Please help. My fish are dying

Sadie

If you need to try another med and have access to Jungle Products where you are you might try "Ick Guard II for scaless fish" Worked for me but you do have to add extra aeration but you don't have to increase the temp. I am in the US but my well water is hard as well. The loaches may have been the culprits. When I bought my YO-yo loach, I had Ick in 2 weeks and he was the first to show signs. Good luck.

MattD

Sorry to hear about your fish. :(

Keep up the work, your fish will appreciate it. :) :)

mHeinitz57

I agree with the previous post that loaches are more susceptible to ich because they are scaleless but this also means they are more sensitive to the medication. Do not use a full dose with these. I have seen them survive through full doses but sometimes the medication can be what kills them. This is the reason that I look at my fish tank almost daily and check every fish to see how they are doing. If you can catch ich fast enough you can usually treat it with simple water changes, aquarium salt and a stress coat. I've even bought oscars that had ich in the store and I treated them with just salt when I got home. Within 2 days, they had no more white spots and it hadn't spread to my other fish. Raising the temperature is always good as well because it speeds up the life cycle of the ich parasite. This allows the medication to have a stronger impact on the tomitic stage (when it is susceptible to the medication) of Ich. THe downfall of raising temperature though is that elements such as Ammonia and Nitrite are a lot more lethal at higher temps. If the water quality isn't great and you raise the temp, you may have the opposite effect that you wanted! Extreme cases of Ich often lead to secondary fungal and bacterial infections too so sometimes multiple treatments are needed (but never at the same time).

Steffiweff

Hi folks

Thanks for your support. It has been really difficult getting the problem anywhere near sorted.

Having discussed it with yet another fishy friend, I've been advised the problem is velvet. It's very similar to ich, but a lot finer - almost an icing sugar effect. I'm nearly 3 days on one tank (I got a head start with the medicine as fishy friend had some.)

I must admit, after treating with Protozin the problems do seem to be subsiding somewhat although my Siamese fighter lost his fight for survival on Sunday morning.

I just hope that my continued efforts bring things full circle.

I've been keeping the aquarium lights off, added rock salt to the water and am treating the water (having FINALLY established that my filter DOES have a carbon cartridge). Wish they'd explain these things properly when you buy them!

I'll be giving one of the local fish suppliers a wide berth in future. Okay for fish food, useless for fish.

mHeinitz57

also keep in mind that carbon will remove most medications from the water to be sure to take that out while medicating.

Steffiweff

Yeah, Mike. Finally figured THAT out last week.

Many tears have been shed in frustration, I can promise you.

mHeinitz57

awww i'm sorry to hear that Just don't let it get you down. The fish hobby can be incredibly frustrating at times but it can be also very rewarding.