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L200 health problem

Posted: 12 Aug 2012, 22:40
by powerfulpumpkins
Hope someone can help.
I purchased some Discus from a UK outlet around 2 weeks ago. All seemed fine but then I noticed a fine scattering of small whitish dots on them which then appeared to spread to some clown loach. Closest conclusion I could come to on that was velvet because having treated them for that they seem to be improving. Anyway in another tank I have a large L200 which I noticed in recent days started to fan its fins and seemed to breath fast even though I have loads of oxygen going into the tank. When I got home from work tonight I noticed pale patches forming which are shown in the picture attached. Clearly something is wrong and so I need to sort it out. Have I managed to cross contaminate the other tank with the velvet type parasite ? any help would be really useful !
Thanks

Re: L200 health problem

Posted: 13 Aug 2012, 11:28
by dog321fish
Try aquarium salt and liquisil, this is the advice I was given by an expert and this worked for me on a poorly fish.


HTH

Dave S

Re: L200 health problem

Posted: 13 Aug 2012, 20:32
by Barbie
I do not know what you use for treating for velvet there, but that is definitely the signs that oodinium will display on plecos. I would treat for that and do water changes daily to increase oxygen levels, if the fish was mine.

Barbie

Re: L200 health problem

Posted: 13 Aug 2012, 21:05
by saor alba
If it is a velvet type, i was recommended by Colin to increase temp ,add more airstones ,blackout tank with a blanket type and treat with king british which suits my water type here.(Low ph and gh/kh)
This is supppose to catch it in the free floating stage and starve them off light which it needs seemingly to help produce more and more.
Also check your ph as this can be a cause of this type of disease a crash of ph can bring this on in fish esp in L-numbers and bettas.
Just do as leafet states and follow up with plenty of clean water.Hopefully itll pass.
Plus take care not to interact with other tanks nets hoses etc etc its highly contagious.

Re: L200 health problem

Posted: 16 Aug 2012, 19:55
by PavelTrupl
Im fighting Oodinium on my Macropodus ocellatus fry just now...metronidazole didnt help, quinine hydrochloride did, fish got better in less than a day...just dont know if it doesnt kill your plecos, but Im sure someone here knows:)
Raising temperature and adding salt is useless imho, at least it didnt work for me

Re: L200 health problem

Posted: 16 Aug 2012, 21:23
by saor alba
Ive only ever had 1 disease and that was a velvet type disease ,as far as i was aware from homework that i done myself was that the safest treatment for scale-less fish is Quinine Hydrochloride, but this is less effective than other medication treatments.
So i then emailed someone i knew ,and he said that i should do the king british route on half dose measure from what he said and what i done i lost a few fish to the disease and i think they were to far gone to save anyway.The rest pulled threw no problem after 5 days.
Everybody has different ways of treating things but i do believe that some meds would work better in one water type than another somewhere else.

Re: L200 health problem

Posted: 18 Aug 2012, 01:53
by powerfulpumpkins
Thanks for everyones replies. So far have treated with Interpet Number 7 treatment for slime diseases and velvet. Have also done water changes and also treated water with melafix. So far things have got worse in a way as some patches have taken the colour from the fishes skin. Its still fanning its fins somewhat also. What is a mystery to me is that I have guppies in the tank that are fine.

Re: L200 health problem

Posted: 19 Aug 2012, 18:08
by apistomaster
Sorry but none of the +++=Fixes will cure any of the Protozoan skin/gill parasitic diseases.

I recommend malachite green plus 1 tbs salt per 4 liters at about29*C for 5 days.
Do not provide much if any strong light.

I have taken skin smears off many different species of sick wild caught plecos with these symptoms and in every case the disease was Chilodonella. Use ~200X power of the microscope because they are smaller than velvet or ich. The organism is oval and slightly heart shaped. They are very clear so a tiny amount of methylene blue may be used to stain the bugs so they are easier to see but it can be done without staining. Unless smears are examined microscopically you can not prove I am incorrect.
It attacks the gills badly and this compromises the fishes ability to breathe. Therefore be sure to aerate heavily. Between the gill damage and warm temperatures the heavy aeration is essential.
Chilodonella will respond to the above treatment although after 5 days dilute the salty water down to about 1/3 and continue to treat daily with malachite green until no symptoms are apparent or at least 10 days.
I prefer one drop per gal malachite green solutions without quinine or formalin. These are often sold in combinations but malachite green for fish diseases is usually available alone. Formalin is a strong gill irritant.
Change 50% of the water daily and keep the medication doses constant.

This method of treatment is the best for all the most common ciliated protozoan external parasites. A certain diagnosis requires examination of skin smears and/or smears from the gills of a dying specimen. Do not attempt gill smears from a fish which still has a chance of surviving.
Chilodonella is different in the longer time treatment must be maintained. The gills are more heavily infected than the skin so by the time you see skin symptoms the disease is already in an advanced stage.
Some losses are probable due to the difficulty of the diagnosis and beginning the use of the correct medications.
Treatment is best carried out in a bare tank and as small as is practical. Detritus in the substrate and wood tend to neutralize the malachite green.
Provide a few caves made of some inert material like tile, slate or fired clay.

Ich and velvet are relatively rare among wild plecos but Chilodonella is very common.
Chilodonella is contagious but especially among Plecos. Be sure you do nothing to cross contaminate by observing good quarantine and separate nets etc.

Re: L200 health problem

Posted: 28 Aug 2012, 23:51
by powerfulpumpkins
Thanks for everyones feedback on this. The L200 has improved in that its skin is almost back to normal now having used the Interpet Number 7 treatment which controls Velvet, Flukes, Costia and Chilodonella. The L200 is still fin fanning somewhat but atleast it seems to be over the worst of the skin problems. I am still at something of a loss as to what something struck the plec down but didnt both the endlers with young fry.

Re: L200 health problem

Posted: 11 Sep 2012, 23:59
by powerfulpumpkins
The L200 has improved further and no longer fans its fins, at the same time its body has recovered.

Re: L200 health problem

Posted: 13 Sep 2012, 23:01
by apistomaster
The Endler's are naturally hardy fish plus they are tank raised.
The ordeal wild caught plecos go through from capture to final destination are so tough a better question is, how as many survive as it is?