Surely every aquarist in his life has encountered such an unpleasant disease as ichthyophthyroidism, or as they call it in professional jargon, it is an ordinary semolina. This is really a serious problem, as the ailment spreads quickly and affects the entire aquarium with its inhabitants, so measures should be taken immediately as soon as you notice the first signs. Those who have been keeping aquarium fish for a long time are already familiar with it and know how to treat fish for decoy. But for beginners, this can become a really serious problem. Let’s now consider together where to start in order to quickly get rid of alarming symptoms and not harm the fragile ecosystem that develops in a confined space.
What is "semolina"
To determine this formidable disease, you must first carefully examine your aquarium and each of its inhabitants. You should be alerted by the appearance on the body of fish of small tubercles up to 1 mm in size. The disease spreads very quickly, and literally after a few days all the fish swim, as if sprinkled with semolina. Moreover, you can bring it into your aquarium with new soil or decoration, along with seaweed or food, therefore, how to treat fish for decoy is a very urgent question, the answer to which everyone who deals with the aquarium should know.
Causative agent of the disease
In order for the therapy to be successful, you need to understand very well what caused the development of the disease. In this case, it is caused by an attack of equi-ciliary infusoria, the simplest organism, which however can lead to the complete desolation of your aquarium. The same semolina, which beginner aquarists sometimes call dots, specks, bubbles, is the place where parasites, pustules, from which ciliates go outside, are located. At the same time, parasitizing in the body of the fish, they will very quickly lead it to complete exhaustion and death. Therefore, you must know how to treat fish for decoy before you even start the aquarium.
Ciliator life cycle
Let's dwell a little more on what happens when a parasite enters your aquarium. In fact, there are plenty of ways to do this, so you can’t be sure that this will not happen. This may be just one ciliator, but it, having introduced itself into the body of a fish, literally in two weeks becomes an individual, ready for reproduction. It is during this time that the first hillock is formed. After exiting from it, the infusoria attaches itself to the bottom and propagates by dividing into thousands of larvae, each of which will continue the development path prescribed by nature. Now the development of the disease will begin to progress almost every hour, which means it is time to move on to practical tips on how to treat fish for decoy. Why did we dwell on this in such detail? Because in order to get rid of the ciliates, we need to make its life cycle unbearable.
Environmental change
What does ciliates like? This is primarily stagnant water and heat. However, the warmer, the faster its life cycle occurs. That is, before thinking about how to treat semolina in fish, you can simply increase the temperature in the aquarium for several days. Firstly, the larvae will come out and die faster, and secondly, such conditions activate the immune system of the fish itself. That is, the fish itself will actively fight the simplest organisms. However, one cannot fully rely solely on this method, because it can only help in the very first stages of the disease. Therefore, to be completely sure that the aquarium is free from invaders, you need to add a dose of specialized medicine to the water, which we will talk about a little later.
Secondary infection
A novice aquarist rarely knows about them, but a connoisseur is well aware of the invasion of ciliary ciliates. These are secondary infections that always accompany it. That is, focusing on how to treat semolina in fish, you may not notice the development of fungal or bacterial complications. Therefore, after the main treatment, it is very important to use ordinary blue, or as it is correctly called methylene blue. The concentration of the solution is 10 g per liter. And already this solution is introduced into the aquarium 3 ml per 10 liters of water. Also, to combat fungi and ectoparasites, they use a specialized preparation of the Sera brand. At the same time, experts recommend combining Sera Costapur and Sera Costapur.
Table salt - the first cure for ichthyophthyrosis
Remember, in the biology textbooks for the fifth grade, experience was painted. Two drops of water with a thin isthmus between them, an amoeba was placed in one and salt was added. The amoeba immediately moved to where the water was fresh. That is, salt is harmful to microorganisms. Therefore, we want to tell you how to treat fish from semolina with salt. In fact, the method is good, twenty years ago it was leading, there was simply nothing else. The technique is simple, one tablespoon of salt is added to 10 liters of water. In this solution, the fish should live from 3 to 5 days. There are techniques for making a more concentrated solution, up to 1 tablespoon per liter. Fish is placed in it for 3-5 minutes, and then released into quarantine, where the salt concentration is normal. The main aquarium at this time is cleaned and disinfected, that is, completely restarted.
"Bicillin-5" - an antibiotic to combat the disease
This is a common human penicillin antibiotic. However, if you are looking for options on how to treat fish for semolina at home, the recipe will probably come across as a practical recommendation. The dosage for placing the fish in a separate bowl is 500,000 units, that is, the third part of the bottle is 10 liters of water. They should be placed in such a solution every day for 30 minutes for 6 days. In addition, the same portion is added to the general aquarium, only for 100 liters of water. This procedure is repeated for 6 days. However, I want to note that this drug helps to fight only with a secondary bacterial infection, and not with semolina at all. Therefore, do not expect that in this way you can cure your pets.
