Tropical fish with Trich
Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 3:38 pm
Hi guys,
Hoping you can help me with a slightly different issue!
I've got a tank of Tanganyikan cichlids and recently got some new fish. I already had some F1 Neolamprologus helianthus (fairly tough lyretailed cichlids similar to a more common species called brics) and some tank bred shell dwellers, Lepidiolamprologus meeli (very tough usually). I bought some F1 Cyprichromis microlepidotus Bulu Point (small, delicate open water mouth breeders) and some wild Enantiopus melanogenys Utinta (very delicate sand dwelling mouth breeders).
The symptoms were heavy breathing, loss of colour and listlessness which I was advised are symptoms of bloat and so I treated with the recomended Octozin at 12x dose. However fish have kept dying so today I thought I should scrape one of them and have a look under the microscope. I am now kicking myself as I found trichodina. I scraped a poorly shell dweller and found maybe a dozen trich on the slide. However the parasites seem to be still - would trich move on the slide if it was alive? If so has the huge dose of Octozin killed it? The active ingredient is dimetridazole 8.5% w/w (not sure what w/w means). If that won't kill it and I still have a trich problem then can I treat them with PP when there's still this in the water or should I start doing a couple of large water changes to reduce the chemical down and dose with PP. Will cichlids cope with PP or will this cause more problems than it'll solve and if I can't PP what can I use? Duncan's book only really lists PP or MG&F but I'm not sure that'll be any easier on these delicate fish. Can I use a lower dose of PP?
Any ideas would be really welcome guys please.
Hoping you can help me with a slightly different issue!
I've got a tank of Tanganyikan cichlids and recently got some new fish. I already had some F1 Neolamprologus helianthus (fairly tough lyretailed cichlids similar to a more common species called brics) and some tank bred shell dwellers, Lepidiolamprologus meeli (very tough usually). I bought some F1 Cyprichromis microlepidotus Bulu Point (small, delicate open water mouth breeders) and some wild Enantiopus melanogenys Utinta (very delicate sand dwelling mouth breeders).
The symptoms were heavy breathing, loss of colour and listlessness which I was advised are symptoms of bloat and so I treated with the recomended Octozin at 12x dose. However fish have kept dying so today I thought I should scrape one of them and have a look under the microscope. I am now kicking myself as I found trichodina. I scraped a poorly shell dweller and found maybe a dozen trich on the slide. However the parasites seem to be still - would trich move on the slide if it was alive? If so has the huge dose of Octozin killed it? The active ingredient is dimetridazole 8.5% w/w (not sure what w/w means). If that won't kill it and I still have a trich problem then can I treat them with PP when there's still this in the water or should I start doing a couple of large water changes to reduce the chemical down and dose with PP. Will cichlids cope with PP or will this cause more problems than it'll solve and if I can't PP what can I use? Duncan's book only really lists PP or MG&F but I'm not sure that'll be any easier on these delicate fish. Can I use a lower dose of PP?
Any ideas would be really welcome guys please.