Save their souls - sick fishies!

Sensamelia

HEEEELP!!!!! Save Their Souls!

about these little white dots.......hmmmmm.....this has been my issue since monday and now its friday and my fish have been slowly dying.. :( I thought it was ich, and can be treated with ich. :( My fish are very lathargic and dont want to eat, :( well one out of three will eat......I have a plecko too and he seems great. (So do my snails) But i want them to live, Im at work right now, and since ive just been paid i was heading straight to my local aquarium store to purchase some ich.

My rutsy has been affected since monday and just yesterday (Thursday) one of my cobalts is getting bloated (which i may understand why) but his eyes have started to bog out of his head.....:( any suggestions, I was thinking (b/c im an idiot and dont have one) of taking a water sample to the fish store and maybe they can see if there is anything wrong.

If ur not sure, no worries.

Twistersmom

Taking some water to the store, would be a good idea. If you have the money, pick up an API liquid test kit while you are there.

Any water quality problems can make fish vulnerable to ick and make ick hard to get rid of.

Have you started any type of ick treatment on the fish? Please post the results of the water test and that will be a good place to start.

Sensamelia

I will.........I am on my way to the store now.......after a dirty smoke..........i will take a sample......

artgalnj

I remember from a recent post we suggested that you get some test kits. Its impossible for anyone to help without knowing what the water parameters are in your tank. Are you still doing partial water changes? Without knowing what the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph levels are it's difficult to figure out what's going on in your aquarium.

Sensamelia

Thanks for that advice, however my pocket book didnt suggest i attend the situation for a few days....

My Nitrates are at 0.5

My ammonia is at .25 I was told that they are roughly in the middle.

I have one fish who is suffering ick (and the others potentially)
and the other with popeye...

I have two apples snails that i have seperated for the first treatment of ick.....due to the copper levels inthe meds.
My tank was started roughly 3 months ago, so it could have a "fresh tank" flu...
I just treated them now. forthe first time. 8pm mountain time.

Thank you very much for you responses ;) :(

Sensamelia

Yes i am doing regular water changes and the water in my city is perfect for my malawi cichlids for PH. 7.5 - 8.2

British

You may not be able to add the snails back (from what I know) the copper will seep into the sealant in the tank, making it nearly impossible to add inverts.

Twistersmom

Did the store give you a nitrite reading?

With ammonia in the tank, I would do a water change before adding more ick meds. Also, what med are you using for the ick?

What temp is the tank?

Sensamelia

Tank is at 78 almost 80 for temperature....no they didnt give me a nitrite. :(

Ya i was doing the 25% change each eve, but the girl at the store said it would be ok once a week......but i would do it every day if it meant saving them....

The ick med is called Maracide............by a company named Virbac,,,,,,
and the pop eye med is called maracyn, but i wont be doing those treatments at the same time.

i started with ick, the store told me that ick is most contagious to my tank at this point.

eeeeeek, since ive moved my snails they have this brown slimy stuff attached to them. eeek

i hope these guys pick up soon.

artgalnj

Twistersmom is right about doing a partial water change before adding more meds. Can you post a pic of your sick fish? That would be the best way for anyone to try and id what illness your fish have.

IF your fish has ich, you'll want to raise the temp in the tank but you should first research online if your fish can handle a higher temperature. Plus, some fish have a hard time w/ ich medication, and I don't know if your snails can handle it (I've never had snails and I don't know anything about them). Someone stated above that the medication may not be good for snails, research that before medicating. HOWEVER if its not ich and it's a fungus, making the water temperature warmer would be a very bad thing for a fungus. That's why its important to try and id the disease properly before medicating whenever possible.

Last thing, and this is just my personal advice. There are only 2 fish stores around me that I would ever take advice from and they are not the two "larger chain stores". Just because the person at the petstore said the city water is a good ph for cichlids, it would be a wise idea for you to test it yourself. I'm not saying that the PH is the cause of your fish being sick, but early on in a newer tank, water parameters can fluctuate overnight. Many fish stores offer free water testing, so if possible take advantage of that service.