Largemouth Bass with ICK

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M

malachi1364

Feeder Fish
Sep 20, 2012
4
0
1
Milwaukee Wi
Well i learned my lesson about not Quarantining Feeder fish before introducing them to the tank to be eaten. One of them must have had ICK and now both of my 6inch Largemouth Bass have it. I have so far increased the temp in the tank to 85 Degrees and currently have a salt content of 1tbs per 5 gallons. My main question is what level can i push the salt and temperature to safely with Largemouth? I know in the wild they can live in brackish water and temps in mid 90's.

My current setup is a 55g with a twin filter HOB filter (designed for a 90 gallon). Been doing 25% water changed everyday, might bump it up to 50%. but i feel the water temp varies to far from 85 when i do a change and can shock the fish.

I know the tank is small for 2 bass but they are only about 5 inches in size right now and im going to be putting them in my 300g once slightly larger.


Is there anything else i can do to cure this ick?

Pictures to come later
 
Petco has one medicine thats completely natural, but i hear it works, its called Kordon "Ick Attack" and is all natural and in a liquid form.
 
I have dealt with this particular problem a few times, the temp is fine. You can safely push the salt higher. for largemouths, I usually use one or two Tbs per 5g, sometimes more. Largemouth are pretty hardy when it comes to ick(and salinity) so if you stay the course and keep up with the treatment they should pull through just fine
 
I don't use any meds, just salt and heat. I do put the fish in a barebottom tank and siphon the bottom and do water changes daily.

That said, bass, and most sunfish, are not prone to ich when kept at lower temperatures with clean water. So make sure they are kept in a cycled tank, without a heater, and do plenty of water changes to keep nitrates low. For tropical fish, when the tank becomes too cold they become prone to ich. For bass, and other temperate fish, when the tank is kept permanently at tropical temps they become more prone to that and other illnesses, not to mention ich spreads more quickly at warmer temperatures, leaving it harder for the fish to fight it off.

Fish are exposed to ich and other parasites and illnesses quite frequently - they become sick when their immune system becomes compromised and allows it to take hold. This is less common in a tank with clean water, and substrate that is cleaned during each water change, and when the fish is kept at the proper temperature.

I also agree that feeders are generally a no no, more for the internal parasite factor, and the likelihood of viruses and other illnesses that are harder or impossible to treat, rather than something more easily treatable like ich.
 
Yeah im going to be setting up a quarantine tank for my feeders from now on. Just trying to get these bass off of Live food and onto pellets/dried food
 
You could try a group of small sunfish with them. That's how I got my LMB on pellets. After watching them a few times he started to eat them regularly. He was already 10" when I got him, and it's easier with even younger fish.

If they won't do pellets, try frozen raw cocktail shrimp, fish filets, worms, and crickets. They also like crawfish, both whole and frozen tail meat.
 
Feeding them worms right now till they can recognize me as their source of food then going to try dropping in Freeze dried Krill after they get on eatting worms from my hands. Just set a Crawfish trap in a local creek yesterday so hoping i can get lucky and get some tails. Do you feed them the tails with shells and all? or just meet?
 
I buy the cleaned deshelled tail meat. Like $6.99 at walmart.
 
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