elephant nose

Question
My tank has been set up for about8 mos. now.I have a 55 gallon tank. 3 black fin tetras, 2 ? orange colored w/black tip on fin tetras, 1 Silver dollar, 2 miniature catfish, 2 smaller fish ?, 2 orgami?, 2 different kinds of sucker fish 2 female sword fish, 1 male sword fish, snails, 1 i forgot his name too he looks like part dragon and part flying fish that is upside down but really rightside up. I always keep a check on water ph and my tank is in good enough shape that we had baby fish from the 2 smaller fish and baby snails. The problem is , the blackfin tetras have ick and i bought meds for scaleless or scaled fish, used it. (ICK CLEAR tank buddies) My elephant nose got an almost cloudy coat along her back and face which looks like she is shedding. I also have a ten gallon tank with Neon tetras 2 frogs A tiny suckerfish and 4 ghost shrimp. I put the elephant in with them because it scared me when this happened and felt I needed to get her out. Is she in danger?  

Answer
Hi Tina;

The medicine probably irritated and burned her skin a bit. The problem you have now though is that the smaller tank has been exposed to ich. If the elephant nose has it on her or the parasite was in the water at all, it was transferred. (Oops!)

There is a good alternative to using irritating meds though. Ich hates heat and hates salt. Turn up the heaters in both tanks and watch them carefully to be sure it gets where you want it. It needs to get up to 82 in each one. Get some aquarium salt too. Add 1/2 teaspoon per gallon. I have used this dose even with sensitive fish like elephant nose and clown loaches with good results. If it makes you feel better to use the other medicine in the bigger tank too you can still do that if the fish will tolerate it, but not with the elephant nose. He's probably been stressed enough. Keep the temperature up for two weeks to get the parasite through it's life cycle and killed.

It is good to add more bubbles to the water right now too. The higher the temperature, the greater the need for oxygen in there.

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins