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Rummy-nose Tetras died ☹️

Joined
2 Feb 2021
Messages
39
Location
Dunstable
Never imagined that the death of these small beautiful creatures would have such an effect on me.
Just when I thought everything was going so well in my 3 tanks, I returned from a short business trip to find ich had taken a hold in my 350 liter planted tank.
I treated the tank with Love Fish White Spot treatment but it was clearly too late and over 2 days all 12-15 Rummy-noses had died.
My Odessa Barbs and Neon Tetras seem to be ok and/or recovering, but it is horrible to see fish suffer and die.
Just needed to post to unload.
 
Sorry to hear about this @Tropicaltanklover - I've only been keeping fish for 2-3 years or so now, but those first deaths are never easy. Fish can be surprisingly complex to keep, and it takes a while to learn how to make it all work.

Keep a close eye on the rest of your fish, it seems the commercial medications (usually malachite green combinations) sometimes don't fully finish off the parasite, and it later makes a recurrence. This happened to me multiple times, and in the end I found heat treatment is what actually worked to kill it off for good. This is just my experience though, many report the medications worked for them, but it's something to consider if it does end up making a comeback.
 
On one of his vids Father Fish says that increasing the water temperature is best way to control ich - somewhere about the 28C level so warm enough but not too much to harm fish.
 
Sorry about this,it's always upsetting. Why not set up a small quarantine tank, need only be 18"x12" for small fish ,gives you peace of mind
 
On one of his vids Father Fish says that increasing the water temperature is best way to control ich - somewhere about the 28C level so warm enough but not too much to harm fish.
My knowledge about fish diseases and how to treat them is absolutely abysmal, but I do remember way back in the day treating a bunch of cardinals having Ich by raising the temperature to around 30 C (86 F) for a couple of days and that helped.

Cheers,
Michael
 
My knowledge about fish diseases and how to treat them is absolutely abysmal, but I do remember way back in the day treating a bunch of cardinals having Ich by raising the temperature to around 30 C (86 F) for a couple of days and that helped.
I've had a few run ins with Ich before, and tried treating with eSHa exit, it slightly helped but didn't get rid of it all, and of course made a full recurrence. I then tried a malachite green / formalin combo, which I didn't want to do because of how nasty formalin is. Again, it helped but didn't fully get rid of it. I then did some further research and moved onto heat treatment - I kept the tank at 30C for 2 weeks, and this fully got rid of it, with no recurrence at all.

From my understanding, the temperature really should be around 30C, and not allowed to dip at all (so it's important to check that the tank holds the temperature over-night), any water changes need to have matching temperatures etc, as this doesn't actually kill the parasite, but just prevents it from multiplying during it's tomont phase. They have short life spans, so 2 weeks should be enough for the adults to die off. None of my fish or shrimp died from the heat treatment (tetras, corys, kuhlis, dwarf gouramis, barbs etc).
 
I think that's the thing the parasite needs a host fish to live on but can't tolerate high temperatures, they then leave the host but multiply in the tank, but die off in few days if they can't find a host, so even after leaving treatment should carry on. Water changes essential
 
I've had a few run ins with Ich before, and tried treating with eSHa exit, it slightly helped but didn't get rid of it all, and of course made a full recurrence. I then tried a malachite green / formalin combo, which I didn't want to do because of how nasty formalin is. Again, it helped but didn't fully get rid of it. I then did some further research and moved onto heat treatment - I kept the tank at 30C for 2 weeks, and this fully got rid of it, with no recurrence at all.

From my understanding, the temperature really should be around 30C, and not allowed to dip at all (so it's important to check that the tank holds the temperature over-night), any water changes need to have matching temperatures etc, as this doesn't actually kill the parasite, but just prevents it from multiplying during it's tomont phase. They have short life spans, so 2 weeks should be enough for the adults to die off. None of my fish or shrimp died from the heat treatment (tetras, corys, kuhlis, dwarf gouramis, barbs etc).
I think that's the thing the parasite needs a host fish to live on but can't tolerate high temperatures, they then leave the host but multiply in the tank, but die off in few days if they can't find a host, so even after leaving treatment should carry on. Water changes essential

Those are good insights. And the nice thing about this treatment is that you possibly can avoid having to use any meds in the tank.

A thing that comes to mind as a general preventive measure is the use of botanicals such as Almond Leaves that contains a bunch of compounds with medicinal properties besides acidifying the water - which by itself may also be a preventive measure against some diseases it seems. In both my tanks (150L) I use botanicals and I also run a small UV filter to kill algae spores and potentially some pathogens. It's hard to judge the value of the UV filter though - I think of it as an extra layer of protection. Of course, The UV filter wont discriminate between good bacteria and bad bacteria, but the bacteria that lives in the water column are insignificant compared to what lives in the substrate anyway. All these things, combined with good and safe food sources and proper maintenance and suitable stable water parameters is the best guard against diseases in the first place.

Cheers,
Michael
 
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