Aftermath of parasites, FW   7/5/07
Hello all,
<<Hello, Eric. Tom here.>>
First, I'd like to thank you so much for this wonderful service, and for the wealth of information one can find here!
<<Thank you for the kind words, Eric. Much appreciated by all, I’m sure.>>
I'm writing about a recently set up 130g aquarium. It came down with a ich infestation about a month ago when we introduced two young jack Dempseys without quarantine (a mistake I will *never* make again, I assure you!).
<<Good man! Sorry it was a hard lesson learned, though.>>
It seemed like the problem had been mated after a week and a half of high temperature and malachite green treatments, but 2 or 3 days after we stopped medicating, one of the jacks and a Severum came down with signs of Chilodonella (constantly staying near the surface in spite of abundant aeration -- one air pump and ample water-return disturbance at the surface -- and bluish/white patches just over the eyes and around the gill area). That's when I decided I had had it with paying a fortune to medicate the display tank, bought a quarantine tank, and moved everyone to it (the Severum and the two jacks. The 4 Corydoras and 2 clown loaches we had unfortunately all succumbed during treatment).
<<So far, Eric, this response is writing itself. Bob’s going to thank you for helping me keep my mouth shut.>>
The QT is a 20g with basic filtration and heating. I'm medicating with Seachem Paraguard at 1ml/8L (recommended dosage). I also gave daily salt baths to all fishes so long as they looked infected. They have been in the QT for two weeks now. They are all doing much better now, and unless something pops back up, I will discontinue medication tomorrow.
<<Glad to hear things are on the upswing for you and your pets!>>
The Severum actually made an impressive recovery: he passed from extremely laboured to completely normal breathing, and his minor
case of (what I take to have been) stress-induced fin rot has all but disappeared. Everyone is eating as well.
<<Excellent.>>
Now my question is the following: what do I do with the main tank?
It's been running empty for 2 weeks now, and I changed about 60% of the water. I intend on keeping the fishes in observation in the QT for another week at least, but in the meantime, should I medicate the display tank in any way, or is it safe to assume that parasites will have all died out without hosts?
<<Keep the temperature up and add carbon to your filter, if you haven’t already done so, to remove any remaining med’s. Water changes will assist in this as well. Given a time frame of, at least, three weeks of elevated temperatures and no host fish, if there’s a parasite left (even at this point) you’ll have presented the hobby a whole new ball game where Ick is concerned. (There are known strains of Ick that have survived temperatures to 90 degrees F. but there is no dormancy involved with this pest so you should be “golden”, even now.)>>
Also, will it have to re-cycle, after having been fish-less for this long?
<<Very little question about it, Eric. Supply and demand. Count on re-cycling before re-introducing your fish. I’d give you my patented “BIO-Spira” pep talk but noted above that your spelling of “labored” is “laboured” which leads me to believe that it probably isn’t available where you live. In fact, I know it isn't. (Been through this with another "friend" from Montreal.) You know the cycling “drill” already though and there are other methods of “jump starting” the process.>>
Thanks a lot in advance!
Best,
Eric
<<Best to you as well, Eric. Sorry for your losses but I’m relieved to hear that things have gone well, in a manner of speaking, for your Cichlids. Continued good luck. Tom>>