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Life Cycle: Adult parasites, which feed upon the tissue of the fish, fall into the substrate layer. There, it divides many times, producing several hundred tomites which are the infective stage. The tomites swim into the water column in search of a host and, failing to find one, die in a short time. If they do find a host, the tomites attach and encyst. The life cycle is very dependent upon high temperatures, and usually does not cause problems below 68 d.

Treatment: As long as the parasite is encysted on the fish, it is immune to treatment. However, at the first notice of these cysts, treatment should be started. You will want to add enough citrated copper to bring the level up to 0.15 PPM (you can really go as high as 0.20 PPM, but no higher, please). I know many of you use heavily chelated ( or bonded) coppers, but I advise against their use. First off, in order for copper to be truly effective, it must be in its ionic state. Heavily chelated coppers, by definition, are not in that state, and so are less than useful.

The fact that crabs and shrimp can live in systems treated with heavily chelated copper attests to its ineffectiveness in most cases (try that in a system treated with an ionic copper. The inverts do not live very long). Secondly, the level produced by some chelated coppers is far higher than is actually needed to control the disease organism (which should also tell you something. At as high a dose as some of these chelated coppers produce, the fish should be dead). This higher-than-needed dose is actually detrimental to the fish in the long run in several other ways: gill degeneration, liver shutdown, anemia, compromised immune system..the list goes on. There is absolutely NO need to subject the fish to levels far above what is needed to treat the condition. How do you know how much citrated copper is in your system? You'll need to get a good test kit in order to measure the level. Personally I advise the powdered reagent kits over the tablet kits, as they are far more accurate. In the beginning, you may find it difficult to maintain a 0.15 PPM level due to the calcareous material in the system. This is to be expected as the calcium reacts with the copper, forming copper carbonate. At first, you will need to check the level twice a day, and add copper as needed to maintain the 0.15 PPM level. Once you get two consecutive readings of 0.15 PPM, you can consider that day one, and you can begin monitoring the level once a day, adding copper as needed. You will want to continue this regime for 14 days. During this treatment period, you will also want to feed the fish an antibacterial medicated food. While not essential, it does help the fish fight off bacterial problems since the copper treatment does tend to compromise the immune system to a degree. Continue this dose for 14 days, then discontinue. I would suggest a 25% water change (to bring the copper level down), and the addition of a copper removing resin or polymer. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS THERAPY IS NOT ADVISED FOR REEF TANKS OR ANY TANKS CONTAINING INVERTEBRATES.
For systems containing invertebrate, malachite green is generally safe to use. When dosed correctly, malachite green is safe for even the most so-called sensitive species. The correct dose is 0.05 PPM malachite green for three treatments, one every other day. Of course, dosing at 0.05 PPM means doing more than adding one drop per gallon. To figure out the correct amount of liquid to add, you take the concentration of malachite green listed on the bottle (in percent), and convert it to milligrams per milliliters (percent= 1 gram/100 milliliters of water). Divide the milligrams per milliliters by the final concentration. This will give you the results in milliliters/liters. To convert to gallons, divide the number of milliliters by 3.8 . For example, we have a 10 gallon tank, want a final concentration of 0.05 PPM (or 0.05 mg/l. It's interchangeable for our purposes), and we are using a 0.75% malachite green solution. So...0.75% = 7.5 mg/milliliter. 7.5 mg/ml divided by 0.05 PPM (or mg/l) = 1 ml per 40 gallons. Since 1 milliliter is about 16 drops, we will need 1/4 of that, or 4 drops per 10 gallons of a 0.75% malachite green solution. Now for the kicker: most medications advise ONE DROP PER GALLON. This works out to half again as much the amount actually needed. No wonder some hobbyists lose animals when using malachite green: they have severely overdosed.

Another popular treatment is the use of a 5 minute freshwater dip to eradicate the cysts on the fish. While this may do so, it does nothing to eradicate the tomites within the system.

Also, it has been noted that raising the temperature will also "cure" the condition, but I would advise against this for several reasons:

1) An increased temperature also increases the metabolism of the fish, which causes it to require more oxygen. However, there is less oxygen in the water the higher you go with the temperature. This produces more of a stress on the fish, and may delay a full recovery.

2) The use of temperature alone is not necessarily a cure. While it may accelerate the life cycle, it does not guarantee a 100% kill.

Signs: Yellow-Grey coating on the skin and fins, making the fish appear as if they have been covered with gold dust. Fish may scratch constantly, and rapid respiration is usually noted. In heavily infested fishes, they may be noticed hanging just below the waters surface or in the outflow of the filter. Spots, if noticed, are smaller than those of   Ich.

