Hospital Tank? How to get the fish out in the first place.

[wongteeliang]

Hi,

Has anyone got any good way of catching fish from the tank? Some of my cardinal tetras are having white spots (ICH). As my tanks is a 4 feet planted tank, i'm having a hard time trying to catch even one because of the plants.

Has anyone got similar experience? Pls share your solution. Or is there any ich medication that won't ruin the plants?

[StanChung]

try upping the co2 a bit a watch them come up to surface for air in ten twenty mins., this method recommended by lfs in jkt. bcos theirs is a ten footer.

personally if decide to try this you have to pay extra attention because this way stresses the fish... you have to scoop fishies immediately... or else if you forgot a lot of them will croak... my xp...

there's the malachite green from sera[omnisan]. claim it doesn't harm plants but you need to up the temp to thirty-thirty two which your plants have to tolerate for 3 days.

personally your choice, depending on how bad ich problem is...

[vinz]

try upping the co2 a bit a watch them come up to surface for air in ten twenty mins., this method recommended by lfs in jkt. bcos theirs is a ten footer.

personally if decide to try this you have to pay extra attention because this way stresses the fish... you have to scoop fishies immediately... or else if you forgot a lot of them will croak... my xp...

there's the malachite green from sera[omnisan]. claim it doesn't harm plants but you need to up the temp to thirty-thirty two which your plants have to tolerate for 3 days.

personally your choice, depending on how bad ich problem is...

Ich should be treated in tank. Because the ich germs will stay in tank (i.e. removing sick fish will not help). You can use salt treatment to treat ich in a planted tank. Seach the forum for ick, ich, white spot and salt treatment. The details (which I can't remember) have been posted before.

[taz_boy]

heard some pple actually suggested b4......
close the light for some time.......try some food on top, that will lure the fishes out...and that's the best chance to catch them.....

but kaoz..urs is a 4ft, think u will have a great time as the tetras will play hide and seek with u.....

i suggest that u lower ur water level, helps greatly as the net moves slower in high water level due to the viscosity of the water.(a bit of physics here)

WARNING: white spot disease a well known "masacre" disease of freshwater fish, treat it quick and fast.....if not....

[lorba]

If you notice the white spot, it is useless to take the fish out for treatment. You stress those fishes unnecessarily and you are not solving the problem.

As vinz mentioned, the ich are still in the tank.

For simplest way of treatment, up the temperature to 30, add salt, change water. Repeat every 2-3days. When you notice the fish are recovering without any more spots, continue treatment for 1 more week.

[wongteeliang]

ok thank you all for the prompt replies. Shall not remove them from the tank then. Probably try some medicine that they claim won't harm the plants.

[StanChung]

Imhe, ich is a parasite. it can only survive with a host. the white spots grow on fish and eventually pop to release free swimming ick! infecting more fish! more it pop from fish mucous protection/skin more exposed fish is to infection.

if you remove the animal[fish], ick in tank will die off in the empty tank. quoting fish doctor here.

for you hospital tank, the medicines commonly used to kill ick, [only the free swimming stage] methylyne blue is very effective. however it will kill your plants and stain almost everything.

malachite green will not kill your plants if in low doses like sera omnisan package claims.
raise temp to 30c slowly, salt is good for preempting bacteria infection , providing slime coat for fish.

the reason to raise temp is to speed the cycle of the pest. ie, cause it to become the free swimming stage. because that is when the medicines will kill ick, at the free swimming stage.

if you do not want to remove fish, good idea to buy one like befuran or malachite green.

be hasty as all who have replied here do have exp in ick. they know your tets will have sudden death unlike discus which can fight it off.

[wongteeliang]

Imhe, ich is a parasite. it can only survive with a host. the white spots grow on fish and eventually pop to release free swimming ick! infecting more fish! more it pop from fish mucous protection/skin more exposed fish is to infection.

if you remove the animal[fish], ick in tank will die off in the empty tank. quoting fish doctor here.

for you hospital tank, the medicines commonly used to kill ick, [only the free swimming stage] methylyne blue is very effective. however it will kill your plants and stain almost everything.

malachite green will not kill your plants if in low doses like sera omnisan package claims.
raise temp to 30c slowly, salt is good for preempting bacteria infection , providing slime coat for fish.

the reason to raise temp is to speed the cycle of the pest. ie, cause it to become the free swimming stage. because that is when the medicines will kill ick, at the free swimming stage.

if you do not want to remove fish, good idea to buy one like befuran or malachite green.

be hasty as all who have replied here do have exp in ick. they know your tets will have sudden death unlike discus which can fight it off.

Yes yes, malachite green it is. Hope it'll stop them from propagating. Actually i've already encountered these parasite once. what i did the last time was just raise temp to 31. Until the last white spot disappeared, i continue to maintain temp for another 5 days. Now the buggers come back after 2 months. I heard fish sort of immune to 2nd eruption, how lucky am i? But i must admit i do use Mr Cleaner's Battery operated gravel vacuum cleaner every week for the last 1 mth. I guess i'm stirring shit because everytime i vacuum, water gets coudy for awhile. The filter media from the Mr Cleaner is quite lousy. Anyone has any good recommendation for a good gravel vacuum cleaner?

[taz_boy]

wongteeliang,

some suggestion from my side.....i also kanna this "massacre" disease back in march.....over 30-40 nice nice tetras died.....
so since then, i been rather cautious.......

i'm adding "Seachem ParaGuard" whenever i change water...it claims to guard and kill parasites in the water......so good to use next time....as a prevention method.....of course not forgeting the important "SALT"

[wongteeliang]

wongteeliang,

some suggestion from my side.....i also kanna this "massacre" disease back in march.....over 30-40 nice nice tetras died.....
so since then, i been rather cautious.......

i'm adding "Seachem ParaGuard" whenever i change water...it claims to guard and kill parasites in the water......so good to use next time....as a prevention method.....of course not forgeting the important "SALT"

Thanks for the tip taz,

i'll do as adviced