livebearers itchy

[mousey]

I posted in october that my fish were flashing in the one tank. I have upped the water changes, treated 3 times with Jungle parasite clear and have added Aquarisol to the tank 3 times on separate occasions from the Parasite clear.
The thing that throws me is that it only is bothering the live bearers.
The neons, ottos and pleco don't flash at all.
I am loathe to add salt to the tank as it is well planted and I do not think the neons would like it either.

I recently added a home bred male platy to the tank to remove him from the girl platies and now he is flashing too.
Obviously something is just not quite right in the tank but I am at a loss to know what.

I cannot see any flukes or ich on the fish and I am not sure ifany flukes would have survived 3 anti parasitic treatments.
The only thing I have left in my arsenol is a product called 'lifebearer' but it can be toxic to fish with any silver coloring on it and I am worried about my neons.

[TheOldSalt]

Neons aren't "silver" where that is concerned. That's more directed at things like silver dollars, pirahnas, Pimelodela cats, and the like. Very thin-skinned stuff.

I don't know just how different canadian drug availability is, but you might be able to find something called Chloroquine Phosphate. It's an old anti-malarial drug now used for arthritis. It is a near-magical curall for all fish diseases of a protozoal nature, and it also utterly wipes out algae, and the best part is that it has no effect on bacteria. Ich, velvet, 'bodo, and even Tetrahymena, the dreaded "guppy disease," are all eliminated with ease. It's tricky to get here in the USA, but maybe you Canucks might have an easier time of it.

[MainelyFish]

Can I asked what exactly you mean by flashing?

[emc7]

translate it as scratching. A fish rubs on decor. Usually means they itch.

[mousey]

I managed to kill a betta with lifebearer one day - It was not a pretty picture seeing him die from it. He was an albino with potentialy turquoise finnage and the poor guy suffered badly.

I have ottos in the tank too. Are they senesitive to Lifebearer?

I am on hydrochloroquin actually. Slightly different formulation than Clor. Phos. and used for the same thing though in people. Only available by prescription. If i knew the dose I would sacrifice one of my pills if i knew the dose to treat the tank. And would it kill plants??

I think we have less choice of drugs up here than you have as several good meds that you have and were carried by Big Al's have been banned from canada.This leaves us with limited choice. The thinking is that some ding a ling is going to go to the fish store to buy antibiotics or what ever and take themselves.
If you are stupid enough to do so, knock your self out. We are over regulated in some areas and behind europe in chemical and food safety in others.

[lohachata]

i have a pretty good source for chloroquine phosphate ; but it tends to be a bit pricey..
50gm will treat 1250 gallons and would cost about $30.00...
it will give the water a slight yellow tint but a carbon filter will remove it...
i think i will look into getting some since i can no longer get aquari sol...

[TheOldSalt]

I think that vascular plants are safe from it, but all algae and even marine macroalgae & corraline algae would be wiped out completely. I don't remember if it affects blue-green algae, which is actually bacteria, but I think it doesn't.

[lohachata]

hmmmmmmmm....cures diseases......kills algaes.....kills inverts......can't ask for more then that...