic to the fish as to the parasites

Yes I completely agree that it works. The consiquences however are just not worth it.

As for the salt. You never know how a scaless fish is going to react to a salt treatment. Different scaless fish can tolerate different amounts of salt. Then when you throw in any weaknesses from sickness the scale ( no pun intended) goes out the window.

There are fish and times when that you won't have enough time to do water changes before it is too late to save the fish. When it is having an adverse reaction to the salt. It's just too risky.

Just too much of a chance to take.
 
Fish Keeping-
A tricky thing!

But I Did another water change another 15% thinking- I over did the salt or because it was Iodized instead of non- Iodized .... The other Life long debate.
And when I moved and the basically had a 90% h20 change the did ok. 4 years ago.

And treated with Organicure- (Marine ich. cure) 1.25% Copper ,17%Formald- I've used it for my african dwarf frog tanks when a Platy got ich along time ago.~Said it was safe for shrimp and crabs~

But still some flashing from both severums and the other came up for awhile and swam around. which was good.

Now the dragon- has come out of his cave where he's been hiding and ate - and started swiming and sticking to the glass-And sliding down - Resting on the air blower like a chair. Being very active and non-shy?
It's acting weird- but I don't know it's natural behaivor.
I now it need to come out of there soon. to BW tank.

Just as many people say they keep them in FW, But Im going to try to move him to be safe.

:confused: So many seasoned fish keepers in these forums who all kinda do things differently - it' s so confusing b/c I trust all of you, People all do things differently, without problems---

I try it and it will go all wrong!!!!

~ I just feel bad because I do love my fish and have had good luck up until now with no real problems.

you can search around on these threads and- Senior , well seasoned fish keepers all have their own Style.

And Individual Opinions (Sometimes very opposite )
But they still each Sound very successful and Knowledgeable in how they keep their tanks.
 
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