# Can fish get too old to cure?



## fuji (Jun 23, 2009)

I have a severum and a Kribensis Cichlid that are both about 8 years old.

There have been a few bouts of ich in the past that were cured. Recently there is a white velvet that I can not get rid off with any product, ive tried anti ich, antimicrocial, and anti fungus medisons. The severum has 2 dots on his head I thought were ich but get fuzzy after time. The poor Krib has it all over his body like a white fur coat and one of his side fins is rotting.

There are 2 young cory cats in the tank for 2-3 months showing no signs of illness.

Are they just showing their age, is this an uncurable infection. Any advise would be apprechiated.


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## Chickadee (Nov 15, 2008)

It is not ich you are dealing with but rather sounds like Cotton Wool Disease and can be treated with medications but not with Ich medications. Chlortetracyline, Nifurpirinol, Oxytetracyline hydrochloride, Phenoxyethanol are all medication types that will treat this disease. Common brand name drugs for the aquarium that you can use are Maracyn, T.C. tablets, Fish Tetracycline and Maracyn Plus. Any other medication that is tetracycline based will work but be aware that if the fish is in advanced stages of the disease that it may be too late. The age of the fish does not seem to matter but the Tetracycline is known to disturb the cyle of the filter so keep close watch on the parameters of ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates in your tank and be aware that you may lose your cycle at least for a short time. After you replace the carbon in the filter after treatment, the cycle will not take as long as it originally did to build up again in the filter but it will be a while until it establishes again so you will need to do frequent water changes after treatment and watch even during treatment to make sure that the fish are not getting too much of any of the toxins.

Rose


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## fuji (Jun 23, 2009)

thanks. I have an undergravel filter with no carbon.

I will try the medication. I hope its not too late. I moved the tank 180 miles and I think the stress and my late diagnosis may have doomed them. I hope not, they deserve better.


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## Chickadee (Nov 15, 2008)

I do understand. They are loved pets and deserve the efforts you put forth on their behalf. I will hope that you can save them.

Please let us know what happens with them.

Rose


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## bikerider (Mar 12, 2009)

sorry to piggy back off of this post but can you tell me the difference between cotton wool and Ich, because I had an out break of what I thought and was told was ich. Although, the one fish died had a white fungusy looking cloud around fins, but it started out with the white circular spots around head, tail fins, dorsal fins, and side of the body. I treated with an ich med. and it seems to have gone away, but I am a little worried after reading this.


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## fuji (Jun 23, 2009)

I am very very sad at my self. The krid lost his battle with this paracite, he was affectionetly named orange fish and was with us about 10 years, a real great fish may he rest in peace due to my negligence. He almost never comes out of his pvc except for frozen brine shrimp but the other day he came out and looked at me for several minutes. I have had various pets over the years and I think they all know its comming and I think they all say goodbye.

The severum is still battling, he has a spot on his head and body. It is not dominating like the krib had been. One of the cats is showing early symtoms now too.

I have been treating with nox ich 
but have switched to cooper safe to see if I have more luck. I looked at every med in the store and could not find any of the chemicals listed above. Cooper safe said it treats velvet so I thought I would try it.


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## fuji (Jun 23, 2009)

Well good news the severum appears to be winning the battle. The spot on the head is almost gone but there are a few very small dots still on fin and tale. I've had to treat longer than I wanted. I've been treating every other day for about 2 weeks. I plan to continue to treat until all spots are gone.

I also raised temp to 82 and added salt. I may wait a week on more treatment to see if spots continue to dissappear on heat and salt alone.


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## Chickadee (Nov 15, 2008)

Ich is a parasite that lives in cool water in all fish tanks actually and will only attack fish that are kept in conditions that are too cool or if they are weakened mostly. If the temperature is kept warm enough they will not settle on the fish. Fish with ich look like they have grains of salt on them and on light colored fish this can be very difficult to detect.

Cotton wool disease is a fungal type infection and can be treated most successfully with a few of the more widely known antibiotics and antifungals. It is characterized by a wooly look or cottony substance that most often builds up around the gills or mouth and if left untreated will spead until it envelopes the whole fish. It is not that hard to treat and not that difficult to cure if caught early but you need to keep a close eye on the fish in your tank and be aware of changes in their looks and note any differences in their appearance.

Rose


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## ladyonyx (Apr 20, 2009)

Glad to hear there's some improvement! Just a little bit about the difference between "cotton-wool" and Ich: cotton wool in a bacterial infection caused by Flexibacter columnaris that is probably present to some extent in all aquariums. It is typically an opportunistic infection that occurs due to increased stress (e.g. from moving) of poor water quality and/or diet. The symptoms look like a fungus and include white spots on or near the mouth, fins, or the edges of scales, cottony growths around the mouth, and "rotting" of the fins. It can be treated with copper sulfate and various antibiotics like Chickadee said. Ich on the other hand is caused by the parasite Ichthyophthirius multifilis and has a very complex life cycle. The symptoms include tiny white spots and flashing (the fish scrapes against things to try to remove the parasites). It can be treated with a variety of medications including malachite green, methylene blue, copper sulfate, and quinine hydrochloride.


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## fuji (Jun 23, 2009)

I think it is more of a wool desies. It appeared to respond to noxich, temp, and salt or maybe the fish is having stronger immune system at higher temp. I also added frozen brine shrimp to her diet maybe that helped.

