A few Fishy Health Questions

[MemnochsKat]

Well today seems to be unlucky for me! I've got a few questions I need answered.

Q1: Today I noticed my Female German Blue Ram rubbing up against the plants and stones in my 30g. She only did it a few times, and after looking at her I could find no outward signs of illness. I haven't seen her do it again, however I can't watch the tank 24-7 even if I would like to. All water parameters are at normal healthy levels. Should I be worried? What should I watch for? Should I go ahead and treat the tank? If so what with, something that won't harm the snails and shrimp.

Q2: The male platy in my 10g cray tank has a few white spots on his tail fin. I'm worried it might be Ich. He shows no other signs of illness and none of the other platies have any spots. I have Maracide on hand which would treat Ich. I've read the directions on the box and bottle and it doesn't mention anything about it being unsafe for use with inverts. Does anyone know if this product would hurt my cray? Should I remove her before treating the tank? If it is Ich, wouldn't putting the cray back in after treatment just reintroduce the Ich back into the tank?

Q3: I have several Mystery "Brig" Snails in my 30g. My favorite part of caring for them is watching them crawl around and explore with their cephalic tentacles out *the long set of tentacles on their head*. However recently all my mystery snails have been keeping their tentacles curled up most of the time. It makes them look sad kind of. Could anyone suggest a reason why they would keep the tentacles shrunk in, instead of out like they used to?*SICK*

 

[Big Vine]

Q1:
Did your female ram by any chance have poop hanging out of her when you saw her flashing up against objects in the tank? Either way, if you see no apparent signs of illness, then I'd leave well enough alone. Last thing you wanna do is start guessing at which meds to throw into your tank in order to provide treatment for ailments that your fish doesn't actually have.

Q2:
IMO, using any med poses risks to inverts, so for that reason I don't recommend using anything to treat your platy's ich other than aquarium salt and heat. I've treated ich in a 10 gal. tank with a blue cray before---even at a dosage of 2-3 tablespoons per 5 gallons---and the cray was completely fine. Temp. was set at 87 degrees F throughout the course of treatment.

What temp. are you currently keeping the tank at?
If you decide to combine the heat and salt method, I'd very slowly up the temp. over the course of the next day or two.

Q3:
Snails are most likely getting nipped at from the fish. Not much you can do about that other than move the fish or snail, which I wouldn't recommend unless you see some real damage. About the only thing I can suggest is to just be sure to feed the snails at lights-out so that they're not having to venture out into the open in plain daylight as the fish mercilessly nip at them.

BV

 

[MemnochsKat]

Thanks BV! How long would I need to treat the 10g and how would I go about doing so? I've heard about the heat and salt treatment, but don't have any actual directions on the process. The tank is currently kept upstairs in our house and the temp ranges from 74 to 78 degrees most of the time.

How much salt? How often to dose the salt? How long to leave the temp up at 87 degrees? When to do a water change?

 

[Big Vine]

1) Do a water-change---as large as you want (provided that your treated tapwater has the same parameters and temp. as your tankwater) and give the substrate a really good vacuuming.

2) Up tank temp. by a few degrees.

3) Pull out a fish/tank-safe container and fill it with tankwater from the 10 gal. Add 2 tablespoons of aquarium salt (I use Doc Wellfish's Aquarium Salt for Freshwater Fish) and stir in really well, then pour into your tank.

4) Repeat step 3 in the morning. (this puts you at a total dosage of 4 tablespoons of salt, which equates to 2 tablespoons per 5 gallons)

5) Up tank temp. by another few degrees (whatever it takes to get it up to 86-87 degrees F) if it isn't already there...don't go above 87 degrees.

6) Resume your regular weekly water-changing schedule (and replace salt, as needed) until no more signs of ich are apparent. Wait another 3 days, minimum, and then discontinue treatment (do water-change, but don't replace salt; slowly lower temp. back down to desired temp.).

Note that this is the precise method I've used to successfully treat ich a number of times. Others might do things slightly differently...no big deal. There's several ways of getting this done right---main thing is to avoid use of meds that may (or may not) be harmful to your cray.

Hope this helps...let me know if you need anything else...good luck!
BV

 

[MemnochsKat]

Thanks again BV. I'm sure little cray will be just fine!