Hej everybody,

huh boy, I didn't really think I'd need the hospital section so soon...

Yesterday I got a shipment of fish from a renowned breeder in Germany, Danio erythromicron. They aren't available around here, that's why I ordered them, and they were shipped with a special carrier specialized in animal transports.

These are very nervous fish, they almost had a collective heart attack when I opened the transport styrofoam box. They were adapted to the water very slowly and were released into the tank without the transport water. After they had regained their original color I noticed that some of the 70 looked like they had been dusted with flour - Oodinium!

Great. They were the first to go into that tank, but as I want inverts with them I cannot treat with just any old Oodinium medicine, as most contain fatal concentrations of copper. I found one with malachite green oxalate and dumped that into the tank (400 liters). The fish look healthy so far and eat well. They only occasionally scrub themselves against plants or decoration.

I have disconnected the lighting, as malachite green oxalate decomposes under light, and am planning to keep the tank totally dark for five days (which will help against the brown algae, too ).

Someone told me to use salt instead of the MGO, but I've read on the Internet that the salt concentrations you need to battle Oodinium are fatal for plants, so this is not really something I want to go for.

I'm planning on feeding lots of live food and black food (high in vitamins), does that sound ok?

Sorry for this long post, and thanks for reading!

Cheers
Ulli

First of all those are beautiful fish!
But, ouch! I hope they make it. This is one reason why a quarantine tank is so useful, it allows you to medicate and not worry about the inverts or plants. However I did catch the part of your post where you said these were the first fish in the tank so your decision to not QT makes sense, its just a peculiar situation in that the tank will be used as well for the inverts later.
Do you have access to a germicidal UV light to install on the tank? And also, I am wondering if this tank has an established bio filter already? I think maybe its good to keep and eye and test your ammonia levels if the medicine does not make that too difficult to read. Also you are not running carbon now, correct? And whats the temp of the water?

Thank you for your answer. That's the last time I've put the first stock into the tank without quarantining, believe me...

The tank is cycled, and I have a Hamburg Mat Filter in there. No carbon, no zeolithe, no synthetic resin, no water conditioner - I'd like the medicine to stay where it is, but thanks for the heads-up!
I started with several apple snails and some trumpet snails to slowly get the bacteria going. Nitrite's under 0.1, I use the JBL tests as their system takes care of possible water discolorations. Daily water checks, as I always do when stocking a fresh tank.

The UV light will have to wait as this would decompose the medicine. But I seriously consider installing some as I'm fully aware that nearly every fish carries these parasites and they just get out of hand when the host is weakened by stress, low temps etc.

Water temps are at 25 to 26 °C. I want to go to 28°C, but slowly.

Today the fish seem ok, no losses during the night. I really, really hope I was on time... The breeder does not have an Oodinium outbreak in his tanks, he says he's checked his fish tanks to make sure as soon as he heard the news from me, so they must have gotten it during transport.

Most of the apple snails were hanging at the water surface today, so I took them out into a fish-less tank. Fortunately, I have enough of those ;).

Cheers
Ulli

Well it sounds like you are doing everything you should be at this time.
Glad to hear they are doing good and there were no losses during the night.

Hi everybody,

a little update - no losses so far, the fish seem to start losing the "dust". Which means the cysts are leaving their hosts, right?
I've been siphoning off the muck from the ground in order to get as many out as possible.
The fish are eating frozen food, I've doused it in vitamin drops.

I'm still hoping, they seem lively and the itch seems to let off...

Cheers
Ulli

Hi,

next update :D
The fish are definitely better. 10 days have passed since I started treatment, I changed 50% of the water after the 5th day and re-dosed the medicine afterwards. The lights are still out, algae are gone, and the moss grows like crazy.

No losses, the fish are eating, itching seems to be gone. Now I'll do another water change tomorrow and run another 5-day period of medication. After that we ought to have won the battle, right?

Man, I can't wait to see this tank with the lights on...

Cheers
Ulli

Today the third medication cycle was complete, I did another 50% water change, added water conditioner (EasyLife) and have put a bag of carbon behind the mat filter.

The fish look good, don't scratch, the "dust" is gone.

And guess what - there's fry in there now! I've already spied three tiny commas. Can't have been that bad then, huh?

Cheers
Ulli

The fry count is 12 now :D

Hi, I'm back - Christmas was a killer (as always...). Sorry for not posting for such a long time...
Just a little update. The Oodinium seems to be behind us, the fish are doing great. No fry survived in the tank, though, I have a few theories on that. Either hungry adult fish, hydra (which are present in the tank and always look pretty well-fed), or the current was just too strong and the little ones had to put too much strength in battling it and thus simply died of exhaustion or starved to death. Either way, they kept disappearing.

However, I siphoned some 20 out and put them into my black tiger shrimp tank, where they're fed with powdered food (containing spirulina and cyclops) as well as Cyclop Eeze once a day. There is only little to almost no current in this tank, and they are growing nicely.

Just wanted to share, I'm really happy with these fish now!

Cheers
Ulli