Hexamita aka Hex  : HEXAMITA aka HEX

A lot of people ask, "why does my fish have stringy white poop!"
The first thing you should do, as with most problems, is check your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates,
as these can sometimes be a cause..
If you test these things and its not the problem, your fish most likely has internal heximita..

Diagnoses: one of the first signs is your fish will develop whitish stringy or slimey faeces (poop)
during this stage your fish can still eat normally and look fine..
The next thing you will start to see is your fish will stop eating, start losing weight, getting thin,
and the belly can even become sunken..

Cause: Hexamita is caused by intestinal flagellated protozoa, this attacks the stomach and intestines..
What happens then is the fish gets thin because of nutrient deficiency, which can then lead to external hexamita (hole in the head disease)

Treatment: Because its an internal problem, it helps if you can treat internally by adding 250mg metronidazole to 25grams food, and feeding it to them..
But this can be hard if your fish has already stopped eating..
I treat with epsom salts, about 1 heaped tablespoon per 20-40 litres of water, this helps flush some of the flagelettes out and give some releif..
You should also treat the water with Metronidazole, as this kills the Hex, dosage is as follows..
200mg per 40 litres, but 400mg per 40L can be used in cases where needed..
Its also a good idea to continue feeding the food that contains metro for a week or 2 after the fish starts eating again, and after water treatment..

ICH aka Ichthyophthirius aka Whitespot  : ICH aka Ichthyophthirius aka Whitespot

Ich is a pretty common problem, and most hobbiests would already know about it, but i will cover it breifly..

Cause: Ichthyophthirius is a genus of ciliated protazoan, it is most commonly introduced to the aquarium by buying a fish that is infected and adding it to your tank,
where it then spreads..
Also it can be caused by sudden temperature drops..
Ich can be seen to cover one fish, but not be on another fish in the same tank, this is because it attacks weaker, stressed or sick fish..

Diagnoses: Ich is also known as whitespot because of its appearance as it causes small white cysts on the skin of infected fish..
In advanced cases it can look like the fish has been sprinkled with salt..

Treatment: ill suggest 2 things here.. the first method involves a lot more work, but it means that you wont have to use medication..

Method 1: Raise temperature to 30c, make sure you have lots of oxygen as higher temperature water holds less oxygen..
Then add roughly 1 teaspoon per 5L water, of non iodised salt, this can be aquarium salt, rock salt, cooking salt or whatever you usually use..
also large frequent waterchanges can help.
Continue this treatment for atleast 10 days, dont stop as soon as you see no spots on your fish, as this treatment only kills free swimming protazoa,
not all stages of the life cycle..

Method 2: Buy a treatment designed to treat whitespot and follow the instructions on the package..
My prefered medication is promethyasul, which i keep in my kit for many other problems aswell, as its a broad spectrum and treats many problems..

Ducklips  : Ducklips
Treatment by lhamoderator

Ive treated it, and beat it!

The first fish i had with Ducklips was dead within 7days.
The second one i saved!
As far as i know im the only one in OZ that has beat it, and many O/S are yet to work out a good treatment..
The problem we have in OZ is we cant get as strong meds as O/S so that makes it hard too

First step: DROP the temp, down to 24, it slows the spread..
Second step: Potassium permanganate from the chemist..

I used heaps of meds, i kept my guy alive for months just by dropping the temp..
I tried metro, it didn't seem to do much..
I used salt, melafix, pimafix, none helped.
I cleaned the wound out with peroxide on a cotton bud, which helped a little..
I used Keflex, a human antibiotic, it cleared it up 90% for a couple weeks, but not geed enough..
I then used TRI SULFA.. which finished it off..
By this stage, my fish's lip had half fallen of, it took me too long to work out what works..
If i used Tri sulfa from the first day, i might have been able to cure it with just that..
Tetracycline may also have worked, but i couldn't get any..

I have since found out that Potassium permanganate will kill most bacteria, and FAST..

Drop temp NOW!
Get Potassium permanganate A.S.A.P.
There should be like a pimple/wound on its mouth..
Open the wound and bath in a bucket or tub at 10ppm Potassium permanganate for 30 mins, then dose tank at 2ppm Potassium permanganate every 24 hours for 3 days it will oxidize nearly all forms of bacteria.
This is one nasty disease, all i can say is act fast, and good luck.

Dosage info
Make a solution of Potassium permanganate to use for your treatment..
Add 1 Gram of Potassium permanganate to 1 Litre of water..
Add 2ml of this solution per litre of water in your tank, this =2ppm
10ml per liter = 10ppm