SO MAD!!!!!!

[Poocooper]

I have an 125 gallon african cichlid tank which has been in use for 2 years. I bought a cobalt blue cichlid with the red dorsal fin 2 days ago to add to my beautiful tank. Well I do not have a hospital tank for new additions so after acclimation I put the fish right in. Yesterday one of my auratus appeared to have costia,so today I treated the tank with rid-ich after a 25% water change. The first few hours the fish were fine. Oddly enough it was when I left to get more rock for the aquarium and returned to find my tank extremely cloudy and half of my fish DEAD .The rest of the fish were gasping for air at the top of the tank. I did a quick 50% water change and the survivors are acting better. What in the world happened, I have used rid-ich before with no problem before. I am devastated . Any idea what happened or what I could do to help survivors? More water changes?

 

[talloulou]

Sorry about your loss. I recently bought a firemouth that looked lilke it might have ick the day after I bought it. And I too got pissed and realized I goofed by not using a QT tank. I gave the fish a salt bath and then used the high temp method and within a day or so the spots went away and so far no other fish are showing signs or symptoms. I'm not really sure if the fish actually in fact had ick since it seemed so easy to deal with.

Is costia the same as ick? If it is they have a great sticky about battling ick with heat vs the meds. Unfortunately some of those meds are so harsh they make problems worse so I try to avoid using any meds in my tank. Although it seems strange that rid ick would kill off your fish so quick like that....are you sure you dosed correctly?

As far as helping the survivors I would put new carbon in my filter to take out any remaining meds in the water. Then I would test the water and make sure everything is still in balance and I didn't lose my biological filter. You want to have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. I like to keep my nitrates under 40 ppm but I am unsure what a good reading is for a larger tank.

If your numbers look good then I would just continue with regular maintenance like you normally do and keep my fingers crossed no other fish come down sick. If others do start having ick symptoms use the heat method.

If there is a problem with your numbers and your tank is going through a mini cycle due to the meds then you will have to do alot more water changes until numbers are looking good again. Hope that helps.

 

[Poocooper]

Thank you for the reply, the survivors are acting normal. I added some new carbon as you suggested, I usually do not have any in there at all. I lost 11 african cichlids . I still cannot believe it. I plan on on doing another water change tomorrow. I am still not sure what happened. I will think twice before EVER putting meds in my tank again.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Sorry to hear that Poocooper. I've never used Rid-Ich, but like talloluou said, there are better ways to treat beside using medicines. You could have overdosed on it accidentally (the active ingredients, probably methylene blue in this case, are mostly poisions) and overdosing can be very detrimental. It could have killed some of your bacteria, raising your ammonia, which would explain why your fish were breathing at the surface like they were.

Sorry, again.

 

[fearlessfisch]

My condolences. I feel for you...I lost nearly a whole tank to rid-ich, too, a long time ago. I have used the heat treatment for ich ever since, with good results. I will never go back to medications for ich.

 

[Poocooper]

Thanks for the replys, since the water change and adding the carbon my water has gone from ultra cloudy to crystal clear and the survivors are acting as though nothing has happened. Darn you rid-ich!!!!!!

 

[spongebobson]

Sorry about your loss. I just lost 7 bettas because of dropsy.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I know how you feel Poocooper. I bought 2 yellow labs and brought them home. Instead of QTing them I put them straight into the tank. Turns out they had Heximitosis and it killed over 10 of my African Cichlids.