Life Cycle: Adult parasites, called dinospores, attach themselves to the skin, fins, and gills of the fish. After 3 to 7 days in this stage, the dinospores fall off the fish and into the substrate and multiply into 200 or so infective spores. These are released into the water column and swim about until they change into mature dinospores, and re-infect the fish. Dinospores can survive for several days without a host.

Treatment: As long as the parasite is encysted on the fish, it is immune to treatment. However, at the first notice of the gold-dust condition, treatment should be started. You will want to add enough citrated copper to bring the level up to 0.15 PPM (you can really go as high as 0.20 PPM, but no higher, please). I know many of you use heavily chelated ( or bonded) coppers, but I advise against their use. First off, in order for copper to be truly effective, it must be in its ionic state. Heavily chelated coppers, by definition, are not in that state, and so are less than useful. The fact that crabs and shrimp can live in systems treated with heavily chelated copper attests to its ineffectiveness in most cases (try that in a system treated with an ionic copper. The inverts do not live very long). Secondly, the level produced by some chelated coppers is far higher than is actually needed to control the disease organism (which should also tell you something. At as high a dose as some of these chelated coppers produce, the fish should be dead). This higher-than-needed dose is actually detrimental to the fish in the long run in several other ways: gill degeneration, liver shutdown, anemia, compromised immune system..the list goes on. There is absolutely NO need to subject the fish to levels far above what is needed to treat the condition. How do you know how much citrated copper is in your system? You'll need to get a good test kit in order to measure the level. Personally I advise the powdered reagent kits over the tablet kits, as they are far more accurate. In the beginning, you may find it difficult to maintain a 0.15 PPM level due to the calcareous material in the system This is to be expected as the calcium reacts with the copper, forming copper carbonate. At first, you will need to check the level twice a day, and add copper as needed to maintain the 0.15 PPM level. Once you get two consecutive readings of 0.15 PPM, you can consider that day one, and you can begin monitoring the level once a day, adding copper as needed. You will want to continue this regime for 14 to 21 days. During this treatment period, you will also want to feed the fish an antibacterial medicated food. While not essential, it does help the fish fight off bacterial problems since the copper treatment does tend to compromise the immune system to a degree. Continue this dose for 14 to 21 days, then discontinue. I would suggest a 25% water change (to bring the copper level down), and the addition of a copper removing resin or polymer.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS THERAPY IS NOT ADVISED FOR REEF TANKS OR ANY TANKS CONTAINING INVERTEBRATES.

For systems containing invertebrate, malachite green is generally safe to use. When dosed correctly, malachite green is safe for even the most so-called sensitive species. The correct dose is 0.05 PPM malachite green for three treatments, one every other day. Of course, dosing at 0.05 PPM means doing more than adding one drop per gallon. To figure out the correct amount of liquid to add, you take the concentration of malachite green listed on the bottle (in percent), and convert it to milligrams per milliliters (percent= 1 gram/100 milliliters of water). Divide the milligrams per milliliters by the final concentration. This will give you the results in milliliters/liters. To convert to gallons, divide the number of milliliters by 3.8 . For example, we have a 10 gallon tank, want a final concentration of 0.05 PPM (or 0.05 mg/l. It's interchangeable for our purposes), and we are using a 0.75% malachite green solution. So...0.75% = 7.5 mg/milliliter. 7.5 mg/ml divided by 0.05 PPM (or mg/l) = 1 ml per 40 gallons. Since 1 milliliter is about 16 drops, we will need 1/4 of that, or 4 drops per 10 gallons of a 0.75% malachite green solution. Now for the kicker: most medications advise ONE DROP PER GALLON. This works out to half again as much the amount actually needed. No wonder some hobbyists lose animals when using malachite green: they have severely overdosed.

Another popular treatment is the use of a 5 minute freshwater dip to eradicate the cysts on the fish. While this may do so, it does nothing to eradicate the dinospores within the system.

Also, it has been noted that raising the temperature will also "cure" the condition, but I would advise against this for several reasons:

1) An increased temperature also increases the metabolism of the fish, which causes it to require more oxygen. However, there is less oxygen in the water the higher you go with the temperature. This produces more of a stress on the fish, and may delay a full recovery. Also note that this parasite attacks the gills first, hampering their efforts to extract oxygen from the water.

2) The use of temperature alone is not necessarily a cure. While it may accelerate the life cycle, it does not guarantee a 100% kill.

Signs: A grayish-white film will be noted on the skin of the fish, and is especially apparent on the eyes or darkly pigmented areas of the affected animal. Swollen gills and ulcerated areas may be noted in advanced cases. Such fish will generally tend to hang either at the waters surface or at the bottom of the tank. NOTE: This disease is highly contagious, and care should be taken that cross contamination does not occur.

