Pale Bala Shark w/ Ich and cloudy, Red eyes.

[mecula]

Hello,
I have a established (10 years) 75 gallon tank. My niece, very thoughtfully and excitedly, purchased some fish for me and showed up unexpectedly to add them to my tank. Two of them didn't look well but I didn't have the heart to turn them away. Those two fish have since been removed from the tank. There are a couple healthy Corydoras still in there.

To make a long story short, now my Bala Shark is extremely pale and is covered with Ick - he also has cloudy eyes with a ring of Red. Luckily he seems to have plenty of energy but I can tell he has felt better. I noticed all of this after I came back from a weekend away. It's been about 3 weeks since my last water change (too long, I know) but I am under stocked.

I went to the pet store and purchased Maracide and put a dose in this morning. After a second thought, I should have done a water change, but I didn't.

What's the best way to proceed from here? I don't have the ability to quarantine the Bala Shark. Should I leave the Maracide in and do a water change in a day or two? The cloudy eyes are making me wonder if the water quality is degraded to the point where it's affecting his eyes.

Or should I do a water change now and start over with the Maracide? If it doesn't make a material difference, I just put $8 worth of Maracide in the tank so I'd like to make use of it if possible.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[mecula]

Dumb question, but if I do a water change now I'm assuming that will dramatically affect the potency of the Maracide? Thoughts?

The cloudy eyes seem to indicate to me it could a water quality issue. What's weird is that it came on so quick...

 

[Berylla]

It sounds you shark has both an ich infection and a a bacterial infection. I would have suggested to just up the heat to 87 degrees and add salt, but that would just exacerbate the bacterial problem. It's very difficult to medicate such a large tank. For now, could you do 50% water changes every day to keep the water clean? Clean water often clears up problems although it will not clear up ich. Perhaps it will clear up the bacterial infection so that you can up the temperature.

 

[mecula]

Thank you! When I came into work today the Bala Shark was dead. I removed him from the tank. The other fish appear healthy with no signs of Ick. I'll perform 50% water changes daily for a week or two.

If I should be doing anything else please let me know.

Thanks again.

 

[Berylla]

Do you have a photo of the dead shark? I'm hoping that he actually didn't have ich so that you won't need to up the temps in your main tank.

 

[mecula]

Sadly, no. But he definitely had Ick - he was covered with it. I've thoroughly inspected the other fish & none of them show any signs. My temperature is currently 82.3 degrees.

 

[Berylla]

Sorry about your shark. I lost one of my sick corycats yesterday in the QT.

I think other fishkeepers would agree with me that the ich is still in your tank although it may not show up until there is stress in the tank. To be safe, raise the temp to 87 for 2 weeks and change water and vacuum more regularly during those two weeks. Salt will hurt many plants, and certain fish like cores so that is optional.

 

[mecula]

Now that I think about it, he was probably 8-9 years old.