e they are usually dealing with soft acid conditions and once it has started it can be a helluva job to control. Some form of copper seems to be the best, but that is a rather toxic compound and the doses have to be carefully watched. Also velvet (oodiniu
m) parasites contain chlorophyl and therefore need to deprived of light if they are to be successfully combatted - so cover the tank with a blanket during treatment.
One more thing, there is dood evidence that Oodinium can colonise the gut of the infected fish so this can act as a source of re-infection when everything seems all clear. Onceagain the problem gets back to good aquarium maintenance and water quality with
removal of detritus, regular water changes, keeping the diet optimal and not overcrowding etc etc. I feel that the pleasure of keeping Rainbows in conditions where they obviously feel well and display continually far outweighs the extra work entailed. F
or some aquarists, the water available to them forces them to keep their fish in hard alkaline water and often they never get to appreciate the true beauty in their tanks, especially if they favour bare unplanted "hygenic" systems. I guess there always ha
s to be a trade-off and hence the dilemma.
Bruce Hansen ANGFA