Should I medicate all of the aquarium Inhabitants ?

[WildJon]

none of my fish are showing signs of any issues. however , I had about 4 or 5 Corydoras' die due to what was presumed to be Septicemia about a month ago after bringing them home from the LFS, which most of the corys ended up dying at the store All of the fish are eating well , active and showing nice coloration. (All good signs) But what about what I Cannot see , that is what is worrisome. Most of my fish are wild caught and consist of :

4 Corydora Julii
1 Corydora Plateatus
1 BN Pleco
6 Bleeding Heart Tetra
6 Rummy Nose tetra
1 X Ray tetra
16 Cardinal tetra.

So my question is this "What should i treat these fish for and if I am not seeing anything wrong Should I even Bother treating them ?" the level of caution I am taking now is a lot greater than when I put these fish into the aquarium. I will be adding some jumbo stendker discus but before that I Need to know how I can make my aqauarium safe for all current and new inhabitants

The first and most important step is acquiring a quarantine tank for the new inhabitants. But I do require help on what to do since I have a tank full of un quarantined fish

[Larry Grenier]

Not an answer but...
You say "I have a tank full of un quarantined fish". Yes, they are in quarantine; the whole tank is now the quarantine tank and it's not ready for discus. Your fish are in-quarantine and you've found a problem; what the quarantine tank is for, so hold-off on adding any new fish until you are sure you no-longer have any problems.

[WildJon]

Not an answer but...
You say "I have a tank full of un quarantined fish". Yes, they are in quarantine; the whole tank is now the quarantine tank and it's not ready for discus. Your fish are in-quarantine and you've found a problem; what the quarantine tank is for, so hold-off on adding any new fish until you are sure you no-longer have any problems.

You are right , this is now the quarantine tank . I Think i may have the culprit here. I Have noticed white Granules on one of my BH Tetra , had just witnessed some flashing going on between my Cory Plateatus and one of the BH tetra's spazzed out and started flashing off some driftwood.

pH is 7.6 ppm
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 5-10 ppm
Temp 83 F

here are some photos of the tetra . Would this explain the crazy behavior i have been noticing of late in the tank ?85970859718597285973

[jmf3460]

tiny spot of ich to me, huge water changes, raise temp to max your plants/fish can stand, and add some malachite green/formalin (quick cure) I have found that with regular waterchanges most fish are healthy enough to ward off ich so you might just do a bunch of large water changes, raise the temp and not add chemicals at all??? This coming from a person that does not add chemicals to her tank too liberally.

[Larry Grenier]

I have never seen 1 prominent spot of "ich" but who knows. It normally looks like many very very tiny white spots.

[WildJon]

It could just be a bite from the other tetra , It's caudal fin looks like it has been nipped a bit along with its dorsal fin. also these spots don't look like the infested fish I have seen on the internet , what would explain the flashing ?

I am currently doing 2x 50 % water changes every week.

[jmf3460]

ive seen ich in only one spot before, the next day it was everywhere like white on rice...2x 50% a week needs to be more like 50% or more a day. ich is easily cleared IME. if that's what it is.

[pitdogg2]

tiny spot of ich to me, huge water changes, raise temp to max your plants/fish can stand, and add some malachite green/formalin (quick cure)

There really is no need to introduce Malachite green/Formalin at temps above 86* as it speeds up the ICH cycle to a point that it can't sustain. For many years now all I have down is cranked up the heat and used plain salt if anything and the ich goes away very fast like 2-3 days GONE. This is a proven method by a very well know fish keeper that shared it at the ACA site. Me Myself I put 2+2 together when I kept big bruiser cichlids when I'd feed minnows in the winter I'd get ich but in the summer when my tanks would go up to 95* ich came and went too fast to ever treat.

Keeping Discus means that we only have to go down a few degrees unlike 72* water which a rapid drop in temp can cause ICH.

[WildJon]

ive seen ich in only one spot before, the next day it was everywhere like white on rice...2x 50% a week needs to be more like 50% or more a day. ich is easily cleared IME. if that's what it is.

Alright , when I get home tonight I'm going to start a 50% daily water change regiment , dose with Aquarium salt and bring the temp to 86F. I Will keep you guys posted and hopefully this will work it's self out in a few days.

You are all so helpful .

[pitdogg2]

Canning salt not any table salt that has iodine

[WildJon]

i just read that Aquarium salt is a Big No No with Scaleless fish . Which would be my BN pleco and Corys . hmm my only two options would be to Crank my aquarium up to 92f to kill it, or use half dose of Melachite green to see if the fish are okay with it .

[jmf3460]

id go 86 and waterchanges no malachite no salt just waterchanges and heat. on another note ive dosed salt with plecos/corydoras plenty of times with no ill regards.

[sdrexler078]

Table salt with iodine is ok. I've never had any bad situations from iodine salt. Also I'd hold off on heat and watch closely. If it isn't ick and is a bacterial infection of some kind high heat can make it worse. I've always believed in a sure and proper diagnosis before treatment

[Chaz88]

i just read that Aquarium salt is a Big No No with Scaleless fish . Which would be my BN pleco and Corys . hmm my only two options would be to Crank my aquarium up to 92f to kill it, or use half dose of Melachite green to see if the fish are okay with it .

Have never had a problem with cory cats or plecos with salt. But I never used a high dose of salt with them. I have always heard to avoid iodine with fish but do occasionally hear that people use it, I never have.

[WildJon]

Hey Guys , I decided to go with Seachem's product called "Paraguard which contains melachite green. I'm going to keep you all posted here. the one Tetra which appears to have the Ich is just hanging out in the corner and has separated it's self from the group. if after a few days I don't see any improvement i'm going to take it out and treat it separately in a quarantine tank .

Thanks guys

[pitdogg2]

i just read that Aquarium salt is a Big No No with Scaleless fish . Which would be my BN pleco and Corys . hmm my only two options would be to Crank my aquarium up to 92f to kill it, or use half dose of Melachite green to see if the fish are okay with it .


id go 86 and waterchanges no malachite no salt just waterchanges and heat. on another note ive dosed salt with plecos/corydoras plenty of times with no ill regards.


these are not smooth skin fish like channel catfish. they have plates which are large scales. I have used large salt doses on both with never a problem

Iodine can have bad effects on the bio filter, Iodide on the other have is safe as it is used with African cichlids and salt water fish.

[brewmaster15]

Jon,
The one with the spot thats isolated itself looks like the margins of its tail are eroding away..

Could you post some more current pictures? Im in interested in the sick one...but also everyone else. At this point I would not take anyone out. If its a protozoan..they all have it by now.
al