Ich infestation ?, help needed

[shari2]

Mad, do you happen to know what the ingredients are in Myxazin? I've looked all over and still come up empty...

[Botia Robert]

M.D. I'm really sorry to hear about this. Its really sad that you have lost some of your clowns. I hope you can beat this in time. Do you know what caused this outbreak?

[Marcos Mataratzis]

Hi Mad,

...this has been recommended by the experts in fairly recent discussions of a more virulent strain of whitespot.

I recently had (3 months ago) an ich isue here in my Clown tank. By the same time lots of Brazilian Forum friends complainned same: a more virulet strain of whitespot!
One curious thing is that only botine fishes were ill, specially the Clown loaches. No other fish in the tank had the whitespots of rub themselves on wood.

Regular medication I used in the past was not working that time.

How they looked like after 3 diferent treatments:


Whitespots where spreading despite high temperature or drugs. After 3 diferent approaches on cure and one month tryies I finally won the war by doing this:

Removed active carbon and Purigen from tank;
Did a 40% water change with exaustive vacuuming;
No lights for next 3 days;
Temperature between 30 and 32°C;
Mixing of Copper acetate (75 drops) + Acriflavine (25 drops) on my 450 liters tank.

By the end of the 3rd day I did a 50% water change with vacuuming, active carbon and Purigen was put back into filtration system and lights were turned on.
There were still a few whitespots for next one or two days but they got scarse each day and finally were gone.

1 day after treatment was over:

Fortunatelly, I had not casualties.

Wish you lucky!

[Mad Duff]

Mad, do you happen to know what the ingredients are in Myxazin? I've looked all over and still come up empty...

I don't know either Shari, all I do know is that it contains formaldehyde

I have now lost 17 of my 19 clowns including my biggest original clowns that I have had for over 8 years . I lost 3 8" silver sharks this morning but the have literally been hanging on for a few days now but on the slim chance of them pulling through I couldn't bring myself to euthanize them .

The combination of Melafix and Myxazin seems to be doing something because apart from a slight redness in a couple of fishes fins which were deep red all the Barbs, Rasboras and remaining L-number plecs seem to be getting better, the remaining couple of Clowns are active so there maybe some hope for these two but it just depends how much damage has already been done

Botia Robert - I haven't got a clue how it got in there have been no new fish added to this tank only fish that I already owned for some time , I am now thinking that the carrier may well have been a kissing gourami that has never really looked 100% and not really grown, I maybe should have euthanized it a long time ago but hindsight is a wonderful thing

Marcos Mataratzis - Thanks for the information its appreciated

[mickthefish]

hi mark
andy and i have had the same problem in the past and came to the conclusion that this isn't ich but a type of velvet, the only cure that stopped it dead was interpet anti slime and velvet.
all fish treated with it were cured within a week bud.

regards
mick

[Mad Duff]

hi mark
andy and i have had the same problem in the past and came to the conclusion that this isn't ich but a type of velvet, the only cure that stopped it dead was interpet anti slime and velvet.
all fish treated with it were cured within a week bud.

regards
mick

Cheers Mick, would you beleive that I had to pop out this morning and I actually picked a bottle of that up and put it back on the shelf

I was talking with Emma and Graeme yesterday and I did say that the symptoms seemed to change depending on the fish some it looked like ich some velvet and some carp pox and then the bacterial thing set in as well

[Tinman]

This is terrible.

[Mad Duff]

This is terrible.

I have never in 30 years seen anything like this and I can honestly say I actually cried the other day when I lost my biggest oldest clowns and it has made me physically ill, if I didn't have my other tanks and love fish I think I would seriously consider packing in

[Mad Duff]

hi mark
andy and i have had the same problem in the past and came to the conclusion that this isn't ich but a type of velvet, the only cure that stopped it dead was interpet anti slime and velvet.
all fish treated with it were cured within a week bud.

regards
mick

Cheers Mick, would you beleive that I had to pop out this morning and I actually picked a bottle of that up and put it back on the shelf

I was talking with Emma and Graeme yesterday and I did say that the symptoms seemed to change depending on the fish some it looked like ich some velvet and some carp pox and then the bacterial thing set in as well

I have just been back out and got 2 bottles of interpet anti slime and velvet, at the lowered level I have worked the volume out at 116 gallon which is a full bottle.

Mick - It says it stays working for several days in the booklet did you do more than one dose and did you put anything else in like Melafix just to work along side it ?

[Keith Wolcott]

I am so sorry to hear that you have lost your beloved clowns. Take heart that you have done a good job and sometimes things just do not go right in spite of the best intentions.

[shari2]

Ah Mark, I'm sorry.

Hope you can save the last two and that you get this OUT of your tank and your fish. We should keep this thread somewhere accessible. It's a nightmare that will probably come back around I think. Maybe the information can save the same from happening to someone else.

[loachmom]

I've been following this thread closely. I'm very sorry about this, and hope this problem soon resolves.

[chefkeith]

About 3 years back, 30 out of the 31 clowns I kept, died from an ich infestation and from the med treatments I used. I ignorantly used Coppersafe and Triple Sulfa together, which I later learned is a very deadly combination for fish. I didn't tell anyone what happened because it was too heartbreaking and I was completely devastated. Until Today, I have been in complete denial that this ever happened.

I saved the last clown by putting him in a small q-tank with only a gallon water, really just enough water to keep him covered, so he wouldn’t have to use any strength to swim to the surface to get oxygen. The fish was so weak, all he could do was lay on his side. The clown was using it’s last remaining energy just to breath. I though he was a goner for sure.

The q-tanks I set up had no filters, just an airstone. I treated the water with salt, 2 tsp per gallon, instead of using meds. At that time, I had lost all confidence that any ich meds work because I already lost 30 of 31 clowns. I kept the water temperature cool at about 76F, to slow down the ich life cycle, and so that the clown could breath better. He was really struggling. Instead of doing daily water changes, I moved the fish to a new q-tank with new salt treated water. I did this tank swap everyday, and miraculously he got better after about 10 days.

After he got better, I kept him in quarantine for a few more weeks with the salt treated water, but stopped doing the daily tank swap. I added a filter to the q-tank and started feeding the clown again.

While I was quarantining the last clown, I treated some of my main tanks, which had no fish in them, with salt and heat (about 100F degrees) to wipe out the remaining ich. I had all the other fish in the planted tanks and was just treating them with salt. I had no other fatalities beside the clowns.

Also while I was quarantining the last clown, I got back on the horse and purchased 51 clowns from some fish importers and had them shipped to me overnight. In a weeks span, I lost 30 clowns, and got 50 new clowns. I got over my depression very quick because I got the new clowns. I haven't had any ich problems since either.

I haven’t ever told anyone this story before, and I don’t think I ever would of, but this thread has brought back that nightmare that I buried in my memory.

Mark, my heart goes out to you. IME, getting new clowns is probably the best cure for loses like this.

[mikev]

Mad, really sorry about what happened.

What chefkeith did with his remaining clown is really the only thing that helps when the disease advances to a certain stage and a quick action is needed. I've seen this working, did it myself a couple of times, in a bucket with a air pump, no tank is even needed, ammonia absorber, and 100% W/C's daily. But doing this with many large animals around may not be even doable.

Let's hope your remaining fish pulls through...

[Tinman]

Many of us know that devastation but that does not help I have three Clowns left of my original 25 large group through 2 distnict tradjedies. I too about quit. You wil be even better next time so there is no choice but forward.This site makes that very clear that ultra-long term sucess is worth the effort