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I desperately wanted a big firemouth, and impulsively without examining bought one. The fish died within 24 hours, but I noticed it had white dusting on its body and fins and clamped fins. It was sluggish, however, the dust did not look like ich. It was much finer.

This was 4 days ago. Today, 3 of my 8 fish in the tank have the same dusting. I separated two in the morning (Breeding Jewels) but then saw that my female convict had the same dust, and the male convict was scratching himself on the gravel. I quickly dosed the main tank with Rid All Anti Ich. The jewels are in quarantine. This is my cichlid tank.

I have learnt my lesson and will quarantine all new fish I buy.

Please tell me what I need to do

Regards,
Clowny.

I would use coppersafe in conjunction with melafix. I am so sorry Clownygirl, that has happened to us all at one time or another. Hope you can get those kinds of meds in India.

Koi

Empty chairs at empty tables, the room silent, forlorn.

Thanks for your response Koi. After a lot of reading I figured it might be velvet. I had added Rid All Antiich to the tank and added salt when I procured the sick fish and realised it was sick. Temps in my tank are always high, right now its close to 80F

Do you think Rid All AntiIch (basically Methyl) will work. I am going to try to get Coppersafe, I dont get melafix here

I found [link=this site]http://www.petfish.net/articles/Bettas/velvet_betta.php" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link] that might be helpful.
It mentions that most of the medications commonly used for treatment for ich can be used for velvet as well.

As for melafix, IMO dont stress yourself about getting some. It's good as an aid in the healing process but I've never had it outright cure something without aid of waterchanges or proper medications.

^_^ [hr width='40%']"Won't you die tonight for love
Baby join me in death"~[/font]

Sounds like a very expensive impulse buy.

The one thing I try never to do is impulse buy, find out how long the fish have been in the LFS. It is just a matter of asking to when their supplies arrive then you can have a good look but never buy. If the LFS or tank is a little dark ask them to put it into a bag so that you can have a good look at the fish.

They want your custom and should be prepared to give you service.
Have a look in [link=My Profile]http://
www.fishprofiles.com/interactive/forums/profile.asp?userid=6741" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link] for my tank info

[link=Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tanks]http://photobucket.com/albums/b209/keithgh/Betta%20desktop%20tank/" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link]

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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Thanks Babel. I noticed that Malachite Green would work and I am currently using Rid All for Ich (Methyl Blue main component) but will buy something called Miracle(???) tomorrow to put in the tank. This is a 56 gallon tank, and I have put 8 handfuls (16 tablespoons of rocksalt in it).

If I cannot get anything else, I am definitely going to be able to find Malachite Green. All I needed to know, that with a full dosage of Rid All, is adding Malachite Green okay?

Clowny, don't mix the 2!! Its a bad idea to mix any kind of medications together unless they are specifically made to be used together. If you are going to switch to the Malachite Green (which is works good for parasites although Coppersafe or Aquarisol would be better if you can get your hands on it), do a water change and run carbon in your filter before adding. Don't forget to remove the carbon before you add the new medication.



Last edited by Doedogg at 18-Nov-2005 07:31

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I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
~ Mae West

Okay I managed to get me some Copper Cure by Aquamedi and added it to the tank. Will this work? Doe, I saw your post too late, the tank now has a full dosage of Copper Cure and Rid all anti ich. The fish seem fine tho

If it was me, I would do a water change and run carbon to get both medications out and then dose with the Copper Cure (I've never heard of that peticular product, but I'm guessing its like Copper Safe etc.) The fish might seem okay right now, but who knows what the long term effects will be and it would be horrible to loose more fish down the road. :#(

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I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
~ Mae West

Hello Everybody and thanks for all your replies. Every piece of information has been very helpful. Here is a short update on my cichlid tank.

I continued the 3 fold treatment because I soon realised that whatever it was, it was much more serious than Velvet. Within a day of adding the copper medications both the salvinis died. Their skin was peeling/flaking, they couldn't swim properly anyway and were breathing heavy. I don't think it was the copper because the other fish have miraculously recovered *touches wood*.

I am due for a water change in the next 16 hours or so and am thinking I will add some anti-biotics in the tank, and half-dose it with copper, or maybe, give the copper a rest.

Any suggestions?

The tank currently has the following (all healthy)

1 Breeding pair of convicts
1 Breeding pair of jewels (as of today morning trying to breed again)
2 striped raphael cats

The moment you said the disease resembled fine dust Clownygirl, I thought "aha, freshwater velvet" ...

There are actually two "Velvet" diseases that strike aquarium fishes. The better known one, that strikes marine fishes, is caused by protozoan parasites of the Genus Amyloodinium. The freshwater variety, more rarely seen but apparently a BIG problem with some Betta breeding establishments, is caused by Oodinium and Piscinoodinium parasites. All of these organisms are dinoflagellates - they are actually single-celled algae that have lost their chlorophyll and moved from photosynthesis to parasitism as a means of life.

Copper based medications will wipe out both the marine and the freshwater Velvet organisms cited above. However, for your freshwater velvet, this page by veteran British aquarist Sean Evans (I once wrote a piece about him for the Board) cites that the proprietary medications Protozin and Maracide will work against freshwater velvet.

A quick look at the instruction leaflet on my bottle of Protozin reveals the following instructions:

For Whitespot, fungus, Velvet and Costia in tropical freshwater and coldwater aquaria only. Do not use when Rays or Mormyrids (i.e., Elephant Longnose, Dolphinfish), Sturgeon and Sterlets are present. Halve dosage when Loaches, Botias, Tench and other scale-less species are present.

Dosage: 1 ml treats 15 litres of water. Use on days 1, 2, 3 and 6.

Some time ago in the chat room, I sent you a webpage listing the various distributors of Waterlike UK's medications Clownygirl - they are available in India. Here is the webpage again with the importer's address upon it. I've found protozin to be pretty effective against assorted nasties, and furthermore, it's safe with my Panda Corys. So if you can obtain some, it should prove safe should you ever need to treat your Clown Loaches for similar ailments.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002