A few ?'s about fish...

Wynpyp · 09-20-2009, 01:31 PM

A friend just came over and is having some issues with her 100g tank. She has a disease or diseases in her tank and nothing seems to be working. She has a tiger oscar that seems to have ich. but is not showing any other symptoms other than some white spots. She has a red devil that is perfectly fine. She has a green terror that looks like it has cloudy eye. And one other fish (can't remember what she said it was) that looks like it has some fungus by his mouth but not in it. She also has a pleco that is perfectly fine.

She treated the tank with a fungal cure that said it treats cloudy eye, fungus and ich. She did a 25% water change and raised the temp up to 83f and took out the carbon in her filter while treating. Nothing has helped. She is worried about her pleco. That is the one fish that they really love and really want to be ok. Is there anything else that she can do? Any other advice is also more than welcome.

Willowy · 09-20-2009, 01:52 PM

It's NOT a good idea to medicate an entire tank. Especially one that large, as it kills all the good bacteria, and it can take forever to get a huge tank like that properly cycled again.

Adding more good bacteria to the tank might help keep the healthy fish from getting sick. A good dose of Bio-Spira might help.

The sick fish should be moved to a hospital tank. A 10g or 20g should be sufficient, depending on the size of the fish, and the tank should be bare---no substrate or decor. Just a filter with the carbon removed, to keep things circulating.

I've found that you can usually get some really good advice at a local specialty fish shop. most of the employees will have extensive aquariums experience and may have dealt with this before.

Wynpyp · 09-20-2009, 02:11 PM

Thanks willowy

I will tell her everything that you said.

Unfortunately, we don't really have a local specialty fish shop. We have a Petsmart and a Petland... they know nothing lol! We do have a local small petshop but she is closed today and my friend has already talked to her.

I will talk to her about getting a smaller hospital tank set up and going from there.

The one fish that she is really worried about is her 12 inch pleco. I personally don't know why lol! I'm not a fan of regular pleco's! Do you think I could house her pleco until she has everything under control with her tank? Or do you think that would be bad for my tank?

LuvmyRotti · 09-20-2009, 02:55 PM

Hi Wynpyp - not sure where you are in Alberta - but there is a Specialty Fish Store franchise that is across Canada called Big Al's - they are in Calgary and Edmonton. Don't know if those are close to you at all.

http://bing.search.sympatico.ca/?q=b...&setLang=en-CA

Kuma'sMom · 09-20-2009, 04:04 PM

I've yet to find a fish store, specialty or otherwise, that gives good advice. I've been to Big Al's, and I've been to specialty stores specializing in Cichlids, all have given HORRIBLE advice. I'd advise going to a forum like this one: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/index.php if you're looking for advice.

Now, for the tank your friend has: I don't know how big the fish are now, but that tank is very overstocked. The minimum tank size recommended for a SINGLE Red Devil or Oscar is 75 gallons. 100 gallons isn't all that much bigger in footprint, and your friend has 3 large cichlids plus a large pleco in it. Plus, two of those cichlids, the Green Terror and the Red Devil are notorious for aggression and for not tolerating tank mates. In addition, she has fish from two different regions, Central and South America, with very different water requirments. South American Cichlids do best with soft water, Central Americans prefer harder water. Ick is usually brought on by stress, and my guess is that the Oscar is being harassed by the other cichlids, the Red Devil being my first guess, and the ick is the first visible sign of this. New Cichlid keepers usually don't know what signs to watch out for, and don't notice the aggression problems right away. The Red Devil is more than capable of claiming that entire tank for it's territory, and they are notorious for not tolerating tank mates when they mature. Your friend will need to make some tough decisions as to which fish she will want to keep, since the tank will not be able to support all of those fish long term.

As for the ich, most fish keepers I know don't use medications for it. Generally adding salt and raising the temperature of the tank to 80 degrees will take care of the problem, since ich doesn't do well at higher temperatures. Also, I don't know what kind of filtration your friend has, but all of those fish are very messy, particular the Oscar and the Pleco, and she will need some serious filtration to keep up with all the waste they generate.

Good luck, hope that helps. Any other questions, let me know and I'll be happy to help!

Shaina · 09-20-2009, 04:42 PM

*seconds Kuma'sMom on all the above*

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kuma'sMom

As for the ich, most fish keepers I know don't use medications for it. Generally adding salt and raising the temperature of the tank to 80 degrees will take care of the problem, since ich doesn't do well at higher temperatures.

Also extra gravel filtration (if there's gravel on the bottom of the tank) helps to remove some of the Ich before they enter the free-swimming life stage.

Kuma'sMom · 09-20-2009, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Also extra gravel filtration (if there's gravel on the bottom of the tank) helps to remove some of the Ich before they enter the free-swimming life stage.

That does work well, though with the fish mentioned, undergravel filters often don't work very well due to the digging tendencies of the fish. My Red Devil Diabla, for example has excavated huge sections of her tank right down to the glass, lol.

Wynpyp · 09-20-2009, 07:03 PM

Thank you all for answering

I will pass on all the info very shortly... they live 4 doors down, so I'm gonna walk over lol. She did mention that her red devil is aggressive and that none of them allow for decorations and stuff, they pull them all out. I'm not sure about their filtration... I will check though.

Shaina · 09-20-2009, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kuma'sMom

That does work well, though with the fish mentioned, undergravel filters often don't work very well due to the digging tendencies of the fish. My Red Devil Diabla, for example has excavated huge sections of her tank right down to the glass, lol.

True...my Geos do the same

But really I meant using a gravel siphon when cleaning the tank to really clean out the gravel. But I didn't pay attention and wrote "filtration" instead of what I meant lol. I don't much care for undergravel filters tbh...hangup from having planted tanks I think.

Kuma'sMom · 09-20-2009, 07:37 PM

Quote:

True...my Geos do the same But really I meant using a gravel siphon when cleaning the tank to really clean out the gravel. But I didn't pay attention and wrote "filtration" instead of what I meant lol. I don't much care for undergravel filters tbh...hangup from having planted tanks I think.

Ahh, that makes more sense.