Medicating and water change. Very confused.

[Nautilus]

Please share your expertise to solve this confusing problem.
I just started treating one sick fish (newly purchased) in a hospital tank with Mardel Maracyn tablets + Maracide. (The fish has Ick and maybe fungus) The instruction says to add a dose daily for 5 days. However, my hospital tank is only 2,5G, and I have to change 100% water every 48 hours to avoid ammonia build up.
Should I still add one dose after changing the water, or add as much as it was in the old water plus the new dose? Does medication lose its power after 24 hours, or it still remains and accumulates in the water if you don't do water change?
Please give your opinion. Thank you

 

[greenmaji]

Maybe fungus? it is never good to treat for something when you dont know for sure that what it has or not.. JMHO. you dont have a filter of some kind in the QT tank? do you have a filter you can age overnight in your main tank to avoid the ammonia buildup?
You can treat ick with heat, preferred method over medication..
when I do have to use medication and change the water I use enough medication for the new water.
how often are you suppose to use more according to the directions?

 

[Jchillin]

What type of fish are you treating?
There is no reason to change 100% of water every 48 hours.

 

[greenmaji]

I was guessing the tank wasnt cycled or something Jchillin.. it sounds like bad news to me.. :?

 

[Nautilus]

Thank you experts for your replies. Now I will answer your questions:

1. I am treating my new platy in the 2.5G QT with little internal filter, but I don't cycle it for it doesn't make sense if the medication will kill the good bacteria anyway. Moreover, every time I change the water and wash the filter, I rinse the filter sponge with boiling water. I don't want any "bad" bacteria to live in the filter with "good" bacteria.

2. The temperature in the tank is almost 80F. It is very warm in the room, and the little internal filter is warming the water too. I don't have a heater for such a small tank, but cannot use its light either, because it heats the water for more than 86F. In addition to medications I also added salt - 1 teaspoon per gallon.

3. "Ichillin", I changed the water so often maybe because I overfed the fish. After 48 hours the ammonia test reading was about 0.10 - 0.20 PPM. Now I feed only once daily, and less than usual. Will see if it decreased the waste..

4. "Greenmagi", I know for sure that my fish got Ich, but it is really hard to tell if the bigger and long white spot on her tail is fungus or columnaris. It is still in the beginning stage. The Ich spots are cleared up by now, but the bigger spot is still there. I have to treat for 5 days with dose of Maracyn One and Maracyn Two, and every other day with a dose of Maracide. Maracide has Malachite Green in it which is effective against protozoan like Ick and also against fungi. And Maracynes treat gram positive and gram negative bacteria that is columnaris. Hope it will work. I understand you mentioned that if you change the water you add as much medicine as it is required for that amount of water. But how about a new dose? And should I replenish all the amount I added before? This is the question that confuses me.

Thank you again for suggestions.

 

[greenmaji]

experts? not exactly...LOL..
when it comes to feeding fish once a day and only as much as they can completely consume in a miniute or two.
to treat ick you would normally slowly increase the water temperature to 86-87 degrees slowly.. 2 degrees in a 24 hour period...and keep it the temperature constant at this level for 2 weeks.. raising the temperature increses the fishes matabilisum causing the other problems to increase the speed in wich the other illness's will progress..
that level of ammonia is not enough to change all the water by the way.. in fact there is no level of ammonia that you should change all of the water.. this will cause shock and more illness.. partial water changes like 25% would help with low levels of ammonia
fungus lookes fuzzy if that helps diagnose the problem
it sounds like your useing a leathal dose of medications 8O and the ick has a life cycle of 2 weeks.. I would do the heat treatment after you treat the other problem.. trying to treat all the problems at once will more than likely kill the fish..
you have to do the math on the new dose by the way..remeber if you take 25% out and only treat that water then you have to rember that there is still all the medication in the remaining 75% depending on the medication if there is another dose you might just need a normal dose..

 

[greenmaji]

not all medications kill bacteria.. by the way.. and "bad bacteria" is from the lack of O2, not sick fish and medication... boiling the spounge is not nessasary if the tank is a QT tank and doing it while its in use is just a bad idea.. maybe when the tank is empty you could do this, I would assume you would be breaking it down.. boil it then if it makes you feel better..

 

[Nautilus]

it sounds like your useing a leathal dose of medications 8O and the ick has a life cycle of 2 weeks.. I would do the heat treatment after you treat the other problem.. trying to treat all the problems at once will more than likely kill the fish..

Dear "Greenmagi", thanks again for your reply.

My fish is doing fine on the "lethal dose 8O" of Ick medication. The fish is active, alert and eats with good appetite.

I dose medication according the package direction. It was also a nice surprise to me that ick cleared so fast. But I suppose that it was not cured yet, but just left the fish and started its free swimming stage. Yesterday the second dose of ick medication was added, and hopefully will prevent parasite from infesting the fish again. From your description of the heat treatment I see that it might do more harm than good. I don't want additional stress to already sick fish. The temperature in the tank is 80F, and there are salt and medications in the water.

It is true that to treat many problems at once may kill the fish. But not in my case. You are probably not familiar with Mardel brand of medications I use. These medications are designed specifically for using them concurrently, and in the manual they say "Whenever treating for parasites, always use one of the Mardel antibiotics to prevent secondary infection". All Mardel treatments have been tested for safety, and I like it.
The strange white spot is not growing, it seems even getting smaller. Hopefully my fishie will recover. Ammonia was 0 after 48 hours, and I decided not to change the water during 5 days treatment recommended.

Thanks again for your reply and advise.

 

[greenmaji]

I have a high opinion of Mardel products actually I first used them more than a decade ago.. so I dont think Im unaware of them...
the heat treatment is actually not harmful, tropical fish are accustom to these temperatures in the wild during the summer, and I said that I would use it after the other illness were gone..
and hopefully the medication for ick did get them.. if you dont see any ick after 2 weeks I would assume that it was dead and not treat for ick.. heat or chemical..
Most LFS dont tell you that the package instructions of most medications can be harmful, expesially if you throw more medications in the mix with them.. you didnt give us an idea of how the fish are doing.. they seem to be doing well.. im sure your keeping an eye on them..
you need to check the nitrite level as well.. 0 ammonia is good news though..
sorry if you found my advise harsh at all.. but as far as the thanks go your welcome!

 

[Nautilus]

Thanks, Greenmagi
It is good to know someone with such a big experience, who knows Mardel medications.
I would like to ask you about Maracide treatment for Ick, if you used it. It says treat on the day 1, 3 and 5. It is only one week. Can I treat for one more cycle?

 

[greenmaji]

I wouldnt use it longer than they have on the instructions.. Ive used Maracyn One and Maracyn Two, not the Maracide.. but as I said if I would consider using a chemical medication for ick I would definitely consider that brand..