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What I did was to put 1 gallon of aquarium water in a bucket, add 4 teaspoons of salt (I used rock salt, because that's what I had, make sure it's an appropriate salt for use with fish -- i.e. no anti caking additives), and once it dissolved in the water, I placed the fish in the bucket and monitored it closely for signs of stress (other than the stress of being netted and put in a bucket that is). As long as they swim properly, they're fine. If you see something that worries you, take them out and put them back in the tank. As mine showed no such signs, I left it there for 30 minutes.

This is already a reduced strength solution, I didn't want to use full strength because I was worried about salt and cories.

As cories are pretty shy and pretty fast, you and them are going to be very stressed from just trying to net them, so my other tip is to do it before you turn their lights out, so they can recover from the shock over-night in the dark.

I hope this will work for you as good as it did for me. I thought I was going to lose that fish, but that single salt dip made such an immense improvement to his health that I kicked myself for not doing it earlier.

Last edited by untitled at 25-Nov-2004 03:53

Last edited by untitled at 25-Nov-2004 03:55

Well another is dead. The anti parasite food didn't work. I haven't had time to try the salt dip. I will try that tomorrow, but I hope it isn't too late. What can I do to ensure that any new fish added to the tank will not catch this? A big water change? I hope the others don't die.

Ok, a word of advice, first, do a big water change on your tank. Match the PH and Temperature exactly, and make sure you add Prime, or Aquasafe, or some other water conditioner. in my opinion, Prime is the best, it lasts 10 times longer than any other bottle of water conditioner.
Now, go to your LFS, and get two medications. Get MELAFIX, and get Kent Marine RX-P. The melafix will help heal the fishes wounds (could be super tiny), and if there are any parasites (ich, velvet, flukes, etc), the RX-P will clear it up. Its harmless to all fish and most invertebrates. Add 1 capful per 10 Gallons every 2nd day, and do a water change on day 6, then continue for the remainder. Treat for 14 full days (7 doses of RX-P).
This should clear it up. You might also consider a bottle of PIMAFIX, and dose every 2nd day along with the Melafix.
Harsh medications, like Malachite green and copper salts, can have seriously detrimental effects on fish. You should always consider going with the most natural, least harmful medication possible. Melafix, Pimafix, and Rx-P, are all natural ingredients, guaranteed not to harm or stress your fish. Dont overdose any of them though! Melafix and Pimafix should never ever be dosed daily. Always skip a dose, and do a 30% water change before a 4th dose is added. Melafix and Pimafix can both be lethal if overdosed. Carbon does not remove these medications very quickly.
Personally, I would avoid using any medications that contain dyes (malachite green, methylene blue, gentian violet, etc) or preservatives (formalin, copper salts, etc). All of these meds are outdated and harmful to different types of fish. Avoid them if possible.
Good luck! Keep us posted, and try my advice, It may just help you out.
Also, can you tell me what type of filtration system is on your tank, just for the heck of it?



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I did the salt dip tonight, and I hope that works out. If it doesn't then I'll try your suggestion. I have an Aqua Clear 200 on my 32 gallon.

Let us know how things are going. I hope the remaining fish will get better quickly.

They were never shy until now. They are still scraping, but their colour is starting to come back and they still have a few spots. I have a cave in the aquairum but they seem to like hiding under the driftwood. I still have the med in there because they seem to be slowly getting better. Their eating habbits are normal.

Is that some type of copper solution? (copper salts, copper sulfate, etc.)

I was editing to add this link and saw you replied already. Here is that link again. It's on fish stress from the Univeristy of Florida Extension Service.

[link=http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FA005]http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FA005" style="COLOR: #C000C0[/link]

Well the link didn't work and the med contains sodium chloride and malachite green. I think I am going to do a repeat dose. I just did a water change so some of the med is out. No improvement in the cories yet, they've had this for 2 weeks now . One of them has a white spot underneath his dorsal fin. Another one seems to be pale. They are eating and come out for food but spend most of the day hiding.

