Ick Questions

[Reposado]

Hey Guys,
I recently bought an Oscar from Petco a week ago and now I have Ick. It's the first case I have had in over a year, the second case EVER. It's on the O, a Pacu, and a Silver Dollar. My question is I have the fish in a 125 gallon for now with two marineland Emporer 400's. I have not changed the filter in about a year. However, I do twice weekly water changes and rinse the filter material in tank water regularly. Can I add the Rid Ich with the carbon/media in place? I was under the impression that carbon loses it's effectiveness after a matter of months. Also, will the med kill the bacteria I have in the filter/tank? Anyone have any ideas?

Thank You.

[jonah]

Any chance the carbon could effect the medication is long since over. I'd turn up the heat (not too fast) and add some aquarium salt. Good luck against the ich.:D

[chc]

If you haven't changed the filter cartridge in a year you're sorely tempting fate. Carbon can leach chemicals/pollutants back into the water once it has been exhausted. You really need to be changing that media more often.

For now, take the media containers and fill them with filter wool, and put them in the slot that the cartridge would normally go. That will take care of mechanical filtration in the short term without carbon that would remove your medication. Your biological filtration should be in good shape due to the bio-wheels.

Once your medication treatment is completed, use a fresh new cartridge so that the carbon can remove the residual medication. Discard this cartridge in a few days and start again.

By the way, if you purchase extra media containers, you can use them (as described above) for mechanical filtration on an ongoing basis. Just break out a few of the grids on the upstream side of the container to better allow water to flow into the floss. Change the floss every week or two. As cheap as a big bag of floss is, you can run your filter this way for next to nothing.....

[Reposado]

Thanks for the replies guys,

I added some quick cure before the lights went out last night and I woke up this morning and the water was as clear as ever...shouldn't it be somewhat green? Also, this morning I moved all my live plants to another tank and added salt to the tank and I have been raising the temp by about a half degree every two hours. I figured I would raise it to about 84 or 85.

I am going to go to my lfs and get some floss. When I do, should I do a water change and add some more quick cure. Or should I wait 3 or 4 days to medicate again? I'm asking because I don't know if the fish received any medication since the water shows no signs.

I guess I should have been more clear and mention that I add carbon to the secondary containers every month or two. In this case it's been more like 2 months. I have extremely healthy fish and have never lost a single fish due to disease. Unfortunately, at the time I was not afforded the luxury of having an open Q tank and put the fish in my tank directly from the lfs. Bad decision = bad result.

Thanks!

[Reposado]

Wow

This forum doesn't get the traffic it should for the smart people here

Well, I went ahead and did a water change. Then, I took out the filtering media I had in there and replaced it with floss and added more quick cure. I raised the temp to 84 and now the Ich has dropped off the fish. Hopefully this will work.

[Rex Karr]

Its not a huge forum, but it has quality members.

I'll not try to help with the ick questions because I'm not extremely experianced with freshwater fish diseases, but I would like to ask if you have plans for the Pacu? You may have a huge pond for all I know, but I have seen to many people attempt to keep a Pacu in small tanks (under 300g) not to atleast give you a warning. Incase you didn't know, Red Belly Pacu will easily reach over 24" and require an imense aqarium.

I hope you already have this little bit worked out.

[Reposado]

Hi,

I didn't mean that as an insult...I have gotten alot of good info and help from this forum. I was just anxious to get this taken care of and I had not gotten any replies in almost two days. But, I know people are busy and DO have lives so...

And yes, I do have arrangements for the Pacu. I knew that when I said that I have a Pacu someone would mention that a 125 may not suffice :rolleyes: Thanks for the concern though. I have, roughly, a 1500 gallon pond that I plan to put him in once he gets too big. Currently, there is a 9" and a 16" Pacu in there and I am sure they would love some company. I'm sure it will not be too long 'till he makes the switch - he has grown about 2 inches in 2 weeks on a diet of Hikari Gold Pellets, brine shrimp, peas, beef heart, zuccini and lettuce. Sure are cool fish - one of my favorites.

I asked around and the consensus is that I did the right thing. The Ich is not visible on the fish anymore, so now I just need to keep medicating and hope I kill the remaining Ich that is undoubtedly still in the substrate.

Thanks again for the help.


:dance:

[Rex Karr]

Good, I'm glad you have the space required to keep the fish. Its always better to ask just in case. Many, many people are under the false impression that tanks as small as 55g are adequate for Pacu. Where they get this info I have no idea, but it has led to many stunted short lived Pacu.

What else is in the pond? Is it an indoor heated pond? Or outside in warm weather? Just curious.

[Reposado]

Currently, the pond is home to the two Pacu's, two Tinfoil Barbs, six Silver Dollars and a Pearl Arowana. The Arowana was a pickup(or steal as I see it) from a friend who had run out of room for him. I am considering getting another tank and moving him inside. It's a gorgeous fish, about 2 feet in length now. I think the other inhabitants are a little too active for him though. Unbelievably, there are also some miscellaneous small goldfish left over from when it was a koi/golfish pond.

I am actually thinking of picking up an underwater cam this summer and getting a website. I'll let you all know when I do.

The pond is located in a South-facing sunroom/patio off of my house. It's a connected room and has heat, but I can close it off from the rest of the house. If I had it to over again I don't know if I would put it there, because it does smell like a pond, even though I do keep it clean. Not to mention it does take up a lot of room. But, it's there now and I like it. It was actually quite a process to make it. I drew a pattern and jack hammered all the cement out of that area. Then I use a hammer and chisel to fine tune the edges at just the right slope. It took out over half the patio. We dug down through three feet of highly packed dirt, leveled it, laid more cement, and put a black sealant on it. Then I brought in rocks to line it and had a local guy build me a waterfall. Quite a job, and expensive too! But, it's one of the nicest looking indoor ponds I've seen.

It is heated by a couple of methods. I have a pool heater and a heat exchanger. I really don't need the exchanger and rarely use it, only when it gets very cold outside, or I am going to be leaving for more than a day and want to be safe. The pond gets the sun all day. With all this I can normally keep the temp at a minimum of 75 degrees, usually between 75 and 80. I'll have to post some pics if I remember and see what you guys think.

[Rex Karr]

Sounds like an awsome pond! I'd love to see some pics!

Any other inhabitants planned for? Or will it stay like it is? A Midas would show up real good and would have a nice temperament in such a large habitat.

Hope to see those pics soon :)