I made the terrible mistake of not thoroughly checking the new fish I introduced into my tank a few days ago (January 6th) and it is clear to me now that they each have several argulus (fish louse) attached to them. I can see the legs on the argulus move every now and then. They are smaller and whitish/grey. My tank was doing quite well (freshwater, 75 gallons, sufficient filtration and bubbler, good levels of pH, nitrate, nitrite and ammonia, 1 black moor, 2 goldfish, 7 cories) but since I've added two smaller goldfish I am worried they will infect the others. A few questions:
1. I live in the US; what is the best product to kill argulus? This evening I plan to remove them manually, but feel like I need to treat the tank as well in case they laid eggs. I have read orthophosphate is the most effective but I'm having difficulty finding out if products contain it or not. Also, is orthophosphate dangerous for the tank?
2. how often/how much water should i be removing? any treatments other than a basic parasite killer I should use?
3. Are these parasite killers effective on all parasites? One of the new fish also has a red streak in its tail fin, and I'm worried it might be a worm or hemorrhagic septicemia.
Please share any experiences you have had. I am very worried about our fish!
Last edited by checkyohead221; 01-09-2013 at 09:36 AM.
Reason: clarified title