I'm not even sure anymore if they have velvet. After reading about other diseases I think it could be Skin & Gill Flukes. My water parameteres are fine and I did a 20% water change. They flash themselves against aquarium gravel, they breathe heavily, the fish isolate themselves and lie at the bottom with fins clamped. Also they have cloudy skin and one has a white spot underneath its dorsal fin. Any ideas?

"Oodinium pillularis is the cause of velvet, is a dinoflagellate that in it's parasitic phase on the fish can attain a size of more than 100 microns, making it just visible as a light spot with the naked eye. The Skin, gills and often intestines are affected. In severe infections the fish takes a velvet texture (as you mention de cloudy skin), the coating looking yellow to yellowish brown." Taked from "handbook of fish diseases" Dieter Untergasser.

Possible Treatments:
1.- Heat treatment.- The temp should be raised slowly and not more than 1 Celcius hourly. The rational of this therapy is to create an environment in wich the pathogen is no longer viable to reproduce. NOT ALL SPECIES OF FISH CAN TOLERATE HIGHER TEMPERATURES. Oodinium 33-34 Celcius for 24 to 36 Hours. Absolutely clean water and good aeration is essential

2.- Quinine Sulfate, quinine HCl.- Dosage: 1g quinine to 100 liters water as a continuous bath for 3 days.
Quinine poisons fish that are sensitive to it and lower animals do not tolerate very well. Quinine HCl is preferred over quinine sulfate. Altough quinine decomposes after some time in water, it is better to filter out over activated charcoal after the treatment. It's safer to treat the fish in a separate small tank and then treat the aquarium by itself. That way no fish will die when thw water is poured into the aquarium. Afterward change all the water. Transfer the fish to separate treatment tanks containing freshly prepared medication if the aquarium water becomes turbid.

3.- Copper sulfate.-
Stock Solution: 1g copper sulfate and 0.25g citric acid to 1 liter of destillated water.
Dosage: 12.5ml to 10 liters of aquarium water for 10 days. Administer half of this on days three, five and seven.

Test reagents for copper have been available for some time now among the diagnostic sets for water chemistry. During the treatment the copper content should be between 0.12mg/L and 0.18mg/L. Test every other day and add any missing copper.

Ok those are the methods this book recommends, what I would do is to buy some copper based medication, raise the temp to 30 Celcius (32-34 is way too much for me)and follow the instructions of the med you get. Method 2 is too risky for me

Hope this could help
Regards
Hectornull

The person at the lfs told me it was copper based and i have my temp at 28 celcius and i follwed the instructions on the bottle. I have 2 questions. Is it velvet or a different disease? And, if it is velvet how long should I leave the med in for? It said to put it in for 3 consecutive days which I did, but still no improvement.

Try to make a water change and in the new water add the missing medication, if you have MSN maybe We could check online in the books I have to verify the diagnostic, my msn is shown below. Good look

Hector

I don't think it is velvet. I think it is Skin & Gill Flukes. The cories have very simlar symptoms to flukes also.

Last edited by ericm at 22-Oct-2004 18:51

A word of very serious caution....

If you have any malachite green left in the tank, you do not want to add anything with copper. The combo can be deadly.

Copper cannot be filtered out with carbon. However, follow instructions from the manufacturer for filtering out any of the med you used, should you switch to copper.

If you filter out what you have, and let the tank rest a few days, you can try Parasite Clear Tank Buddies fizz tabs. This has an ingredient called praziquantel, which is effective against flukes. It will not work on ich or velvet, but does work for internal parasites and flukes. If the active ingredient is praziquantel (Jungle reformulated and the old version without the prazi may still be on shelves), it can safely be dosed at full strength, even for cories. However, these fish are already sickly and could expire regardless. Don't mistake it for a reaction to the medicine at this point.

Monitor ammonia and nitrite levels while medicating. You could end up with a sudden spike with some meds.

Itching can also be caused by other factors. Is it happening daily regardless of time? Or, is it happening soon after water changes?

