parisites

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thebuddy
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parisites

Post by thebuddy »

I have a 29 gallon tank that held 10 dwarf puffers 4 kuli loaches and 1 algae eater. I think some of the puffers had disease but none of the fish can take medicine so I couldn't do anything now all the puffers are dead and i'm going to move the kuli loaches and algae eater to a 10 gallon tank so mom can get some discus then I want to treat the tank to make sure its clean of any disease.

What is a good parasite medication readily available in the US. A medicine that wont kill my plants would be preferable.

will medication work if I do a lower dose then it says to I want to try to treat the kuli loaches in the 10 gallon in the hopes of saving them but the last time i tried to use medicine in their tank i killed one and nearly killed 2 more.
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Jojoyojimbi
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Post by Jojoyojimbi »

dry the tank out, then scrub it out with a plastic brush and some vinegar, then rinse it out with fresh water, let it dry, give it a smell, rinse again until there's no vinegar smell and you should be good, not much can survive being dried out multiple times, scrubbed, and bathed in vinegar
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Post by crazie.eddie »

So many questions to ask...
Did you know for sure it was a parasite?
What were the symptoms?
What med did you use on your loaches?
When you added the med, did you pour the whole concentrated dose directly into the tank?
Did you pour near the output of your filter so that it would spread throughout your tank more?
How long have you had the tank running?
How long have you had the fish?
What are the ammonia, nitrate/nitrite levels of the water in the tanks?

The illness needs to be verified before treatment can occur. It's not going to help the fish if you give it an external parasite medicine when it is suffering from internal parasitic worms. Some meds can kill the beneficial bacteria, cause a mini-cycle, and stress out the fish even more. Most illnesses in fish is due to lowered immunity system on the fish, due to stress. Stress is usually caused by overcrowded tank, harassment by people or other fish, poor maintenance, bad water conditions, etc. I would make sure you keep up on the gravel cleaning and water changes.

FYI, the 29 gallon is too small for discus. If you buy young discus, under 4", then you need to constantly feed and remove uneaten food and waste a few times a day. So it's best to keep young discus in a barebottom tank until they become adults. Also, discus are more comfortable in small groups, of probably at least 4 or more.
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thebuddy
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Post by thebuddy »

There are two tanks Ive only medicated the ten gallon.
I cant wash down the tank because I have plants I like.

I don't know for sure I'm pretty sure that they died from IP.

the puffers were eating but not gaining any weight and they were getting thinner constantly. I found most of them dead on the filter over the course of the 6 months they were in the tank.

The medicine I used on the loaches was in the ten gallon about 2 years back it was an ich medicine.

Yes i poured the concentrated dose into the filter so that it was spread through the whole tank.

both tanks have been running for 2 years i think.
i had the kuli loaches for 2 years the algae eater for 6 months and the puffers for 3 to 6 months each.

I thought parasites meant internal parasites i didn't know there were other kinds. I did mean internal parasites were what I think killed the puffers.

there were roughly 13 fish in a 29 gallon tank 4 that were under the gravel 1 algae eater and 8 that were less then an inch big there wasn't any overcrowding

I believe the fish had IP when I got, them mom told me not to make a fuss about whether or not they looked good so i wasn't able to return some I thought might be sick

now i want to ask the same question what is a good internal parisite medication readily availible in the US preferably one that wont kill tanks.

I want to say I read alot about the fish i keep i dont go buy things I think look pretty and i dont like the fact that you said i should do more water changes and that i cant keep discus in my 29 gallon tank.
I dont know about were you live but were i live FYI is considered rude and is only used by braty children who dont know about manners.
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crazie.eddie
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Post by crazie.eddie »

My apologies for the FYI. I've often replied to posts or given advice with an "FYI" and nobody has ever complained about it until now. I've heard it used in business meetings, speeches, etc. and have never thought of it as being rude. I'm 42, live in the US, and so I didn't mean anything rude by it. It's just from your post, you didn't give much information, so I assumed you didn't know much about fish keeping. Normally when a post regarding sick fish, the tank specs, tank parameters, stock, equipment used, etc. would be stated on the post to help in resolving the issue.

There are internal and external parasites. Ich, is an example of an external parasite. Unfortunately, I am unfamiliar with puffers as to what medicines are effective on them. I commonly use Pimafix, Melafix, aquarium salt, & epsom salt for my general treatment of illnesses. Unfortunately, I have found the Pimafix and Melafix would do more harm to my discus, so I need to look for an alternative.

I did find this information on them from here...
1. The dwarf puffer will do well in a heavily planted tank
2. It is best to keep one dwarf puffer to every 2-3 gallons of water.
3. Try to keep more females than males in an aquarium.
4. Good tank-mates include otocinclus and other inactive algae eaters.
5. Feed them live foods only; they rarely accept flake or other dry food.
6. Do not overfeed these fish, as it may lead to constipation.
I understand the plants break their line of sight of other puffers, which reduces aggression.

