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Help!! does my choc zebra have ich?? - update


BikBok

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I've only had this little guy since the weekend and tonight noticed he has white spots on him!!! I can't tell if they are raised or not. I've not dealt with ich before so don't know exactly what to look for. All my other fish are fine. This fish was bought from a reputable breeder so is there a problem in my tank? What should I do?

I was planning on getting a small rainbow shark this weekend but not if ich is in my tank!

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eek.. do I need to quarantine him, or do I now need to treat the whole tank anyway.

None of my other fish are showing signs.

What is the incubation of ich and how did it get in my tank?

Darn it, was really wanting to get the shark this weekend

OK, do I need to halve the salt and any medication?. I don't have whitespot cure so i'll need to go get some .. is Blue circle the recomended one? will it turn the silicone blue?

I just have meth blue and acrifialvine and furan 2 on hand.

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qt tank him.. i'm never that stressed about ich. its pretty easy to get rid of.

then again, ive only had my fish get it once in about 8 years now. and that was with CL's from a shop. chucked in loads of salt and it was gone.

most people don't agree with my usage of salt though... :lol:

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What temp was the tank you got it from and what temp is yours.

I agree with meth blue and i would raise the temp of tank a bit as part of treatment.

Is there anything thing in the tank that seem to cause it stress?

My temp is 26-27oC . Not sure of temp he came from but have emailed the breeder.

Can't think of anything that would stress him other than the move itself. I haven't seen any fish picking on him, he comes out when sinking food is out in but hangs back a bit.

Oh i soo didn't need this!

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thanks for the advice and reassurance.

I'm so glad I found this forum! It has been immensely helpful in my fishkeeping journey.

well no need to rush out to HFF this weekend. Was going to QT some new import guppies and get the rainbow shark, But the shark can wait and I'm sure they will get more guppies in again. I must be patient.

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well no need to rush out to HFF this weekend. Was going to QT some new import guppies and get the rainbow shark, But the shark can wait and I'm sure they will get more guppies in again. I must be patient.

I've recently broken down a couple of my tanks and have another that is very near empty. Would you like to buy the fish and keep them at my place until you can house them? Maybe even borrow my 80x25x40 tank with heater if you need to?

-Sam

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SALT

I'm goign to put some salt in the main tank tonight, I won't try and catch him till tomorrow but the salt will help in the meantime and also for the other fish.

I am mindful of the kuhli and whiptails so was thinking 6 teaspoons of salt - the tank is an AR850 which i think is about 155-160L

6 teaspoons enough?

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put the temp up to 28

What other fish are in the tank? I'd suggest going to 30C at least (with increased airation) if your fish will tolerate it. Quarantining now is a probably waste of time as there are likely to be tomites roaming the tank, although if your other fish aren't affected you could remove the pleco and treat it with tonic in a hospital tank to avoid staining your silicone and decor in the main tank (last time I used it I found it even stained my white sand blue!), and just treat the main tank with increased temp and salt.

Here's how I have treated it in the past when my clowns have got it;

-temp to 30C

-full strength dose of tonic

-48 hours later do a 50% water change and another full strength dose

-repeat until there is a visible decrease in the spots on the affected fish, then start stretching it out to 3 days, then 4 days etc until all fish have been clear for at least a week.

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I hope you don't mind me adding my two cents worth to this post but I would caution about getting a rainbow shark and putting it in the same tank as the choc zeb if I was you. Sharks zip about everywhere and in my experience with my chocs, which I sold a couple of days ago,

anything sudden movement and they tend to dive for cover. Mine never did come out a lot but when they did they hid the moment anything flew around the tank.

Others of course, may find this totally different :D

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What other fish are in the tank? I'd suggest going to 30C at least (with increased airation) if your fish will tolerate it.

the other fish are guppies, female betta, 1 platy, kuhli loaches, Otocinclus, dwarf goruami. plus I had some guppy fry for a few minutes lol.. just watched the gourami and Betta eat them.

