With API General Cure, you will be able to treat sick fish that are suffering from fish lice, gill flukes, hole-in-the-head, skin flukes and/or velvet. If this powder doesn’t appear to be working as advertised, then you can take at this troubleshooting article from Aquarium Blueprints.
1. To start off, make sure that you don’t have any activated carbon or a similar type of chemical media that is designed to purify your tank water. Otherwise, these will remove General Cure from your tank water and, thus, making the treatment less effective.
2. You should also make sure that you are dosing the right amount of the powder.
If you have the version that comes in packets, then you need to use one packet for every 10 gallons or 38 liters of tank water.
If you are using the bulk powder version of General Cure that comes in a container, then you need to dose 5 mL for every 20 gallons or 75 liters of tank water.
3. Furthermore, you should also make sure that you are following the official treatment schedule laid out by API.
For the uninformed, you are supposed to add another round of General Cure 48 hours, after the initial dosage.
You should also be dosing the same amount as the initial dose.
4. It is important to note that fish lice, gill flukes, hole-in-the-head, skin flukes and velvet may also cause secondary infections that General Cure may not be effective against.
In this case, API recommends using Melafix with General Cure.
5. You can also try using another product.
Before doing so, you need to remove General Cure from the tank water. In order to do so, you need to add activated carbon to your filtration system and then let it sit for at least a week. The carbon will absorb any impurities, which should include General Cure, from the water column.
You can also do small, daily water changes to slowly dilute General Cure.
Once General Cure has been removed from your tank waters, you should be able to safely try another treatment.
If you are looking for a specific recommendation, then you might want to try the Fritz Paracleanse, which will help fight against fish lice, gill flukes, hole-in-the-head, skin flukes and/or velvet.
If you are interested, you can purchase the alternative on Amazon with the following link:
- Fritz Aquatics ParaCleanse Treatment for Aquarium Fish (#CommissionsEarned)