jackalope
03-30-2009, 10:00 AM
I've been losing fish by the dozen, 19 of them over the past two weeks or so ....... I finally found out that they have ICK ...... bad for fish ....... On the Aussie forums, I was told to put salt in the water....... on the Goldfish forum, I was told that you use 1 teaspoon per gallon every 12 hours for three treatments, which will bring up the concentration to .03%, which will kill the protozoans, and then keep it that way for three days. I did the first treatment ...... That killed 1/2 of my plants and is on the way to killing the rest of them. Salt doesn''t evaporate like Chlorine does, but it does dissipate if you dilute it with more water. I took the fish out (salty water and all) and put them into a new tote that I have, and treated them with Malachite Green (can't get Methylene Blue around here for some reason), so the protozoans should be dropping off soon and then after 3 days, I can put them into the tank again. Dr. Axelrod's book says that the protozoans can't live without a host for more than 55 hours, and that will take care of eggs, etc. within that time.
I put 10 gallons of good water into the fish tank yesterday after finding that all my plants were dying, and today, I did about a 75% change-out of water. Tomorrow, I'll do another 75% change-out, and the same the next day ........ then I'll treat the water for chlorine and put the fish back in. Dr. Axelrod says that it's important to take the carbon out of any filters, since it will remove the dyes, and then the ICK won't die. I'm hoping that putting in the water out of the town water system, chlorine and all, will also help kill any ICK, Flukes, etc that might be killing my fish. If I've got Flukes, that means going to a high-priced pet store and getting some "Jungle Parasite Clear" to treat them with and start the process all over again, as I don't want to get these chemicals and drugs into my plants. I'm hoping that some of the plants that are dying will revive, since they should be getting some better water now, unless the chlorine in the water kills them too ....... as a gardener, fisherman, "waterrancher" (I love that name, I wish I was smart enough to come up with something like that ;-) ) I'm a complete failure ...........
I put 10 gallons of good water into the fish tank yesterday after finding that all my plants were dying, and today, I did about a 75% change-out of water. Tomorrow, I'll do another 75% change-out, and the same the next day ........ then I'll treat the water for chlorine and put the fish back in. Dr. Axelrod says that it's important to take the carbon out of any filters, since it will remove the dyes, and then the ICK won't die. I'm hoping that putting in the water out of the town water system, chlorine and all, will also help kill any ICK, Flukes, etc that might be killing my fish. If I've got Flukes, that means going to a high-priced pet store and getting some "Jungle Parasite Clear" to treat them with and start the process all over again, as I don't want to get these chemicals and drugs into my plants. I'm hoping that some of the plants that are dying will revive, since they should be getting some better water now, unless the chlorine in the water kills them too ....... as a gardener, fisherman, "waterrancher" (I love that name, I wish I was smart enough to come up with something like that ;-) ) I'm a complete failure ...........