Tropical fish with Trich

[eds]

Hi guys,
Hoping you can help me with a slightly different issue!

I've got a tank of Tanganyikan cichlids and recently got some new fish. I already had some F1 Neolamprologus helianthus (fairly tough lyretailed cichlids similar to a more common species called brics) and some tank bred shell dwellers, Lepidiolamprologus meeli (very tough usually). I bought some F1 Cyprichromis microlepidotus Bulu Point (small, delicate open water mouth breeders) and some wild Enantiopus melanogenys Utinta (very delicate sand dwelling mouth breeders).

The symptoms were heavy breathing, loss of colour and listlessness which I was advised are symptoms of bloat and so I treated with the recomended Octozin at 12x dose. However fish have kept dying so today I thought I should scrape one of them and have a look under the microscope. I am now kicking myself as I found trichodina. I scraped a poorly shell dweller and found maybe a dozen trich on the slide. However the parasites seem to be still - would trich move on the slide if it was alive? If so has the huge dose of Octozin killed it? The active ingredient is dimetridazole 8.5% w/w (not sure what w/w means). If that won't kill it and I still have a trich problem then can I treat them with PP when there's still this in the water or should I start doing a couple of large water changes to reduce the chemical down and dose with PP. Will cichlids cope with PP or will this cause more problems than it'll solve and if I can't PP what can I use? Duncan's book only really lists PP or MG&F but I'm not sure that'll be any easier on these delicate fish. Can I use a lower dose of PP?

Any ideas would be really welcome guys please.

[Duncan]

hi ed

i use MG&F in my marine tank with no problems the only dose i know is the ones we use for koi and they weather it fine

hope this is of some help

dunc

[Gazza]

Hi Ed,

Do you know you had me thinking with this one and although i think i would of treated with the MG&F and the fish would be fine (i was thinking lol) it was the other stuff i wasn't sure on and if they would react to the treatment so i am glad Dunc has posted

[eds]

Cheers guys. i think MG and F will be the treatment of choice as there's a cichlid treatment called Clout available in the states that is a combination of Dimetradiazole, MG and Trichlorphon (which apparently banned over here) so I guess MG and F will be ok with the Dimetradiazole already in the tank.

Forgot to say thank you too as you've been far more helpful than the guy I bought the fish from - all he can do is say I must have done something wrong which is pretty irritating as I've kept these types of fish for years. He can't admit that his fish had parasites on them and the stress of the move has caused them to multiply. I've lost 5 new fish out of 15 and 2 of my original fish, plus two more are on their last legs. I'm not a happy bunny!

[greg]

Ed,

Nadine (my wife) has used PP on wild Malawi Chicilids in the past - we used the normal dosage the trick is getting the scales to read low enough to measure out to suit such a small amount of water or doign your maths right to "dilute" the concentrated solution down to a treatable level.

I would also have some HP very close to hand and already measured out to the exact quantity before you add the PP.

[Duncan]

ED

whats the volume of the tank to be treated
pm me if you can so i get a heads up you have answered im getting flakey with looking in on the board of late
dunc

[Duncan]

ok i tell you the easyiest way to admin PP to an aquarium

make a stock solution dissolve 1.5 grams of PP into 220 ml of boiling RO or deionized water this is your stock solution, then add 1 ml of this solution to every 1 gallons of aquarium water
so if your aquarium is 110 uk gallons use 110 ml/cc of the stock solution 55 gallon add 55ml etc:

easyest way i know

[eds]

Sorry Duncan i wasn't ignoring you but typed a long response on my phone and then lost it and haven't had time to come back online since. I ended up using another waterlife medication on recommendation from another Tanganyikan keeper. The Protozin seems to have done the job for now.