Oh no! Cuipeua got ich while I am travelling

[DiscusBR]

I have been travelling since June 29th and I left behind in Rio de Janeiro my 80g with 7 Cuipeuas. A friend is going once a week to do a 55% water change. When he went there yesterday he found the fish with ich. Apparently, there has been big thunderstorms in Rio and electricity has been out a few times. He said that most likely power went off at night, which have been quite cold. One of the fish, my beloved Reddy, is laying on its side at the bottom, as shown in this pic taken by my friend:

http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee482/DiscusBR/ictio.jpg

And the worst part is that I will be back to Rio only on August 6th. I hope I don't loose my fish. For those who have not seen it yet, here is a previous video of my tank:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7rutFwz7Xw

I asked my friend, who does not know much about fish-keeping, to raise the temperature from 82 to 100 degrees. Is there anything else I can tell him to do?

Wish me good luck :(

[DiscusBR]

Correction: I asked my friend to raise the temp from 82 to 90.

[jimg]

I wouldn't raise it to 90 just get to back to where it was. cold usually does not harm them. how cold did it get? I would think from filter being off caused more problems than anything

[DiscusBR]

how cold did it get?

I have no idea.


I wouldn't raise it to 90 just get to back to where it was. cold usually does not harm them

Cold water can lead to a ich boom. This is what hapenned last year when I made a mistake during a WC and put cold water in the tank. They all got ich and the only thing that helped was hot temperature, as described in this long, old thread:

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?87891-Rough-start-I-think-my-wilds-got-ick&highlight=discusbr+ich


I would think from filter being off caused more problems than anything

What to do if that is the case? I think I still have some Seachem Stability at home. Should my friend use it to eventually recover the bacteria in the canister filter?

[jimg]

I have no idea.



Cold water can lead to a ich boom. This is what hapenned last year when I made a mistake during a WC and put cold water in the tank. They all got ich and the only thing that helped was hot temperature, as described in this long, old thread:

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?87891-Rough-start-I-think-my-wilds-got-ick&highlight=discusbr+ich



What to do if that is the case? I think I still have some Seachem Stability at home. Should my friend use it to eventually recover the bacteria in the canister filter?
I'm not sure about the ick issue.I could see if newer fish were added but this much later with the warmer temps the discus have been in imo wold have slowly wiped out any ick long ago. high nitrates could lead to white spots but ime never more than a few. You could very well be right, but I've never seen anything like that happen. I have had heaters go bad and temps drop to 72 for 2 days or more before I saw something not right when it came to eating and had a fish jump in a 72 deg salamander tank all day and just threw him back in his tank and it was fine. sometimes when fish get cold and stressed like being shipped cold, a week or so later problems can arise, but I don't think the next day or two
stability I have no use for. I would get him to do massive wc and a tbls salt per 10-20 gallons may help slime coat. If the filterthat went off was well cycled it should recycle soon enough. hard to tell when your not there,I could only imagine how you feel not being there to do something. I wish you the best and hope it nothing major.

[brianyam]

Yes my pleco got itch once when I did a water change with ice cold tap water. I raised the temp and used clout. I also haved used aqua sol (copper) and both worked. You got to be patient.

[brianyam]

Basically instant deep stress can cause itch. The fish carry the parasite and it blooms when their immune system drops.

[jimg]

The fish carry the parasite and it blooms when their immune system drops I have heard that before but don't agree with it. not saying your wrong, just my thoughts.
Some used to say it was like us getting colds

[shoveltrash]

no advice here.....but I sincerely hope your fish do ok, this must be so stressful for you!!!
(and my worst nightmare - leaving home for vaca & problems with my tank(s), YIKES)

[Second Hand Pat]

Oh dear Mauro, hope all will be well. Must be hard to be away and think there is something wrong with your fish. :(

[DiscusBR]

Thank you, everyone, for your sympathy. Yes, it is not a good feeling to be away when you know your discus are not well :(

Jim, I can't really tell the friend to do more than what he has comitted to: one 55% WC (the maximum capacity of my storage barrel) once a week. And I would not trust him adding salt to the tank. As I said, he has no experience with fish-keeping.

Any other takes on the heat treatment? Should I increase the temp or not?

[Discus Origins]

Mauro,

Going to be really tough to effectively treat ich if you won't be home to monitor. Increasing heat will speed up the reproduction cycle so the salt or meds can kill the larval stage because the cysts are immune. Just heat may not effectively take care of the ich.