# Second round of death happening



## Dold (Dec 28, 2007)

After my tank was about 4 months old I had 18 fish die in the span of two days. Fish had a bit of ick but white round colonies in gills. LFS gave me meds for gill flukes and 7 fish made it. It has been 8 months and it seems to be repeating itself. I have a 70 gallon tank, crushed coral substrate, ehiem 2026 prof 11, powerhead (600 g/h). I have 6 electric yellows, 3 ob peacocks, 3 ruby red peacocks, 2 black calvus, 2 red fin borleyi, 2 catfish, 3 monos, 3 strawberry peacocks, and 3 clown loaches. I have raised temp to 83, added salt and used nox - ick half dose for three days. Fish still have ick and I believe I will wake up to more dead fish tomorrow. I may have been a bit slow to act on the ick as I was away and when I returned my wife said the fish didn't look right. Gone for three days. I do not have a water test kit but am getting the water tested tomorrow. I clean fish tank each week and replace 25 % of water and use a declorinator always as well as 2 tbs of aquarium salt. Temp is 81 degrees. If ick is left too long does it go into the gills? Any help would be appreciated.


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## Dold (Dec 28, 2007)

Fish are starting to shake or twitch very fast and then swim very fast and then just stop and hover. Most fish have tail fins dragging behind them


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## Guest (Jun 27, 2008)

Did you add any new fish that would have triggered this event? Also, you have a lot of fish in your tank and you will have to increase your water change amount and may be frequency. I suspect your water quality is poor. Poor water quality usaully means less than perfect health for fish and prone to disease. I am curious what your water test result will show. By the way, ich attacks fish everywhere including the gills. I would do daily water changes right before dosing the tank with med. Good luck.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

It sounds like you might be battling Columnaris rather than parasites.

Are the white areas patchy and cottony in appearance?

If so, it's going to be important that you react quickly with the proper treatment. I would replace the carbon in my filtration for a few hours, do a large water change of about 50% with a good dechlorinator, and start treating immediately with Maracyn and Maracyn II.

You should also slowly decrease the temp of the tank to 76 degrees. Raising the temp can cause it to spread more quickly and you could easily lose alot of fish.

I made the mistake of misdiagnosing a tank with ich a few years ago, and the same thing happened to me.

I'm willing to bet this is what you dealt with before, as well. It's wicked, and it's deadly, and you can easily lose an entire tank of fish to this disease.


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## lestatak (Feb 3, 2007)

cichlidaholic said:


> It sounds like you might be battling Columnaris rather than parasites.
> 
> Are the white areas patchy and cottony in appearance?
> 
> ...


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

I don't have any pics.

It usually starts in the face and gill area, though, and appears like cotton or white mold on the fish. It then spreads back through the body of the fish - IME, it did extensive damage to the fins and tail. The fish will be "twitchy" and swim erratically.


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## Dold (Dec 28, 2007)

It is just round colonies, circular. Body looks like ick, but inside gills is where I see it on the dead fish. One fish has no ick but is breathing hard and spazing, gulping at top. I will treat again with the same treatment that cured it last time. Thanks for the advise. It isn't cotton like. I added 2 clown loaches that appeared once in the tank to haver white patches, or skin that was whitish under neathe on most of there bodies.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

It's just that ich doesn't usually kill fish, unless the infestation is really, really bad before you begin treatment.

What is in the med you used? Did you make sure to treat for a few days after the last spot fell off?


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## Dold (Dec 28, 2007)

I have treated twice now with NOX ick (3 days one day break and 3 days. I have also treated with a general medication from LFS that had tri something that was recommended. I have lost 3 clown loaches, male ruby red and catfish have ich still.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

What are the ingredients in the NOX ich?

I'm still not convinced you're dealing with ich.


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