Sick fish

[Michael]

Help ... I bought some angels from Drs Foster (BIG MISTAKE) and my fish
are dying off one by one. They show clamped fins, rapid breathing, hang
out at the surface and the croak.

Water quality was excellent prior to adding the angels.

Can someone recommend a proper medication?

Thanks

[Zebulon]

"Michael" > wrote in message
t...
>
> Help ... I bought some angels from Drs Foster (BIG MISTAKE) and my fish
> are dying off one by one. They show clamped fins, rapid breathing, hang
> out at the surface and the croak.

Gill flukes? What used to be called PH shock? I quarantine all new fish
for 21 days, sometimes more and use something to take care of any parasites
the new fish may have while in quarantine. My Favorites are Quick-Cure,
Aqura-Sol or Clout.

> Water quality was excellent prior to adding the angels.
>
> Can someone recommend a proper medication?

Please Google tropical+fish+disease.
--
ZB....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }<((((*> ~~~ }<{{{{(ö> ~~~~ }<((((({*>

[Dick]

On Sat, 16 Dec 2006 22:55:12 GMT, Michael >
wrote:

>
>Help ... I bought some angels from Drs Foster (BIG MISTAKE) and my fish
>are dying off one by one. They show clamped fins, rapid breathing, hang
>out at the surface and the croak.
>
>Water quality was excellent prior to adding the angels.
>
>Can someone recommend a proper medication?
>
>Thanks

I have bought many fish from Drs Foster with no problem, including 3
angels.

[carlrs]

Michael wrote:
> Help ... I bought some angels from Drs Foster (BIG MISTAKE) and my fish
> are dying off one by one. They show clamped fins, rapid breathing, hang
> out at the surface and the croak.
>
> Water quality was excellent prior to adding the angels.
>
> Can someone recommend a proper medication?
>
> Thanks

How did you introduce your fish?
I recommend Floating the bag your new fish came in for 10 minutes, then
open the bag and add a small amount of water. After 5 more minutes add
some more water, and continue this process for about 30 minutes. After
30 minutes, gently remove your fish without adding ANY of the bag water
to your aquarium to prevent disease transfer. Often I will also add
methylene blue to the bag during this process.

As for treatments: I would give an immediate bath in double strength
methylene blue, as this will kill many parasites, bacteria, and fungii,
methylene blue is also a hemoglobin transfer agent and will help with
possible ammonia and nitrite burn as well.

In the tank Quick Cure as already mentioned is a good choice, or if no
parasites seem to be present, Kanamyacin or nitrofurazone or even a
combination.
Pimafix is a good organic choice, affecting primarily gram negative
bacteria, but it is not as strong as the above meds. I have safely
combined Pimafix with malachite green, but not Quick Cure.

Make sure your water parameters are good, ammonia, kH, nitrites, ect.
Electrolytes are also important in times of stress. Well circulated
oxygenated water helps (but not too strong of circulation that the weak
fish get blown around). Wonder Shells are usefull for electrolytes
(there is also a Medicated one that can help here as well, although is
is not as strong as Quick cure, but it is safer).

As to purchasing fish from Doctor Fosters; over the last several years
of my aquarium service business, I have heard good and bad from my
customers (including fish purhases). Good when nothing goes wrong, bad
when you have a problem and try and get return emails or return
merchandise, and bad in that they tend to carry products of high mark
up but not necessarily the best product (such as Aqua Medic UVs).

For more aquarium medication info, including more about methylene blue:
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Medication.html

Carl

[Steve Wolstenholme]

On 17 Dec 2006 08:30:41 -0800, "carlrs"
> wrote:

>I recommend Floating the bag your new fish came in for 10 minutes, then
>open the bag and add a small amount of water. After 5 more minutes add
>some more water, and continue this process for about 30 minutes. After
>30 minutes, gently remove your fish without adding ANY of the bag water
>to your aquarium to prevent disease transfer.

After 40 plus years of fish keeping I am sure that just pouring the
fish and water into the tank is much less stressful on the fish.

