Hi, I have a dilama, I recently purchased 4 neon blue guppies for my aquarium, when I intergratted them into the tank with my other guppies and mollies and 2 Cory catfish they were fine for a couple of days then they got sick and died, now my 2 black mollies have white spot I’ve treated the whole tank with white spot treatment and salt, but now my Cory seems really sick, he’s lying on his side in the plant , if I open the lid he swims away behind the rocks, is there anything I can do to help him ? I’ve read that salt isn’t good for corys, is this true ?
Corys
- Thread starter lisa73
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Salt and medication in general is not good for corys.
Are you still treating the tank?
Are you still treating the tank?
The usual recommendation is to go with half medication when you are keeping fish intolerant to medication.
Personally, i would do a big water change to get rid of the salt and medication. Half dose of medication. Raise the water temperature to high 86f/30c and keep that up for a week.
You have to remember that medicating fish is stressful. But ich will stay in the tank, reinfecting fish until its killed off.
Personally, i would do a big water change to get rid of the salt and medication. Half dose of medication. Raise the water temperature to high 86f/30c and keep that up for a week.
You have to remember that medicating fish is stressful. But ich will stay in the tank, reinfecting fish until its killed off.
I wanted to update you on my aquarium, after taking your advice, I did a large water change and turned the temperature up to 30c and it seems to have worked my Corey catfish is back to normal health and the mollies and guppies all seem ick free, a huge thank you to you for the great advice ??
Ich has a life cycle.
The infectious stage where there are the visible signs of infection, the white spots, is a stage where the ich parasite cant be killed. Your fish will either survive this or not, regardless of any treatment. After this infectious stage, the parasite leaves the fish and goes into the water and then the substrate to reproduce. Once its reproduced the parasite will go free swimming back into the water to look for a host fish.
Its only during this freeswimming stage that the parasite can be killed.
The time it takes for the parasite to go through this life cycle is dependant on water temperate. At 30C it takes about a week, at typical tropical aquarium temperature about a month, and at temperate water temperature 2 or 3 months.
What you have seen is the parasite leaving the fish. Its not necessarily dead yet. Its important that the treatment is still in the water when the parasite goes free swimming so it can be killed off, otherwise it will just find a fish host, reinfect it, and you are back at square one. Ensure you keep up the higher temperature and treatment in the water for another 3 or 4 days after your fish is clear of visible infection to ensure the parasite is killed off and your tank is clear of infection.
I should also raise that you bought infected fish. Ich doesnt spontaneously appear. In future, knowing the store is selling ich infected fish i would be careful about more fish from the same store. Consider quarantining new fish for a couple of weeks before adding them into your display tank to avoid reintroducing ich into your tank.
The infectious stage where there are the visible signs of infection, the white spots, is a stage where the ich parasite cant be killed. Your fish will either survive this or not, regardless of any treatment. After this infectious stage, the parasite leaves the fish and goes into the water and then the substrate to reproduce. Once its reproduced the parasite will go free swimming back into the water to look for a host fish.
Its only during this freeswimming stage that the parasite can be killed.
The time it takes for the parasite to go through this life cycle is dependant on water temperate. At 30C it takes about a week, at typical tropical aquarium temperature about a month, and at temperate water temperature 2 or 3 months.
What you have seen is the parasite leaving the fish. Its not necessarily dead yet. Its important that the treatment is still in the water when the parasite goes free swimming so it can be killed off, otherwise it will just find a fish host, reinfect it, and you are back at square one. Ensure you keep up the higher temperature and treatment in the water for another 3 or 4 days after your fish is clear of visible infection to ensure the parasite is killed off and your tank is clear of infection.
I should also raise that you bought infected fish. Ich doesnt spontaneously appear. In future, knowing the store is selling ich infected fish i would be careful about more fish from the same store. Consider quarantining new fish for a couple of weeks before adding them into your display tank to avoid reintroducing ich into your tank.
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