ALOT OF FACTORS... the best treatment route??

[Mr. Aquaforce]

Hello there guys! I have three tanks one was an isolation tank for all of my plants until I had to separate one of my angelfish (lil blue) that I have rescued several times from near death beatings from two adult pair of angelfish in my 55 gal community tank, so lil blue has appears to be developing ich as I caught him scratching himself on the plants in the plant isolation tank... as we all know that fish medicene almost always will hurt or kill plants if they're not hardy enough. That being said I thought of putting him back in the 55 gal community, (fearing he will be bullied again as his growth as been stunted from Casteil the first angelfish I started with over two years ago, shes seriously anal!) then treat all of the fish in there as I do see one or two white spots on my other angels but they dont scratch (at least i havent seen them do so yet). To my foolishness as I dont have a spare tank sitting around other than a 75gal in the garage, I bought 6 wild angelicous loaches a little over a year ago, never had any problems until I read that it is an ABOSOLUTE MUST to medicate wild fish as they usually have intestinal parasites [emoji44][emoji44]???. One of my loaches seem a little off as he/she is breathing hard and seems alittle milky on his/her skin as another one that looks fine keeps "quarreling" if thats the right term to use? Other than that I rarely get to see them as theyre always hiding from me like theyre scared of me (same things with the cories) I think the blame goes on to my youngest kitty who likes to sit right up against the tank and watch the fishies. Or get a plastic tub and use that as a "treatment tank" I do have several different medications on hand, one of them was given to me when he got rid of his pond and koi its a 3.78 liter bottle of ICH-X by pond solutions, paragarurd of course, Maracyn Two by MARDEL. Sorry about the lengthy post. Hope someone can assist me with all of these factors that come into play -_-

 

[libertybelle]

If it’s already in your 55 you’ll have to treat the whole tank anyway unless you’re going to move every fish to quarantine.

Using a plastic tub as a treatment tank, or even using a proper quarantine tank as a treatment tank wouldn’t likely help in this case unless you’re going to move every fish in the tank.

If you could move the angel back to the 55 and treat there, the ich would die off in the plant tank on its own without a host to attach to. (You could even move any plants from the 55 that might be sensitive to meds to the plant tank for the duration of treatment.). So I guess you have to think about if the bullying is severe enough that the angel wouldn’t do well even for a short time back in the 55. Perhaps something like changing around decor before re-adding the angel might minimize the aggression and throw off territories long enough for you to treat them all together?

 

[V227]

If the sick Angel is isolated in the planted tank; might just raise the temp. To about 82 - 84 degrees, gravel vac and a small WC every other day. Chances are no meds will be needed. Loaches are very sensitive to meds, and dosing them might do more harm than good. Not a good idea to knowingly introduce a sick fish back into a healthy tank. The noted bullying likely will resume causing the sick Angel to worsen and become more or less an Ick incubator.

 

[flitabout]

I have treated ich in a planted tank with salt and various other medications and I haven't lost a plant yet. I am guessing that you use the same equipment in all of your tanks? This would most likely be how you passed it to your other tanks as ich is very contagious. Not knowing what you are stocking in your tanks leaves me unable to recommend an appropriate treatment. Normally I like to do salt/heat/and lots of water changes with heavy gravel vacs. But that isn't good with all stock. Let us know your stock and we can recommend an appropriate treatment.

 

[Mr. Aquaforce]

I have treated ich in a planted tank with salt and various other medications and I haven't lost a plant yet. I am guessing that you use the same equipment in all of your tanks? This would most likely be how you passed it to your other tanks as ich is very contagious. Not knowing what you are stocking in your tanks leaves me unable to recommend an appropriate treatment. Normally I like to do salt/heat/and lots of water changes with heavy gravel vacs. But that isn't good with all stock. Let us know your stock and we can recommend an appropriate treatment.

My stock in the 55 is 4 angelfish, 6 angelicous loach, and around 20 corydoras + lil blue when i move him back into the 55 for treatment, as for the loaches how concerned should I be? Should i try looking for meds that would be easier on the loaches?

 

[libertybelle]

Not a good idea to knowingly introduce a sick fish back into a healthy tank.

Agreed, but the problem is it’s not a healthy tank. I believe the op mentioned their other fish in the 55 have spots as well, yes? So if you leave fish in both tanks, both tanks will have to be treated. Which may still be preferable if the aggression was at a level where it would stress the fish out more even for a brief period.

What kind of plants are you concerned about? If they are indeed sensitive to the treatment you decide on could they just be moved temporarily?

 

[libertybelle]

Should i try looking for meds that would be easier on the loaches?

Loaches are sensitive to salt and many meds, probably a heat treatment would be the best bet for your loaches. I’d look up the details or wait for someone who has done it (not me!) but as far as I remember that involves adding an air stone and slowly increasing the temperature to 84-86 degrees, a temperature at which the parasite cannot infect new fish. Then water changes and gravel vacs every day or every other day until symptoms resolve.

 

[King Fisher]

Loaches are sensitive to salt and many meds, probably a heat treatment would be the best bet for your loaches. I’d look up the details or wait for someone who has done it (not me!) but as far as I remember that involves adding an air stone and slowly increasing the temperature to 84-86 degrees, a temperature at which the parasite cannot infect new fish. Then water changes and gravel vacs every day or every other day until symptoms resolve.