Classic treatment regimen
It is not always easy to answer how to treat fish for semolina at home. The fact is that you need to constantly monitor, and if treatment does not give an obvious effect, then radically change the scheme, that is, switch to specialized tools that can be bought at pet stores. Make a water change and start treatment in a new way. Usually, the full dose of Sera Costapur is poured, it is repeated every day. Additionally, you need to add Sera mycopur in half dose, but every day (dosage is indicated on the manufacturer's insert). Since it takes more than one day to treat semolina in aquarium fish, be patient.
If no result
First, change the water again. This is very important, because endlessly adding different drugs to the same closed system is fraught with the complete destruction of life in it. If you still have not been able to achieve positive changes, try the following scheme. This is Sera Costapur in full dosage and a nitrofuran preparation is added to it. This is ordinary furazolidone. Almost all microorganisms, bacteria and protozoa are sensitive to it. Its dosage must be very carefully controlled, not more than one tablet per 15 liters of water. This is a very powerful tool, but it completely destroys the entire microflora. For about two to three weeks, the water will be an unpleasant yellowish hue, but since it is necessary to treat aquarium fish from semolina, it will not pass by itself, you will have to endure it. Now for several days you can only monitor the status of your pets. If there was an improvement, then you can calm down. However, in rare cases it happens differently.
Last resort when nothing helps
If the disease continues to progress, by this time usually the fish begin to sink to the bottom and stop paying attention to food. There is usually no more living space on the body. Surely there is a temptation to stop their torment, to drain along with water into the toilet and forget about the aquarium. But let's think about what else can be done than to treat aquarium fish for semolina in the most difficult cases. Only copper remains. Buy the most common copper-containing Formamed. This is one of the cheapest and very effective medicines. Remember to replace the water in the aquarium. Copper is detrimental to invertebrates, algae, beneficial microflora. Overdosing this drug is very simple, so carefully measure the amount that you add to the aquarium, otherwise kill the fish. If you do everything right, you will soon see how the disease recedes and the fish begin to recover. You have to populate new snails, plant plants, and your living corner is guaranteed a new life.
How to treat fish for decoy furatsilinom
It is a yellow powder that dissolves easily in water. Its effectiveness has not been proven, but it is believed that the solution may help in the treatment of semolina. For this, a working solution is prepared at the rate of 0.2 g per 100 liters of water. The treatment lasts for 14-16 days, every day a new dose of the drug is added, while the filters can work. After that, the water is completely changed to fresh. If you plant fish in a separate aquarium, then 3 mg per liter of water is added.
Antipar - the most effective of all existing drugs
A modern drug really pushes back all other treatment methods. We will tell you how to treat fish from Antipar semolina. This is a universal remedy that will help you get rid of bacterial, parasitic and fungal diseases. The composition of the drug "malachite green" and formalin. If you have an aquarium, then you definitely need to have this medication on hand, it alone will help to avoid many problems. Make it 1 ml per 50 liters of water in a common aquarium. After a day, you need to replace 30% of the water and make another portion. In this case, the concentration of the solution must be carefully observed, otherwise the drug will destroy the entire population of your aquarium. The course of treatment is 3-6 days. You can repeat the treatment after 5-7 days. There is a “but” in this treatment regimen. Catfish and some other fish do not tolerate formalin, like almost all invertebrates. That is, if after 5 days some of your pets begin to recover, and the other part dies, this will happen precisely because the active component turned out to be harmful to them. On the other hand, you will completely rid the aquarium of ciliates and save part of its inhabitants. Sometimes for this you have to risk part of the fish.
Prevention
Analyzing all the experience that is laid out on specialized forums, we can come to the following conclusions. You can bring an infusoria into the aquarium with anything, moreover, it lives freely in tap water, can just doze off in your aquarium and wait for suitable conditions. When the aquarium is clean, the fish is healthy with strong immunity - nothing shines on the simplest. Therefore, your goal is to maintain just such his condition. Quarantine any new fish. If, against the background of stress, she does not get sick within 4 days, you can transplant her into a common aquarium. Only feed proven brands in the aquarium, and in such quantities that the fish will eat in no more than one minute. Such simple rules will allow you to protect your aquarium from the development of dormant cysts of ciliates, which means they will give you the opportunity to admire its beauty for many years.