Ick or something

[Photoman]

Hi, Last week Thursday I noticed a white film on my Rainbows. It didn't look like ick. So I put some Malafix in the tank. I had a die off of the three Rainbows,two tetras and a BNP. The BNP look fine to me yesterday. I am trying to figure out how I got this. I did buy some fish at the Tropical fish show in town. But that was at the beginning of Nov. I change water every 10-12 days. Temp. was 77f. Chemistry is perfect. All I can figure is the fish I bought were contaminated. But they looked healthy. From what I told you can you tell me what this is? Should I retire my net and water buckets and buy 2 new ones. Is there a way to wash these articles and make them safe ofor fish again? Thanks

[Diana]

A white film does not sound like Ich. The Ich organisms can grow near each other to the point that it might look a bit like a larger blotch, some of this appearance is the fish's reaction to the irritation.

Look into a bacterial issue called Columnaris, Flex or Flavobacteria. (same disease, many names).

Another possibility is an excess of slime coat that MIGHT look somewhat cloudy. Fish produce extra slime coat in response to irritants. This could be a water chemistry they are not adapted to (pH, salt, ammonia, other...) or a parasite (Ich, Velvet, other)

[Photoman]

After all this settles down. Should I buy new buckets or can I wash them in something?

[Diana]

There are many ways to sterilize the buckets.
The easiest is simple to scrub them out well and expose them to the UV light from the sun. Pick a sunny day and tilt the bucket so the inside gets the sun. Turn them a few times through the day to keep them lined up with the sun.
The drying and the UV will kill almost everything.

More extreme than this would be to wash them out then wipe well with any ONE of the following:
Excel, straight from the bottle. Quick rinse.
H2O2, straight from the bottle. Quick rinse.
Bleach, diluted to about 19 parts water: 1 part bleach. Rinse with some dechlor in the rinse water.
Rubbing alcohol. Allow to evaporate.
Strong salt water (NaCl (table, aquarium, Kosher, water softener salt) in water as hot as you can touch, dissolve all the salt you can in the water). Quick rinse.

You can treat pretty much all the equipment and empty tanks with any of these methods. Make sure all surfaces are well dampened by whichever you choose, then rinse well.
Live plants do not respond well to any of these methods.

[Photoman]

Thanks so much for the info. I don’t need any more buckets in the house

[Diana]

I have been using recycled buckets and have a lot of them. Have not bought new ones for many years.

[Photoman]

When should I do a water change. I am Melafix and as of now it seems to work. Lost some fish but not all. I have another day to use the Melafix. The bottle says to us it 7 days. It take good or should I go a few days more just to be sure? I might be going out on a tangent but. I take photos of my tank and fish. I use a flash set low. Could that stress the fish out?

[Diana]

Melafix:
If there are no instructions about water changes, here is what I would do:
Monitor NO3 and if it gets over 10ppm I would do a water change. Then dose with Melafix while refilling.
Seems to be safe for any fish when I have dosed the regular amount.

[Photoman]

Thanks Diane. I'll give it a try.