If going heat and salt route it's 86 degrees and 1 teaspoon of aquarium salt per gallon. Run Airstones and drop the water level a bit if you got HOB filtration to agitate the surface more (more oxygen). 20% water changes with a gravel/substrate vac twice a day. If you catch the outbreak early then this works well. There are meds for ich like Rid-Ich that work as well.

 

[Mr. Aquaforce]

Yes, the corydoras do the side roll against the subscrate, and the 55 gal isnt a healthy tank as is why i considered moving lil blue back into there but not wanting to risk the bullying again. However since the sensitivity of the loaches, I am leaning towards the salt and heat treatment. as for plants my 55 gallon was full and beautiful! Until an infestation of pond snails took over my aquarium and killed off pretty much everything in there except the anubias, tiger lily pad, and to my surprise my jungle vals decided to come back after i planted them over a year ago and thought they all died from the snails.... one day i woke up and saw the vals popping out! As for the plants in the isolation tank, I forgot the names of them, ill look for the names as i have them down somewhere, actually let me find an old thread I created.

 

[Mr. Aquaforce]

Loaches are sensitive to salt and many meds, probably a heat treatment would be the best bet for your loaches. I’d look up the details or wait for someone who has done it (not me!) but as far as I remember that involves adding an air stone and slowly increasing the temperature to 84-86 degrees, a temperature at which the parasite cannot infect new fish. Then water changes and gravel vacs every day or every other day until symptoms resolve.

I did look up some medications for them but theres not to much info on these loaches

 

[Mr. Aquaforce]

If going heat and salt route it's 86 degrees and 1 teaspoon of aquarium salt per gallon. Run Airstones and drop the water level a bit if you got HOB filtration to agitate the surface more (more oxygen). 20% water changes with a gravel/substrate vac twice a day. If you catch the outbreak early then this works well. There are meds for ich like Rid-Ich that work as well.

Thinking im going to do this method first hoping itll work

 

[Mr. Aquaforce]

 

[Mr. Aquaforce]

Thers red crypts, wysterias, 2 different kinds of anubias, and two others i cant think of

 

[libertybelle]

Looks like crypts and java fern in the picture, maybe some water wisteria in the back? The crypts can have a tendency to melt in changing conditions but even if they do they sometimes come back, Java fern and anubias are quite hardy and will probably be just fine. Wisteria might not like it. As I said before you could always take the plants that handle transplanting well (java fern, wisteria and anubias) out and put them in a bucket during the salt treatment. Just make sure you give them long enough without a host for the parasite to die off. (There are charts for that based on temperature available online.)

Loaches don’t like salt treatments much, but I have read of people doing them successfully. Might want to gradually increase the salt level to monitor their response to it so you don’t shock them.

 

[libertybelle]

(Very pretty angel, btw ? )

 

[King Fisher]

As you do the 20% water changes add 1 teaspoon per gallon of salt to the new water you put back in. This will gradually add salt to the tank over several days until your tank is running a steady 1 teaspoon per gallon of salt.

 

[Mr. Aquaforce]

Looks like crypts and java fern in the picture, maybe some water wisteria in the back? The crypts can have a tendency to melt in changing conditions but even if they do they sometimes come back, Java fern and anubias are quite hardy and will probably be just fine. Wisteria might not like it. As I said before you could always take the plants that handle transplanting well (java fern, wisteria and anubias) out and put them in a bucket during the salt treatment. Just make sure you give them long enough without a host for the parasite to die off. (There are charts for that based on temperature available online.)

Loaches don’t like salt treatments much, but I have read of people doing them successfully. Might want to gradually increase the salt level to monitor their response to it so you don’t shock them.

Yes the remaining wisteria is in the back, lost quite a bit of them. Thank you about the info on loaches! And yes lil blue is beautiful! Hes a Philippine Blue Angel got him when he was the size of a quarter

 

[Mr. Aquaforce]

As you do the 20% water changes add 1 teaspoon per gallon of salt to the new water you put back in. This will gradually add salt to the tank over several days until your tank is running a steady 1 teaspoon per gallon of salt.

Thank you!

 

[Mr. Aquaforce]

As you do the 20% water changes add 1 teaspoon per gallon of salt to the new water you put back in. This will gradually add salt to the tank over several days until your tank is running a steady 1 teaspoon per gallon of salt.

Just did a 50% water change today and added one teaspoon of salt, planning on doing a 20% water change on the 7th. When that day comes do I add 11 teaspoons of salt since 20% of 55 gal. is 11 gals??

 

[King Fisher]

It's just 1 teaspoon per gallon of new water. So if you have to add say 6 gallons on your partial water change then you would add 6 teaspoons of salt. I don't know what you use to add water in but if you have say a 1 gallon jug then you'd add one teaspoon of salt to it....so on and so forth. I wouldn't dump 11 teaspoons of salt in to make up for the remaining water in your tank. If you are doing PWC every day or two then just add the salt to the new water you are putting in. This gradually add salt to the water and gets the fish used to it IMO.