Scraping Fish

[Ichthyosporidium]

Ich- That's cool and great info thanks, but as cowardice as this may sound, I professionally must refrain from providing information on exceeding the prescibed use of medication instructions, thanks for helping to balance this out for me and feel free to do so anytime.

Will

It is best to allways follow the manufacturer's instructions first and foremost. They did afterall, spend the hundreds if not, millions of dollars developing the product and therefore know best on the dosage and use for their product. That is regardless of product type. My advice is anecdotal so Will, you are correct in staying within the parameters of the manufacturer's instructions, especially if you are not familiar with the product.

[Chopperman]

Ive seen my loaches and synodontis eupterus flashing now for a week or so my tank temp is up to 30 celsius/86 fahrenheit for the past 3 days now and ive put 12 tbsp of salt in over the past 3 days now. Same sort of symptons as you fishnut. So we'll see what happens over the next few weeks. Good Luck. Does anyone know if the beginning of winter may cause any tank instabilities, cause lately I've noticed both my tanks have seen better times?

[Shai]

Does anyone know if the beginning of winter may cause any tank instabilities, cause lately I've noticed both my tanks have seen better times?

Good question. I haven't had any problems at all this year either until just this last week...beaten up tetra, and the cherry barbs I just bought have ich, les sigh...

It wouldn't surprise me if the changing season had something to do with it in some indirect way. Just as some people suffer headaches and other maladies when the weather changes, perhaps fish can react too. Plus, with the weather getting colder, our furnaces actually have to work to keep our homes at a stable temperature, the lag time for which can cause our tanks to "chill" until the heaters can also play catchup.

[Krystle]

I can't imagine why someone would treat ich with harsh meds that will wipe out their biofilter, when using increased temperature and salt will eradicate the parasite without damaging the good bacteria and is also less stressful to the fish...? The salt treatment is also free... lol

Can anyone clear that up for me

[RD.]

The only thing that I have ever used to treat ich is Mardel's Coppersafe. In tap water with higher pH values (such as most of AB) it is very safe, and IMO may very well cause less stress to a fish than high temps, and massive doses of sodium. I'd ask the fish, but they ain't talking.

I've used this particular chelated copper treatment in tanks that contained catfish, plecos, ottos, corys, and even clown loaches, with no signs of stress from any of the fish.

Here's one 'experts' opinion why high temps & salt isn't a good idea. I can't say that I disagree with his logic, but to each their own.

So, should the temperature be raised during treatment?

Given that temperature stress might have been a contributing factor in the start of the disease it is not logical to change the temperature again. Also, increasing the temperature, as many aquarists do, might actually increases the stress on the diseased fishes.

As the water temperature increases the dissolved oxygen content is reduced proportionately. For instance, ncreasing the temperature from 20ºC to 30ºC decreases the dissolved oxygen level by more than 17%. Additionally, the metabolic rate of the fishes also increases as the temperature goes up. This causes the fishes to consume more oxygen at a time when the increased temperature causes a decrease in the oxygen concentration.

Another consideration is that typically, long before one notices cysts on the body and fins of the fishes, the gills are heavily infested with the parasites. This gill involvement means that the fishes’ breathing is much more difficult. Therefore increasing the temperature works against the diseased fishes in several ways.