--
Steve Wolstenholme Neural Planner Software

EasyNN-plus. The easy way to build neural networks.
http://www.easynn.com

[Zebulon]

"Steve Wolstenholme" > wrote in message
...
> On 17 Dec 2006 08:30:41 -0800, "carlrs"
> > wrote:
>
>>I recommend Floating the bag your new fish came in for 10 minutes, then
>>open the bag and add a small amount of water. After 5 more minutes add
>>some more water, and continue this process for about 30 minutes. After
>>30 minutes, gently remove your fish without adding ANY of the bag water
>>to your aquarium to prevent disease transfer.
>
> After 40 plus years of fish keeping I am sure that just pouring the
> fish and water into the tank is much less stressful on the fish.
===========================
That can kill them if the water parameters are very different. I leaned
that the hard way. :-( I now put them in something and add water from the
tank they're going into over a period of time - sometimes several hours.
When it's mostly tank water I add them.
--
ZB....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }<((((*> ~~~ }<{{{{(ö> ~~~~ }<((((({*>

[Steve Wolstenholme]

On Sun, 17 Dec 2006 15:17:21 -0600, Zëbulon >
wrote:

>That can kill them if the water parameters are very different. I leaned
>that the hard way. :-( I now put them in something and add water from the
>tank they're going into over a period of time - sometimes several hours.
>When it's mostly tank water I add them.

I just make sure the water parameters are never very different.

--
Steve Wolstenholme Neural Planner Software

EasyNN-plus. The easy way to build neural networks.
http://www.easynn.com

[Michael]

Thanks a lot for all of the advice !!

I added Maracyn I and II and that seems to have done the trick. I lost
several of my veil black angels (juveniles) prior to treatment - and
afterwards, the remaining angels perked up, fins un-clamped and the red
streaks disappeared. They are also eating.

I ran the treatment for 10 days and then ran a diatom filter on the tank
with carbon for 24 hours. The water is crystal clear. I still have a
fish or two which appear weak (up at the top listless), but they appear
better than before. I'll start water changes this week.

Painful lesson - yet again.

Steve Wolstenholme wrote:
> On Sun, 17 Dec 2006 15:17:21 -0600, Zëbulon >
> wrote:
>
>> That can kill them if the water parameters are very different. I leaned
>> that the hard way. :-( I now put them in something and add water from the
>> tank they're going into over a period of time - sometimes several hours.
>> When it's mostly tank water I add them.
>
> I just make sure the water parameters are never very different.
>

[Zebulon]

"Michael" > wrote in message
t...
> Thanks a lot for all of the advice !!
> I added Maracyn I and II and that seems to have done the trick. I lost
> several of my veil black angels (juveniles) prior to treatment - and
> afterwards, the remaining angels perked up, fins un-clamped and the red
> streaks disappeared. They are also eating.
============================
I assume every fish I buy is carrying parasites so I treat them all. I
know some people may disagree but better safe than sorry. I have hundreds
of fish and refuse to take any chances.
--
ZB....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }<((((*> ~~~ }<{{{{(ö> ~~~~ }<((((({*>

[carlrs]

Zëbulon wrote:

> I assume every fish I buy is carrying parasites so I treat them all. I
> know some people may disagree but better safe than sorry. I have hundreds
> of fish and refuse to take any chances.
> --
> ZB....
> Frugal ponding since 1995.
> rec.ponder since late 1996.
> My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
> http://tinyurl.com/9do58
> ~~~~ }<((((*> ~~~ }<{{{{(ö> ~~~~ }<((((({*>

I totally agree!!

I ran a large aquarium maintenance business for 27 years in LA, and I
never assumed anything. We treated incoming fish and even acclimated
imported fish longer; with a drip system over an hour.
Most of our new customers were a testament to this, they had been with
other services and they had higher losses.

Carl
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Information.html

[Zebulon]

"carlrs" > wrote in message
ups.com...

I ran a large aquarium maintenance business for 27 years in LA, and I
never assumed anything. We treated incoming fish and even acclimated
imported fish longer; with a drip system over an hour.
Most of our new customers were a testament to this, they had been with
other services and they had higher losses.

Carl
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Information.html
===============
Very interesting website. Thanks!
--
ZB....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }<((((*> ~~~ }<{{{{(ö> ~~~~ }<((((({*>