Commonest aquarium fish disease?

First can I just add: To try to prevent disease, keep checking your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates, do weekly water changes of at least 10%, don't overfeed, check each fish carefully daily for health, and with new fish acclimatise fish slowly, and don't over stock (inch per gallon) - however, don't know about everyone else, these rules are followed, but disease still creeps in!

just wondering, what diseases are more common than others. i've only ever encountered ich (twice. once to guppies, then couple of months later and in a dif tank h&t light tetras) and what I think is columnaris (both batches of male guppies within days of purchase).
also, what medications do you always have at home/use.....just in case...?
let us know your thoughts
Tan

 

ICH tends to be the most common I think. Anything that stress a fish can bring on a case of Ich. It's one of those things that's always in the tank.
carol

 

reassuring to know it doesn't just happen to us newbies!!

 

No Tan it doesn't. Most of us who have been keeping fish for awhile learned our leasons the same way the newbies are learning right now by personal experience I had to learn the hard way to keep a Q tank.
Carol

 

I have to set up a QT tank very soon. I am always risky with things like this. I add the fish into the tank right away never thinking I would get ich. My tank have always been ich free. Until the year before last year. I had bought a stingray and 12 puffers. After about 2 weeks I saw little white spots.I moved them to a 20 gallon but it was to late. The stingray and the puffers had ich and died :'(

 

didn't encounter any fish disease yet................

 

I really need to get a q tank/hospital tank. how do they work re: cycling etc as I hope it isn't in constant use? no gravel either i've heard. just filter and heater? do you disinfect after each use to avoid cross contamination of disease? with what....boiling water? would this crack glass?
now I have a fully stocked tank i'd hate to lose them all. luckily the ich and mystery disease have only affected one species, so i've not had complete wipe out....yet. the possible fin rot in the fullest tank concerns me. that's my fave tank as its full. the other 28 gal is still in the process of stocking (halted at the mo with guppy disease. need that controlled before subjecting any more fish in there)
what size Q/hospital tank would you suggest?
tan

 

hI ,

The hospital tank should have no substrate or live plants. Provide shelter with over-turned flower pots and use plastic plants to help comfort the fish. Use a sponge filter or internal box filter that does not use chemical filtration or Carbon, for these products will remove many types of medications. do not use a strong power filter as the water disturbance may aggravate ailing fish. The tank should be furnished with a reliable heater that will not permit much temperature variance. To protect fish from heater burns, the heater should be enclosed in plastic mesh or other means of coverage. The tank should be dimly lit and kept in a dark room. Lastly, the tank should be furnished with an air stone to provide oxygen as some medications reduce the amount of free oxygen in the water.

When adding the fish to the hospital tank, try to have the water conditions as close to those from where the fish is coming. The initial stress is reduced when conditions are similar. After treating the sick fish, u have to disinfect the tank with chemicals and wash the tank thoroughly.

 

hI ,

The hospital tank should have no substrate or live plants. Provide shelter with over-turned flower pots and use plastic plants to help comfort the fish. Use a sponge filter or internal box filter that does not use chemical filtration or Carbon, for these products will remove many types of medications. do not use a strong power filter as the water disturbance may aggravate ailing fish. The tank should be furnished with a reliable heater that will not permit much temperature variance. To protect fish from heater burns, the heater should be enclosed in plastic mesh or other means of coverage. The tank should be dimly lit and kept in a dark room. Lastly, the tank should be furnished with an air stone to provide oxygen as some medications reduce the amount of free oxygen in the water.

When adding the fish to the hospital tank, try to have the water conditions as close to those from where the fish is coming. The initial stress is reduced when conditions are similar. After treating the sick fish, u have to disinfect the tank with chemicals and wash the tank thoroughly.

thanks neville. ;D what do you clean it with? don't want to use anything potent like bleach in case of contaminant residue. would "milton" that's used for sterilsing baby bottles work? that must be safe for fish if its safe for babies?!

 

hi, the guys at the fish store told me to clean the tank after treating the sick fish with dilute hydrochloric acid or potassium permanganate. they told me to Let the chemical stand in the water for two or three days and then thoroughly clean the tank. After disinfection, the biological filtration will be restored, and the tank will be ready for the next sick fish.

 

thanks neville . where would I buy HCl or pot.perman?

 

I think fish-stores keep these chemicals, or u can find it in the drug stores.

 

I think fish-stores keep these chemicals, or u can find it in the drug stores.

will have a look, thanks

 

When I was first starting out I was having trouble controlling ich. We don't have a very reliable lfs here in this little town. And unfortunately I've never been able to save any little swimmers from ich either, even following med instructions ???

The only other thing I've encountered was fin rot and that was dealable

 

When I was first starting out I was having trouble controlling ich. We don't have a very reliable lfs here in this little town. And unfortunately I've never been able to save any little swimmers from ich either, even following med instructions  ???

The only other thing I've encountered was fin rot and that was dealable

I think lfs's as a general rule don't seem to be as good as we'd like. i'm still trying to find one. there just isn't many around here. don't know if that's just in this part of the country or across the uk, or across the world. but I wish there were more lfs's to choose from.