What is the pH? Are you using pH adjusters?

My pH is stable at 7.6. Hasn't dropped or raised at all since I started the aquarium. I don't use any pH adjusters. It has been a few weeks and they are still sick! What is wrong with them? The med has been in there for almost 2 weeks now. They look a bit better but they will only come out for food.

Is it strictly their behavior now - like in, shy? Or, are they scratching and scraping yet? Have you filtered out all other meds?

If it is strictly a shyness issue, then I would ask if you have alot of hiding places for them. I jammed my tank initially with several caves and dense thickets of fake plants. What happened is that they became reclusive over time. Initially they were outgoing and I believe that by giving them so much cover, they don't like being out unless they have to. I started to stand back away from the tank and noticed they were active when I wasn't around.

Also, I've found my cories are more active at certain times during the day for only short spurts.

If they are of good weight, good color, are feeding and have no scraping or other symptoms of parasites, I'd say they are fine.

Make sure that "dusting" or coating isn't their regular appearance. My cories have a subtle irridescence that, in the early days, I panicked and thought was velvet. I did not treat because they weren't flicking, then I realized it was just how they looked. They have a "twinkle"

I used a half dose of the medication, since it said to use half the dose for cories, tetras, and scaleless fish. Should I try adding in a full dose? If yes, could i just add in another half dose since I have half in there now?

...?

How are you doing?, are there any progress??

Yes there is some progress. There colour has come back but they still have some spots on them. They eat with no problem but they still hide all day. I am running carbon to remove all the meds and I am going to medicate again in a week or so.

How are the paramters (give current numbers please)?

I once thought my cories and otos had ich and it turned out to be just debris from the aquarium that dropped down onto them. Since they don't move much that can happen easily. My rule of thumb is that I shouldn't see the same spot from one day to the next and I always consider whether they are currently flicking. If they aren't scraping themselves against the gravel, then please don't medicate. Focus on frequent water changes (20% weekly) with same temp water. The water should never float several degrees during a water change or it causes temp stress.

Once again, my cories are very shy. They use to sit by the glass and were very confident, even when I walked by the tank or sat in front of it. I jam-packed the tank with decco & plants making lots of hidey places. Since I did this, not only do the cories hide, the otos hide too. They no longer come out on the glass during the day.

I find my cories are quite active around mid-morning. I see this when i have a day off. I thought they were sleeping all day, but I notice that my tank goes through nap periods where everyone just takes a nap. This usually happens about early evening when I come home.

They are scraping themselves against rocks and the gravel. I will post water parameters tomorrow since I have not had a chance to test today. They were always active and never hid before all this started happening. It isn't debris from the aquarium either. I am removing all the medication from the aquairum and if they get better I won't medicate again.

Do you actually see any white spots (ich) or gold-dusting (velvet)? Look at the gills if you can and see if they look red and irritated.

If the gill area looks enflamed and this is what they are attempting to "scratch", then I would immediately pick up the new "Anti-Parasite", medicated feed by Jungle. After discussing it with Jungle, they informed me that it is only available at PetSmart at this time. It will be more widely available later. This has a med called Praziquantel which is one of the most effective for gill flukes.

Jungle Anti-Parasite Link

Last edited by Cory_Di at 02-Nov-2004 17:17

So if I had a ich/velvet med in there, why do they seem to be getting better?

I'm not sure what you are asking.

Waterborne ich meds are good for ich or velvet. However, Praziquantel was a med that was not readily available to most consumers without buying it as the brand name Droncit (dog dewormer)

My original question to you is - do you see white spots or a gold dusting? If not, does the gill area on one side or the other, or both sides appera red or inflamed? If yes, then the fish could have a gill parasite. Those meds you are using should be effective for that, provided you follow directions.

I suggested the medicated feed because it doesn't have to go into the tank and mess up the water.

Oh ok, well they do have red inflamed gills but they also have a dusting or a coating over their skin.