An eel-mergency ( no seriously I need advice ASAP plz)

[nikkimurph18]

I know this may sound silly but my fire eel is literally my favorite fish I have! I love her so so much and this is why I’m so upset with myself for not looking harder and acting before doing extensive research! So my blood parrot cichlid probably has ICH and my local pet shop gave me this medication and assured me it was good to use with any of the fish I told him I had. He told me remove my carbon filter and add about 20 drops (I have a 75gallon tank) and it says 1 drop for every 2 gallons but start with 20and I should be ok for the first treatment. I thought isolating her would be more efficient but whatever so I added it, it’s blue in color it spread in my tank and within minutes my fire eel went into her boat (only she goes in there) and laid on her side and is breathing heavy. I got so scared so I wanted to see if she would come out and eat. Act normal in any way, and she did! Then went back to her boat lol I pray I am over reacting but I will share the brand and any pictures n videos I can. Thanks in advance

 

[Bbuckley]

I'm no expert but believe fire eals to be a scale less fish this might not be the right medication for it. Others could chime in with better and more accurate information but I would be tempted to do a large water change.

 

[tlindsey]

I'm no expert but believe fire eals to be a scale less fish this might not be the right medication for it. Others could chime in with better and more accurate information but I would be tempted to do a large water change.

Agree with this.
On the bottom of bottle it states don't use on scale less fish.

 

[Bbuckley]

Agree with this.
On the bottom of bottle it states don't use on scale less fish.

? I would say a few large water changes are in hand and possibly replace the carbon. Then maybe raise temp and add salt for the ich.

 

[FJB]

Agree with advice given.
One more thing to consider for this time and the future - With ick and a number of contagious diseases, if one fish shows any evidence of being affected, the whole tank should be treated; isolating the individual fish into another tank just makes two tanks infected.
With ick specifically, it is not as visible in every fish or every time; by the time white dots are seen in fins or body of any fish, gill filaments of all fish in the tank have probably been carrying ick dots for 1 or more days. In fact, gill filaments is where is ick dots are most damaging, affecting ventilations and gas exchange.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Ok, so whilst I am not going to say everything will be ok, there are a number of issues here.
Firstly ich v’s stress ich.
Ich is an issue that can be treated with meds, stress ich can look very similar but is not treatable by meds and would go away on its own. A bit like chickenpox vs achne
Many ich meds are not supposed to be used with scaleless fish, as they can burn the skin, hence the shop advising half dosage, which is a common advice for eels and loach. Half strength of some treatments though will not be enough to kill ich Protozoa. it does depend on the active ingredients in the bottle. Hopefully, malachite green based and not copper based as malachite green based meds usually will say use half strength dose for scaleless fish. Your product is a concern saying not for scaleless fish.
Generally also, the carbon removes the active ingredient so large water changes are not always needed. But in your case I would agree, turn the carbon back on, change 50 % water.

It is highly debated whether ich is present in every aquarium and only infects fish due to reduced immune system etc. As such, keep water changes , feeding regimes etc. Current and regular and quarantine new arrivals.
As for the eel, hopefully a 50% water change will help . Hopefully for all the fish, a temp of 82 would turn around the disease quickly although you may need some aquarium salt or a med recommended/ safer to use with eels

FYI I used acriflavine on my tank with clown loaches at 75% strength.

Sorry not clear there, acriflavine was not specifically to treat ich but it shows meds can be used with scaleless fish

 

[DrownedFishonFire]

Add more air bubbles in the tank. Mine pants like that when i turn off the filters to do massive WC that drops below the intake strainer (air bubbles are still running) medications sucks out those essential oxygen out of the water column at times

 

[DrownedFishonFire]

I'm no expert but believe fire eals to be a scale less fish this might not be the right medication for it. Others could chime in with better and more accurate information but I would be tempted to do a large water change.

My biggest girl close up. She got scales in some places.

 

[nikkimurph18]

Ok so I dosing use that medication bc it does say. Or for scales fish, but some people say use at half dose. I chose not to use it again even tho she was totally fine. I’m having an issue again with her. She’s not eating, not swimming around like she used to and is just not acting herself! My ammonia is too high and the only thing keeping the fish alive (so the pet store guy said) is the PH level being low. For the love of God I can’t get it to go down with all of the advice, filters, and all the ammonia absorbing products I bought. I might not be calling it the right thing but everything was given by the pet store I faithfully go to and trust. I’m allowed to do a 10% water change and I want to add different stuff in there and hope she gets better on her own as well as the water balance out! She is my baby and it breaks my heart that I can’t make her better. Here is a picture as well

 

[nikkimurph18]