My only retail options where I live are walmart, petsmart and a fish store that is good but there inveotory carried none of the active ingredients listed above.

Can you post a link directly to the products you would reccomend for ich, wool and velvet? Maybe I can buy some online.


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## ladyonyx (Apr 20, 2009)

Drs. Foster and Smith online sell what you would need to treat any of the ailments you mentioned: Fish Medication: Fish Ich Medicine, Antibiotics and other Fish Medicine
Cotton-wool: any of the Maracyn products as well as Tetracycline and/or Erythromycin
Ich: Malachite green, methylene blue, or any of the copper-based medications
Velvet: Copper sulfate or Quinacrine hydrochloride


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## DarkRevoultions (Sep 5, 2008)

Chickadee said:


> It is not ich you are dealing with but rather sounds like Cotton Wool Disease and can be treated with medications but not with Ich medications. Chlortetracyline, Nifurpirinol, Oxytetracyline hydrochloride, Phenoxyethanol are all medication types that will treat this disease. Common brand name drugs for the aquarium that you can use are Maracyn, T.C. tablets, Fish Tetracycline and Maracyn Plus. Any other medication that is tetracycline based will work but be aware that if the fish is in advanced stages of the disease that it may be too late. The age of the fish does not seem to matter but the Tetracycline is known to disturb the cyle of the filter so keep close watch on the parameters of ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates in your tank and be aware that you may lose your cycle at least for a short time. After you replace the carbon in the filter after treatment, the cycle will not take as long as it originally did to build up again in the filter but it will be a while until it establishes again so you will need to do frequent water changes after treatment and watch even during treatment to make sure that the fish are not getting too much of any of the toxins.
> 
> Rose


Wow, fish growing cotton. That's a shock even to me! I remember that you will need to do lots of water changes. Probably a 20% daily? Mainly because I hear fresh clean water helps with the fish's immune system. Making it stronger.


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## fuji (Jun 23, 2009)

DarkRevoultions said:


> Wow, fish growing cotton. That's a shock even to me! I remember that you will need to do lots of water changes. Probably a 20% daily? Mainly because I hear fresh clean water helps with the fish's immune system. Making it stronger.



isn't daily a little much? That seems like going a little to far in the opposite direction. Fish need a certain amount of bacteria and PH to be healthy. But I am no expert so it is just a comment.


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## DarkRevoultions (Sep 5, 2008)

fuji said:


> isn't daily a little much? That seems like going a little to far in the opposite direction. Fish need a certain amount of bacteria and PH to be healthy. But I am no expert so it is just a comment.


Nah I've done this before many times for more than 5 years. It works well. I also have something that puts in more bacteria into the tank all the time. Including Aquarium Salt, and I also use something called Cycle. It releases massive amounts of Beneficial Bacteria in just one small cap full.


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## fuji (Jun 23, 2009)

DarkRevoultions said:


> Nah I've done this before many times for more than 5 years. It works well. I also have something that puts in more bacteria into the tank all the time. Including Aquarium Salt, and I also use something called Cycle. It releases massive amounts of Beneficial Bacteria in just one small cap full.


Ok I'll give it a try. I have been using aquarium salt and would like to stop the medicine treatment. This sounds like a good way.


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## DarkRevoultions (Sep 5, 2008)

fuji said:


> Ok I'll give it a try. I have been using aquarium salt and would like to stop the medicine treatment. This sounds like a good way.


Yeah  

Aquarium salt is okay, only if you use it effectively. If you put too much aquarium salt into the tank all the time, your water will become fairly salty and your freshwater fishes will have a high chance of getting salt poisoning, and possibly oxygen loss. This happened to me before, and it took so long just to get rid of it. I've been doing water changes everyday and I have always been putting my spare time into treating the illnesses. Unfortunately I heard that Angelfishes are vulnerable, and are delicate fishes. Although my angel has survived through ammonia poisoning, salt poisoning, and oxygen loss in my tank O_O

Although my gouramis were never really effected. My Guppies were very lively because they love the salty waters. 

So, be careful to not to use too much aquarium salt  If you have a 29 gallon tank, just take a regular spoon that you will use for eating (preferably a large one) and then put two spoon fulls of aquarium salt into the tank waters. Once a week is fine *AS LONG AS YOU DO A WATER CHANGE*. I always put aquarium salt in *AFTER* I do a water change, along with a cap full of Flourish or Flourish Trace, and chlorine killer etc. And that keeps my fishes, and plants healthy now  

if you have a 55 gallon tank, put a fairly large hand full of aquarium salt onto your hand (literally a hand full) and then pour it into your tank water. That should do the trick on helping to strengthen the fish coat and regenerate any loss or damage cells in the fishes and help strengthen the immune system. 

Sorry, I wrote a lot ha ha! 

Anyways I hope this helps you


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## fuji (Jun 23, 2009)

Question is it dangerous to treat with ich med anti antibacterial at the same time like Ich-Attack and coppersafe together?

The infection is down but still pops up now and again I ordered some poduct to address if anyone can help me with a treatment schedual with these products i'd be greatful.

CD-111196 Stress Zyme
1 gallon - Treats 7,680 gallons 
CD-134886 CopperSafe
16 oz 
CD-927030 Malachite Green
4 oz 
CD-905781 Methylene Blue
4 oz 
CD-111429 Freshwater Aquarium Salt
33 oz 
CD-18841 Ich-Attack
16 oz


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