Your puffers may have been constipated. I usually feed my fish frozen peas (skinned) to relieve any constipation, but I'm not sure if the puffers would eat them. I know epsom salt is commonly used to for constipation for most fish.

Anyways, regarding the fish you have now. Levamisole hydrochloride is commonly used for loaches with internal parasites. One of the common signs of a loach with internal parasite is that it is wasting away and getting thinner.

I would just watch the fish, it may not be necessary to treat the fish, since it was probably just isolated on the puffers.

If you wish to clean the tank out for new fish, you can sterilize it and all the equipment with bleach. I prefer to use potassium permaganate becuase you can easily tell the strength of the dosage. The more you add, the darker purple it turns into. Unlike bleach, which is clear. PP is also easier to rinse out and is also nuetralized using dechlorinater. PP can easily be found in hardware stores (I bought mine at Ace Hardware) in the well water tank treatment aisle, since it's used to remove rust. PP can also be used to kill external parasites on fish, by quickly dipping them in a solution.
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thebuddy
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Post by thebuddy »

interesting
first off as i already stated i cant empty the tank because there are PLANTS emphasis on PLANTS

You cant give puffers medicine without a good chance of killing them because there scale less and cant handle medicine.

That's basically what happened to the puffers they kept eating and shriveling up then they stopped eating and died a few days later.

Can PimaFix be used in a tank without fish that might still have parasites floating around or does it only affect the parasites when there in the fish.

I'm sad to say I don't know the tanks parameters I don't know were my test kit went.

PS i know the oto (thats what people who keep dwarves call that algae eater you named cause no one can pronounce its real name) has IP its shriveling up even though there's plenty of algae.
I don't know if the kulis caught it because there always hiding I still don't even know how many are there.
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crazie.eddie
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Post by crazie.eddie »

You can treat scaleless fish, as long as the dosing is done correctly. I have 5 clown loaches (scaleless fish), which are "supposedly" sensitive to salts. Also Gold Nugget pleco and otos at one time in my 55 gallon tank. One of my clown loaches had ich, which I treated with increased water temps, aquarium salt (regular dosing), and I turned off the lights most of the time, and I was able to cure the ich from it, which never spread. My method of using salt was to make sure it dissolved in water, then I poured the solution in the tank in various areas over a length of time. No fish showed any stress from this and I was able to cure the ich with no fish deaths also.

After doing some research (Googled "internal parasite for dwarf puffer"), I was able to find this link. It does show some common medications that is safe for fish and puffers.

Levamisole hydrochloride is used to treat internal parasite for loaches, I'm not sure if it's safe for otocinclus (aka oto). Regarding it being thin, what do you feed it? Otos can't survive on tank algae. You must supplement their diet with algae discs and some kind of vegetable, like blanched zuchini.

Pimafix, from what I understand, treats internal and external bacterial infections. I'm not sure if it kills parasites.
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Post by thebuddy »

That's were I go to talk about puffers and learn about them.

I'm going to post there because so far i haven't gotten to much response about wiping out any parasites in the water.

PS the oto never seemed interested in zucchini or algae wafers although I'll try algae again just to make sure.
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Post by crazie.eddie »

Sorry wasn't too much help. I don't know too much about puffers, even though I had a large figure 8 puffer. Unfortunately, it down due to my overly aggressive Mono argentus. But yeah, the puffer forum is a better reference.
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Post by Barbie »

Most parasites will die without a host present. The internal parasites puffers get can be easily treated with metronidazole soaked food, if you catch it before they stop eating. Now that they're already gone, you can easily feed the rest of the fish metro and garlic soaked food. MOST fish have some levels of parasites present. It's normal. The problem starts when other stress factors cause the parasites to get a strong foothold and stress their host further. If you're going to treat the entire tank with metro, remember you'll need to do daily water changes before treatment and it's less effective below 85 degrees, where your plants aren't going to be so happy.

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thebuddy
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Post by thebuddy »

so all disease will jsut die if i remove the fish?
im gonna move the remaing three fish (2 kulis a oto) to the 10 and treat there
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crazie.eddie
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Post by crazie.eddie »

If it's a parasite, then yes. If it's some sort of bacteria, then no. But most fish already some sort of parasite/bacteria on them and are usually immune. It's only when the fishes immunity is lowered (stress from poor water quality, fish harassment, etc.) will the fish be taken ill or die from it.

Remember, if the parasite is already on the fish, removing it from the tank, may get rid of it in the tank, but not the fish.
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