Kuhli loach reacting to medication

Hi guys

My neon tetras developed a bit of ich and I wanted to treat them. So I treated with the general aid pictured below. 5 ml of it. Needless to say, the tank water went lime green and the kuhli loach is going mad. Should I take him out and put him in my daughter's tank?

 

Hi there

Yes, I would highly recommend you get those fish out. Both scaleless and fine-scaled fishes - including loaches - can be dramatically more sensitive to many medications, and in the end this can cause damage to the epidermis of the fish, if not kill them outright. Be very careful before dosing anything. Typically with fish like these you need to seek out alternative treatments, or use a decreased dose.

Second thing I want to talk about here is the use of "general aids". I don't trust any "general" medication - what is it? What is it made of? What may be sensitive to it? The fact that your water turned green gives me some indication that the treatment may contain malachite green. This is just a guess, however. This is (or, was) a popular chemical treatment for a number of parasites, but has been banned in many countries owing to it's toxicity (to both fish and humans).

When dealing with any disease, sit down, assess what the illness is, and then buy a medication specifically for that problem. You'll likely see better results.

Cheers,

 

Wow! I did not know this at all. I have transfered the loach to my daughter's guppy tank for now. I've put in carbon in the filter now. Do you think this would help remove the discolouration and medication from the tank? Also planning to do small regular water changes. What you think?

 

@Lowflyer7 , I agree 100% with @SalmonAfrica .

I would do a water change to get most of it out and not rely just on the carbon
Malachite green is poisonous to scaleless fish

If you sure its ich, good old salt and increased temperature is the safest for all fish

 

You can invest in some Seachem Purigen to assist in getting rid of the colouration, and helping to remove some of the Malachite Green from the tank.
Once you have used it, recharge it with bleach, and store in a bank baggy for the next time.

Up the water temperature to 30°C, and add salt.
Course table salt works just as well as aquarium salt.
The recommended dosage is about 2-3ppt (parts per thousand) or roughly a level teaspoon per 2 litres.
Keep the temperature up for 10-14 days, and you should kill off the ich.

 

Yup salt and only salt and higher water temp, works very well. Been doing it for years. I also do not trust any of the general aids and tonics. I used to use them im my earlier years in the hobby and i could never figure out why it made things worse and other fish die.

And remember regular water changes are key!

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