They seem all clear this morning. I've added salt and increased the temp to 28 and will increase again this evening to 29

I will try treating the choc zebra in a QT with meth blue and salt.

I found this article on treating plecs for ich... what do you think: http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article60.html

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I've recently broken down a couple of my tanks and have another that is very near empty. Would you like to buy the fish and keep them at my place until you can house them? Maybe even borrow my 80x25x40 tank with heater if you need to?

-Sam

Hey Sam that's very kind. DO you have a tank that is already going, I wouldn't want you to have to set one up!

I would be getting 2 males guppies, and possibly 2 females. I have other females in my main tank for the numbers.

What about the rainbow. Maybe I should just leave him for now.

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I hope you don't mind me adding my two cents worth to this post but I would caution about getting a rainbow shark and putting it in the same tank as the choc zeb if I was you. Sharks zip about everywhere and in my experience with my chocs, which I sold a couple of days ago,

anything sudden movement and they tend to dive for cover. Mine never did come out a lot but when they did they hid the moment anything flew around the tank.

I did wonder compatibility .. the breeder thought a shark and coc zeb would be ok in the same tank but i didn't think about the zippiness of a shark scaring the zebra. food for thought. I wonder what others have experienced.

My Zebra was very shy for a few days but he comes out in the evenings.

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(I presume they're scaleless like Clown loaches)

Clown loaches are not scaleless fish! Just because we cannot see their scales with the naked eye doesn't mean they don't have any.

I've had clowns longer than ive had any other fish, and they are well able to handle a full dose of white spot cure and salt. :)

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Hey Sam that's very kind. DO you have a tank that is already going, I wouldn't want you to have to set one up!

I would be getting 2 males guppies, and possibly 2 females. I have other females in my main tank for the numbers.

What about the rainbow. Maybe I should just leave him for now.

I just setup my 50ltr 80x25x25 recently with some lampeyes, two female guppies, a couple of female fighters, a clown and some little BN. Also have a 60x30 planted rimless with only my Salamander PK in there but he can be moved if need be. I could take the guppies and put them in the rimless planted (minus the fighter) but chuck some lids on it for security. Not sure where I could put the shark without setting up the 80ltr.

-Sam

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I've had clowns longer than ive had any other fish, and they are well able to handle a full dose of white spot cure and salt. :)

I too have treated mine at full strength (with the method I described before) many times and found it worked well. I would err on the side of caution when calculating the volume of water in your tank though, don't just go "its 90x40x40cm so thats 144L" or you'll end up overdosing them. I measured my 180x75x60 tank (which based on those dimensions is 810L) and allowing for the thickness of the glass, the substrate, the air gap at the top and the corner overflow (and not counting the volume in the sump) it actually only holds just over 700L. Measure from the top of the substrate to the water level, and the length and width inside the glass, then round it down a bit based on what you think the decor will be taking up.

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What is the incubation of ich and how did it get in my tank?

Ich is always in your water. Its only when a fish becomes stressed that is can become succeptible to it. You caught yours fairly early and so treatedment will almost defintely be affective :)

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SPOTS GONE . I didn't have time to catch and QT him this morning so did it after work.. but MOST of the spots are gone! uh-oh .. does this mean that ich will be rampant in my main tank now? I really want to avoid having to medicate the main tank!

SETTING UP ANOTHER QT. hehe I'm going to go into HFF after all and get some of those guppys. I have dug up my daughters old AR380 and got it running. It's only 34L so was wondering if it was big enough to quarantine a 5cm rainbow shark along with 2-4 guppys. i realise it doesn't give him much swimming room but it would be only for a few weeks until I'm sure the community tank is clear of ich.

I'm using a spare sponge that I've kept in the AR850 filter for such a purpose of needing to start another tank but am also prepared to do daily water changes if necessary.

I'll also post this in a new thread because it's slightly different to the main topic of this one.

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