jea@vaxine.UUCP (John Agapakis) (02/28/86)
*** A few weeks ago, I posted a request for urgent advice on aquarium fish diseases. Since I got a number of very helpful responses, I am coming back today, in order to thank all of you who replied and to share with the rest of you some of the information that I got. For those of you who did not see the original posting it read as follows: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > I am taking care of the fish in the aquarium of a friend who's on vacation and > I ***URGENTLY*** need some expert advice. > > Although water PH, temperature, aeration, and food have been proper, some > fish have gotten seriously ill and died. When I went to feed them for the 1st > time (36 hours after my friend went away), I found two of them floating upside > down on the top of the tank covered by a layer of white fluffy mold & noticed > little white pimples all over the bodies of two more (who also died the next > day). They must have actually been ill for a while, because my friend told me > that he also had a fish die two days before he left. > > Since I know very little about fish or their diseases, I went to a pet store > for advice. They told me that the fish may have a common parasitic aquarium > infection like "Ick" which may have been brought in the tank from a couple of > new fish that my friend bought a week or two ago. > > So, I changed the water, cleaned parts of the tank, and for the past three > days I have been treating them with "Maracide" (for Ick) and "Maracyn" (for > potential bacterial infections). > > Any other ideas, suggestions, or things to watch for ? > > Thanks in advance ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I guess the major point made by all the people that replied was that Ick can be controlled by raising the temperature to around 80 to 85 degrees. This was also the major treatment suggested in a couple of books that I saw on tropical fish. There was not a consensus on the use of medicines like Maracide or other and on how much to feed the fish. I include below a few excerpts from the replies that I got: """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ON ICK: "...Ick is a parasite that appears as white spots on the fish, then falls off to multiply after several days. When the temperature is high, the life cycle is shorter so you can cure the disease faster..." "...The problem is probably caused by stress or shock to the fish. I have a feeling that when your friend left, he decided to knock the thermostat (in his house) down a few degrees to save energy. That's plenty to shock their (the fish) systems." "...Firstly, all fish carry the Ick parasite, something like a kitten with roundworm, although unlike a cat, normally the Ick parasite doesn't do anything. UNLESS... the temperature in the aquarium drops. Then the parasite begins to grow and multiply. And you have problems..." ON TEMPERATURE: "...First make sure the water temperature is constant and around 75 or so." "...There isn't much you can do that are not doing now. I might raise the temperature of the tank to just over 80 degrees, this sometimes kills things." "...I don't know if the Maracide box says this, but when treating for ick it's best to keep the temperature relatively high, somewhere around 85 degrees." ON MEDICINES: "...First, STOP using the Maracrap." "...It is hard to tell without being there whether you have ick (a parasite) or a bacterial or fungal infection... I've found Maracyn and Maracyde to be pretty good medications." "...I would work under the assumption that only ick is present and discontinue the Maracyn, unless you actually see fuzzy patches on the fins or body. Bacterial infections occur usually when the fish has been injured, and not often spontaneously. Plus, with antibiotics, there is a good chance that any beneficial bacteria living in the tank will die and pollute the water (especially if you have an undergravel filter!)" "... use any commercial Ick killer (I prefer TetraCare ContraIck 80 (no, it's not just for tetras) which is for freshwater aquariums and which cures Ick (Ichthyophthirius, or White Spot Disease) in 5 days), and, if the instructions on the preparation so indicate, raise the temperature of the tank to 78-80 degrees Farenheit." ON OTHER TREATMENTS: "...Second, go to the store and buy some UN iodized salt. (plain salt) Put 1 cup [Isn't 1 cup too much ? I only used something a few spoonfuls (jea)] of the salt in for every 10 gallons of water. This will kill every kind of fresh-water parasite in the tank. In three days, change half the water out of the tank. Make sure the water you put in is de-chlorinated BEFORE you put it in, and that it's the same temp (75) or as close as you can get. You should notice a marked improvement within the three days. "...It wouldn't hurt to change about 10-20% of the water each week. Make sure that you add dechlorinator drops before you pour the water in the tank, and that the water is no colder than the water in the tank. Many communities are switching from chlorine to chloramine, a tougher substance to remove from tap water, so it's a good precaution to add twice the number of drops to the water you're treating unless the water conditioner specifically says it's for chloramine." ON FEEDING: "...Also feed them regularly. (twice a day)" "...Unless the fish are very small (under one inch), I would feed them only a tiny amount of food each day, just enough for them to eat in a few seconds. It's hard to know how much to feed fish if you've never done it before, and overfeeding is dangerous (uneaten food rots and spoils the water). Almost all adult tropical fish can go a week without food with no problems, and can even survive over a month with no food." """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Based on all the above information, I indeed raised the temperature, changed the water, thoroughly cleaned the tank, continued the Maracide but cut the Maracyn off, and fed them more or less regularly. It seems to have worked! Four (out of nine) fish, one frog, and one snail survived. My friend was really glad to find any fish left in the tank! Thanx again to: ihnp4!ihlpa!ibyf, ihnp4!ihuxo!klotz, decwrl!pyramid!nsc!larry, seismo!cbosg!dpb, harvard!sasaki, seismo!umcp-cs!cvl!westling, allegra!vaxine!dsm, vaxine!jes, ima!uemsp. ****************************************************************** John E. Agapakis uucp: ..!allegra!encore!vaxine!jea Automatix Inc. Billerica, MA Phone: (617) 667-7900 x2363 ******************************************************************