Treatment: Generally, malachite green is your best bet for an effective treatment. The correct dose is 0.10 PPM malachite green for three treatments, one every other day. At this level, your fish should not experience malachite sensitivity. Of course, dosing at 0.10 PPM means doing more than adding one drop per gallon. To figure out the correct amount of liquid to add, you take the concentration of malachite green listed on the bottle (in percent), and convert it to milligrams per milliliters (percent= 1 gram/100 milliliters of water). Divide the milligrams per milliliters by the final concentration. This will give you the results in milliliters/liters. To convert to gallons, divide the number of milliliters by 3.8 . For example, we have a 10 gallon tank, want a final concentration of 0.10 PPM (or 0.10 mg/l. It's interchangeable for our purposes), and we are using a 0.75% malachite green solution. So...0.75% = 7.5 mg/milliliter. 7.5 mg/ml divided by 0.10 PPM (or mg/l) = 2 ml per 40 gallons. Since 2 milliliter is about 32 drops, we will need 1/4 of that, or 8 drops per 10 gallons of a 0.75% malachite green solution. Now for the kicker: most medications advise ONE DROP PER GALLON. This works out to 1.25 times the amount actually needed. No wonder some hobbyists lose fish when using malachite green: they have severely overdosed. You want to dose at least three times, once every other day for three treatments. Another treatment is to freshwater dip the fish for no more than five minutes every other day for three dips. While this may take care of some, if not all, of the parasites on the fish, you will still need to treat the whole system as per above. Copper has also shown some effectiveness against this disease. You will want to add enough citrated copper to bring the level up to 0.15 PPM (you can really go as high as 0.20 PPM, but no higher, please). I know many of you use heavily chelated ( or bonded) coppers, but I advise against their use. First off, in order for copper to be truly effective, it must be in its ionic state. Heavily chelated coppers, by definition, are not in that state, and so are less than useful. The fact that crabs and shrimp can live in systems treated with heavily chelated copper attests to its ineffectiveness in most cases (try that in a system treated with an ionic copper. The inverts do not live very long). Secondly, the level produced by some chelated coppers is far higher than is actually needed to control the disease organism (which should also tell you something. At as high a dose as some of these chelated coppers produce, the fish should be dead). This higher-than-needed dose is actually detrimental to the fish in the long run in several other ways: gill degeneration, liver shutdown, anemia, compromised immune system..the list goes on. There is absolutely NO need to subject the fish to levels far above what is needed to treat the condition. How do you know how much citrated copper is in your system? You'll need to get a good test kit in order to measure the level. Personally I advise the powdered reagent kits over the tablet kits, as they are far more accurate. In the beginning, you may find it difficult to maintain a 0.15 PPM level due to the calcareous material in the system. This is to be expected as the carbonate reacts with the copper, forming copper carbonate. At first, you will need to check the level twice a day, and add copper as needed to maintain the 0.15 PPM level. Once you get two consecutive readings of 0.15 PPM, you can consider that day one, and you can begin monitoring the level once a day, adding copper as needed. You will want to continue this regime for 14 days. During this treatment period, you will also want to feed the fish an antibacterial medicated food. While not essential, it does help the fish fight off bacterial problems since the copper treatment does tend to compromise the immune system to a degree. After 14 days, do a 50% water change (to bring the copper level down), and add a copper removing resin/polymer to further lessen the amount of copper in the system.

Signs: Fishes so affected often have a swollen belly, and scales may stick out at 90 degree angles from the body, giving the fish the appearance of a pinecone. A red vent and ulceration's may also be present, as may long, pale fecal casts. Fluid may accumulate within the body cavity.

Occurrence: Since dropsy may be caused by one or more factors, it is difficult to point to one common cause.

Treatment: Once the first signs of dropsy are noted, the infected fish should be started on a 14 day regime of antibacterial medicated food. A 24 hour bath in 2 PPM nitrofurazone is also indicated. If you can bring the fish to a vet, you may wish to administer ceftazidime at 30 mg/kg IM for three treatments, each two days apart. Since this is a rather expensive treatment, it is usually reserved for larger and more expensive fish. If it is a bacterial problem, this should clear it up. At the same time, an examination of the fishes environment should be made. How is the water quality? Is the diet adequate for this species, and is it being fed a variety of fresh foods?  If after 14 days this condition does not reverse itself, you have to consider that the problem is either viral, metabolic, or genetic, none of which are treatable. In some cases, the kidneys of the fish may simply shut down, causing an accumulation of fluids. The best thing to do here is to painlessly euthanize the fish. The best way to do this is to place it into a small container of water, and place that in your freezer. The fish will painlessly "go to sleep" as the temperature drops, and all body processes will stop.