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Well there are many fish diseases but I will list the most common ones. |
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White Spot or Ich "Ich", or "White spot disease", is a primarily coetaneous infection of freshwater fish caused by the protozoa parasite Ichthyophthirius multifilis. Ich most often causes the appearance of small white spots over the body and fins of fish. However, it is important to note that Ich can present with many different appearances, and that other things besides Ich can cause small white spots on the body. Thus, the only sure-fire way to know that what you're treating is Ich is to scrape the skin of your affected fish and look at the scraping under the microscope. For those of you interested in looking at things under the microscope, Ichthyophthirius is a large ciliated protozoan with a U-shaped macronucleus. Its shape changes as it moves through the water, and it appears to "tumble" as it moves. For those of you not interested in skin scrapings, you can have a high rate of success just assuming that what you're treating is Ich. The adult stage lives on the skin and body of the fish. It will burrow under the epidermis, causing skin damage. Disruption of the skin leads to osmoregulatory disturbances, osmotic stress, and allows for the easy entrance of secondary invaders like bacteria. The cyst stage lives on the bottom of the aquarium, and gives rise to about 300 tomites per cyst. The tomite stage is the only stage which is sensitive to medication! The life cycle takes 12-16 days to complete, depending on the temperature, and the tomite stage lasts for only three days. All of these facts may seem trivial, but they are important because they dictate what treatments will be effective. How To Treat Ich Check your water quality!!!!!! 9 times out of 10, the fish can do fine with a few Ichthyophthirius in the water, but when they are stressed by anything, like questionable water quality, it makes it much easier for the little buggers to set up shop in your fish's skin. Do a 50% water change, just to be safe. Add 3 tsp. of aquarium salt per gallon to your tank. This reduces the osmotic stress on the fish caused by the invading organisms, and may adversely affect the organism as well. Pick up an Ich medication of your choice at the local fish mart. Most of the ones that are sold are more or less effective. My personal favorite is a malachite green/formaldehyde combination sold under the brand name "Quick Cure". ("RidIch" has the same ingredients.) Note: Most people recommend halving the dose of Malachite-containing medications if you are treating small catfish, any scaleless catfish, or tetras. Disregard The Instructions On The Bottle!!!!! Use the dose written on the bottle, but treat like this: Treat every 3 to 4 days for 4 treatments, changing 50% of the water before every treatment. Do not treat once or twice, like the directions will tell you! You need to treat over 12 to 16 days in order to get all the little guys when they are vulnerable. (See life cycle diagram for explanation) (Excuse the digression here, but this is my chance to vent my frustration at the aquarium trade -- I think they purposefully give poor medicating information so that the consumer will treat only partially, and knock down the parasite burden only enough to temporarily cure the fish! Because not all the organisms are dead, they will bounce back in a few weeks or months, and the poor consumer has to run out and but more of the Ich medication! What a scam!!) Other things which may help: Raise the temperature in the tank above 85 degrees for 5-7 days. The tomites do very poorly at these temperatures, and it also speeds up the life cycle so more organisms are vulnerable to killing at any time. You can use a diatomaceous earth filter to decrease the number of infective tomites. Move fish to a clean tank after 7 days. This reduces reinfection by tomites left behind after the initial treatments. Please note: This is intended for people of all different backgrounds and levels of experience. Please don't be put off if some of this information seems too basic, or if some of this information seems unnecessary or superfluous. I hope you find some of this information useful! Good luck! Information on this page is obtained from Doug Thamm of School of Veterinary Medicine of University of Pennsylvania. |
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Velvet Disease Signs Of Infection Fish rub against hard objects. A yellowish-gray film consisting of tiny spots appears on the fish's body. The fish may also show signs of increased respiration and loss of appetite. Fish Affected All aquarium fish are vulnerable particularly fry. Details Of Infection Caused by the parasite Oodinium pillularis. This parasite follows a similar life cycle to White Spot (Ich). The parasite attach themselves to a host fish where they feed and grow. As they mature, the parasite falls from the fish and develops into cysts encased in a membrane on the substrate. Here the cyst divides forming 64 new cells within 4 days where upon the membrane bursts freeing the cells into the aquarium to find a new host. If the cells fail to fin a host within 24 hours, the cell dies. Velvet usually only arises when poor aquarium conditions prevail and is highly infectious. Treatment Increasing the temperature to 82°F and application of a commercial chemical treatment containing copper is most effective. Dimming the aquarium lighting and subjecting the affected fish to a strong (3%) salt bath also aids recovery. It is worth treating for up to one week after all signs of velvet are removed from the aquarium to ensure that mature parasites have been discharged from the fish and developing cysts are eradicated from the substrate. |
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Fungus Fungus is a common fish disease that can prove fatal if not treated early. Most fungal infections involve water moulds from the class Oomycetes (a group of fungi with similar characteristics). Although there are several water moulds that can affect fish, the most common and significant water mould is Saprolegnia, a filamentous fungi. In common with all moulds, it feeds by secreting digestive enzymes onto the surrounding area. These enzymes break down cells and tissues enabling the fungi to absorb nutrients such as proteins and carbohydrates. This isn’t a problem if it's a piece of fish food – but it’s not so welcome when it is one of your fish that is being slowly digested! |
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