26 Days On Paraguard, Now What?

Hello all,

I've had an issue with a tank. I noticed my tiger barbs occasionally flashing, and breathing a little quick (first time with tiger barbs), I don't really know what their normal breathing pace is. Sometimes its fast, sometimes its slow. But there was a select few of them that would flash against my anubias plants. I started dosing with paraguard about 26 days ago bracing for the worst. I had lost my Red tailed shark, about 2 days into treatment his skin was pale and "dusty" but I really couldnt confirm velvet nor ick. During this period my 6 rainbows have shown 0 signs of being sick. What I would call normal breathing, no flashing, just a bunch of happy boisterous rainbows.

I'm 26 days into paragaurd with every 3 days of a PWC and redosing of paragaurd for the passed 26 days. Tigers have remained unchanged, no physical signs of velvet/ick, just occassional flashing on the anubias. All the fish eat ravenously. 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, <10ppm nitrate.

By occasional I mean ill sit in the front of the tank 3 or 4 times a day for about 15 to 20 mins and I can count a select few of the tigers flashing on plants. I'm also 7 days into medicated food feeding about 2 to 3 times a day (Garlicguard/Metro/Focus).

I'm a little weary of continuing treatment with paraguard, It can't be good for them after a certain point to continue dosing this chemical.

I was going to continue the medicated food for another 7 days as recommended by seachem, and I'm over the recommended 21 day treatment period for Paraguard.

What to do? Should I take them off paraguard for a week and see what happens? I've read that cupramine/copper is another course of treatment for parasites, yet I still haven't confirmed anything other than the suspicious behavior from my tiger barbs and my 1 lost fish.

PS this tank was a fishless cycle and this all started about 1 week after the fish went in. Tanks been online for about 2 months.

 

Can you see any visible fungus on the fish?
It sounds like costia, or flukes.
Either way, need a diffrent ick medicine. I use formalin, it kills everything
No way you should keep dosing paraguard, like most ick meds, it should be a 2-3 day thing at most, one shot kills.

 

I literally see 0 visible ailments, no white spots, fungus, no lesions on any of the fish. Rainbows totally unaffected, I don't seem to see any excess mucus/slime coat. Ive also read that paraguard can have an "anticeptic" effect meaning it can hold off problems but may not cure them. I'm worried that I may be in this position.

Edited... see bellow.

 

Upon further inspection of the fish today, I noticed some serious bloating with 3 of the barbs, I must have overlooked this being concerned with possible ick/velvet, another guy is also darkening and losing some of his fin color, I have been feeding a medicated mix of garlic guard/focus/metroplex, but it doesn't seem to be assisting much for the last 7 days, I'm going to put this food on pause for the moment.

Upon doing some research, i've performed a 30% water change, and I am going to do an as directed regiment of API general cure to see if this will assist with the bloat (says so on the box) and the possibility of flukes. This is a ~5 day treatment as stated on the box.

Meanwhile, ive decided to go with a formalin based treatment as a last resort if API general cure is unable to resolve the issues. I chose Kordon Rid ich plus based on its ingredient list of malachite green and formalin. Thank you Whitewolf

I hate pumping the water full of chemicals but I have to give this all a shot. Since the water change I noticed only 1 barb performing a flash in the 20 minutes of observation after administering a water change and the general cure. Usually can catch 3 to 4 flashes among the barbs in each observation interval. Maybe the paragaurd was causing irritation. I guess ill have to wait and see.

Never again will I start a tank this large without doing some sort of prophylactic treatment in a 10 or 20 gal QT and slowly stock the tank. The volume of medication required here is insane.

 

Sounds good. Yea quick cure has malachite green and formalin in it. Just change the water after you dose it for 24 hours and they should be fine.
I wouldnt worry too much, its all a learning process. Dont have much to say except there are tons of parasites out there and every fish in the wild in infested with them as well, the fish have a slime coat and immune system that should fight some of them off, others, like Neon tetra disease, are virtually incurable.

 

I've read that most formalin directions require a 25% water change before every administration of the dose. What was your experiences with using it? I noticed you said a "one shot" treatment. Can you elaborate? I've read a lot of research that contradicts how the manufacturers recommend to use Formalin on their bottle.