Quick question...

[jlennon]

So i have been trying to figure out what is going on with my oscar and i have been treating her with fresh water chages a little offten then usual, and using melafix for her gashes on her head from trying to excape(am i that bad of an owner) and thinking i might want to treat her for ick just in case because i did have a tank full of icky fishes. (did not feed them to my girl) A lot of dieases i have found on line or in books seem to share some of the same symtoms. But I have been making checks list pretty mcuh everyday of things i notice and i think she is clear of hole in the head and she is clearing up with her gashes real quick. (with treatment) There is no physical sign of ick but what i need to know is it ok to treat ick with quick cure as well as a week of malefix? Can i do the two at the same time or should i treat her with malefix for a week(recomended) and then wait to treat her with the quick cure? (recomended two days longer if needed) Or can i use them both at the same time? Also changed her diet but she still shows no interest in the food. I an not worried to much over that because she will be going through a diet chage soon anyway and i do not think she will be to happy. If i could get a little help it would be great. That and i am ADHA so i am sorry this may be one run on sentance but i am good guy. (smile)

[Drumachine09]

Off of the bottle of Melafix
"A safe, all natural way to treat bacterial fish infections. Melafix treats: Open red sores, Fin and tail rot, Eye cloud, pop eye, body slime, mouth fungus, and open body wounds.
Remove carbon, treat one cap per 1- us gallons of water 1-2 times per day. Continue for seven days and make 25 percent water change. When adding new fish or handling fish, does daily for 3 days."




Just wrote this in another thread about five minutes ago. I apologize on the C&p job, but i felt it was nesecary.

[cocoa_pleco]

you can mix melafix for parisites, and pimafix for fungus together, so you can mix em!

[Drumachine09]

Like some sort of Fish meds cocktail

"Shaken, not stirred"

[Chrona]

Actually, ick is a parasite, and Melafix does not treat it. Once borrowed into its host, ick is impossible to remove without killing the fish. After a period of time (depends on water temp), the ick bubble releases tons of the free floating parasite into the water to infect other or the same fish. It is only during this time that anti-ick medications like copper or malachite green will kill them (Keep in mind copper also kills alot of invertebrates, so you may need a different product) That why all ick products recommends treatment for a prolonged period of time. You want to have the med in the water at the time the parasites are released. Some people just leave stuff like Coppersafe in their tank as a preventative, but it's unknown whether or not parasites will eventually build a resistance to this stuff, so it's better not to

Melafix, however, will speed up recovery time, since the ick bubble leaves a little sore. It will also prevent secondary bacterial infections, which can occur as your fish is already in a weakened state.

Hoped that helped. I can't remember what website I got this from, but it was pretty reputable.

[cocoa_pleco]

yeah, treat ich fast or it can spread cause the hosts fall of and theres little parisites crawling in the tank and youll have to rip the whole tank apart maybe

[Drumachine09]

Actually, ick is a parasite, and Melafix does not treat it. .......................Hoped that helped. I can't remember what website I got this from, but it was pretty reputable.

Oh, i thought he asked how to use melafix. Oh well, its good to know!

[jlennon]

You know I have been asking at me local pet stores and they all seem clueless so I thank you guys a bunch. I have her on the liquid form of malefix. Should I keep her on the liquid treatment I have her on and see where I go? Or should I stop the liquid treatment till I can get the treaats for her? Or so I just keep pluging along and see what happens? I mean I cannot hurt her from treating her can I ?

[jlennon]

I am on the ick like white on rice.

[Chrona]

You know I have been asking at me local pet stores and they all seem clueless so I thank you guys a bunch. I have her on the liquid form of malefix. Should I keep her on the liquid treatment I have her on and see where I go? Or should I stop the liquid treatment till I can get the treaats for her? Or so I just keep pluging along and see what happens? I mean I cannot hurt her from treating her can I ?

Ick treatments should be 14 days minimum, or else you may have to treat them all over again if one parasite manages to survive. Melafix doesn't do anything to ick, only bacterial infections. Ick medications like these:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/NavResults.cfm?N=0&Np=1&Ntt=ich&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=All&Nty=1&pc=1

or these

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/NavResults.cfm?N=0&Np=1&Ntt=ick&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=All&Nty=1&pc=1

Will work great for ick, or as a preventative measure. You can even use it in your feeder tank if you want to be sure that your oscar is getting healthy food. I'm not sure what ingesting ick covered fish does, but one can imagine parasites in your stomach :/

[jlennon]

What evadence of ick actually shows up in the tank if you cannot see it on the fish?

[Chrona]

What evadence of ick actually shows up in the tank if you cannot see it on the fish?

None, you can't see the free floating parasites, as they are too small. The only times you can see them is when the are burrowed in a fish, resulting in white specks like sand sprinkled on the fish, or right after it burrows out to release hundreds of baby parasites, in which case it's a tiny bubble on your gravel.

You said your feeders were icky, so I'm assuming they have white specks on them?

[jlennon]

She hasn't had a feeder for three weeks now.

[jlennon]

Yes, they had white specks on them but I thought I got it early. I only found one fish with more then one spot on it. And after all my searching i only had to get ride of eight out of like 100 plus.

[Chrona]

Then thats fine. Just watch the oscar closely, and at the first sign of white specks, do the ick treatment.

[jlennon]

Thank you again you have been awesome.

[jeffs99dime]

Jlennon-- i moved your thread to the oscar fish forum-- jeff