New baby parrot fish very skittish and has ick

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sodemann58

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Nov 27, 2011
Messages
13
Location
Idaho
I have recently gotten a baby (1-2") parrot fish. I was in walmart and i saw him being picked on; he just tugged on my heart strings so i bought him. He was in a tank with other parrots that had ick. My current goal is to quarantine him and get rid of his ick (hopefully) and get him more comfortable around people, as he is very skittish. He is currently in a ten gallon with the necessities. How can i help him to get used to me? And how can i quickly clear his slight show of ick?
 
I wouldn't add him for atleast a few weeks. A successful ich treatment is no less than 2 weeks, and I'd keep him quarantined for awhile after all signs are gone.
Is there hiding spots in the 10g? If not, he will always be stressed with you around. Give him a nice cave or something, he will always hide at first, and once he slowly realizes you aren't going to hurt him, he should become less timid. Time is the most important factor here
 
sodemann58 said:
I have recently gotten a baby (1-2") parrot fish. I was in walmart and i saw him being picked on; he just tugged on my heart strings so i bought him. He was in a tank with other parrots that had ick. My current goal is to quarantine him and get rid of his ick (hopefully) and get him more comfortable around people, as he is very skittish. He is currently in a ten gallon with the necessities. How can i help him to get used to me? And how can i quickly clear his slight show of ick?

Increase the heat slowly up to 86-88F.
Add some aquarium salt.
Increase aeration.
Leave the heat up for no less than 2 weeks even if all signs of ich are gone.
I would then qt him for another 2 weeks just to make sure.
 
Thanks!
A sunk ship is in there now and he is much more comfortable and has even been following my family member's finger.

Also turns out he had black spot disease, which is common in blood parrots. His black is slowly decreasing and his orange color is pretty much completely covering him.

However, the ich is getting worse; he has now developed it on his tail way more than before. I have been treating his tank: every 2 days i take out about 30-40% water and add new water with Prime, Aquasafe, Stress Coat, and 1 rounded Tablespoon of aquarium salt. This is all replacing about 4 Gallons out of a ten gallon tank.

Is that a good procedure or do you fellows recommend something else?

Thanks
 
Juvenile parrots go through many stages of color morphing. It is most likely not black spot disease.

I think you're adding too much salt. A rounded tablespoon is more like 1 1/2 tablespoons. If you're only removing 30-40% water, that salinity level is really going to rise fast.

Make sure you're doing a solid gravel vac when you do your water change. You need to remove the ich spore from the substrate.
 
I was treating my goldfish with ich and after turning up the heat, you are speeding the cycle of ich. So the ich will spread faster and more buy will eventually "fall" off. I had successfully cured my goldfish of ich, and heat plus salt definitely is better than using meds
 
LyndaB said:
Juvenile parrots go through many stages of color morphing. It is most likely not black spot disease.

I think you're adding too much salt. A rounded tablespoon is more like 1 1/2 tablespoons. If you're only removing 30-40% water, that salinity level is really going to rise fast.

Make sure you're doing a solid gravel vac when you do your water change. You need to remove the ich spore from the substrate.

I agree with LyndaB. You want one level tablespoon every 5gallons.
 
Ok thank you.

What procedure would you use for the salt remedy for ich? Am i doing anything death threatening to my fish? This is my first time fighting ich.

I would increase heat except my ten gallon heater is one of the simple ones and doesn't have a temp dial.
 
Then you need a better heater..... seriously.

Keep in mind that this is a freshwater species. An overdose of salt would not be healthy.
 
Ok.

Would adding a rounded tablespoon every two days with 40% water change be good?
 
sodemann58 said:
Ok.

Would adding a rounded tablespoon every two days with 40% water change be good?

You need to add in what you take out. So if you do a 50% PWC of 5 gallons add ONE level tablespoon. No more. You may want to even add a little less than that since you have so much in your tank already. Salt doesn't evaporate so the only way it is removed is by PWC. Once it's in there you don't need RO add any more.
How much have you added altogether and how many and what size PWC have you done. We might be able to estimate how much is already in the tank.
 
I established the tank and added about 3 tbs. Now looking back it was a bad idea...like i said im New to treating ich with salt. But anyway i did that, then yesterday i did a pwc of 40% and added a rounded tbs of salt and water conditioners (aquasafe,prime,stresscoat) for the amount of water i took out.

I have only had the tank up with the parrot in it for about a week...

Thanks so much
 
sodemann58 said:
Ok. When should i add more? What procedures should i do in the meantime?

You've got give or take a bit 4 tablespoons in there. You only want 1 tablespoon (flat not rounded) per 5gallon. So in a ten you only want 2 tablespoons max. Do a 50% PWC and don't add any more!
 
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