my clown loaches ich update

[shalafi04]

im so glad i took all of your's advice and gave them the chance to get better.
they are doing so awesome. they just came out of hiding for some algea waffers and the soars on them are nearly completely healed. they have a few white spots on their dorsal and tail fins, but otherwise they look completely healthy.

thanks so much for all the help. they're perfect! i'll get some pics when i can :) yay:thumb:

[angelcakes]

hello,im glad you have your clowns sorted thumbs2:

[sailor]

Terrific, great to hear. I'm glad you never listened to me when I sugested you should bring them back when you first posted about their ich problem. I bow to your greatness:22:

[jbeining75]

Hopefully all goes well..... Good luck.... Keep the heat up and salt em a little to keep the ich down.... You're doing good!!!!

[Blue Ram]

Great to hear! Hope everything continues to go well!

[shalafi04]

Terrific, great to hear. I'm glad you never listened to me when I sugested you should bring them back when you first posted about their ich problem. I bow to your greatness:22:

must be my motherly instincts wanting to help everything get better. :) :41:

[Lady Hobbs]

Continue with the salt treatment for a week after you no longer see any spots at all. Just one little ick can lay hundreds of eggs and start the cycle all over again.

[shalafi04]

isn't it good to always have salt in the tank? Even if everyone is healthy?

Should i just always keep the salt constant and a week later just turn down the heat?

[Lady Hobbs]

The tiny, salt-like spots on the loach is the shell of the ick. The rest of it is buried in the fish and is not able to be killed at that stage. When it leaves the body, it falls to the bottom and then reproduces thousands of eggs in about 5 days and the whole thing starts over again. Many stop treating as soon as they see no spots and there is where they make their mistake.

Different opinions of the constant use of salt. I prefer to only use it for treatments and continued use is said to mess with their slime coat which is their protective covering. Others claim that using salt always means they become conditioned to it and huge amounts then are needed for treatments.
Both are speculation but to have fish in salt when they don't have salt in their water in real life is not necessary.

[shalafi04]

okay awesome. thanks for the help :)
its much appreciated

[jbeining75]

Everyone is different. I keep my Oscars at half the recommended dose of salt constintely. In my experience it helps with gill functions and I rarely very very very very rarely have an ick/ich.... Probably once in two or three years I've had ich...

[D.C._United_Caps_Fan]

Ive never had an ICH problem on any of my past loaches, so im really unfamilliar on how to treat it. Can someone explain to me what the most common and effective treatment is? What did the OP do that got rid of it? Thanks! I just want to be prepared just in case my two little clown loaches come down with it.

[cocoa_pleco]

melafix and pimafix are the best, since they wont harm their delicate skin, when i had clown loaches, they got ick, and i left them in the main tank and never treated it, they were fine and the ick left by itself

[shalafi04]

Ive never had an ICH problem on any of my past loaches, so im really unfamilliar on how to treat it. Can someone explain to me what the most common and effective treatment is? What did the OP do that got rid of it? Thanks! I just want to be prepared just in case my two little clown loaches come down with it.

my loaches came from the LFS with a terrible case of ICH. I didn't think they were going to live. it was at a point where they (all 4) just laid in their little hiding spot I built for them, just withering away. Adding aquarium salt and rising the temp to 86 saved all 4. They are all now very plump and happy (about 6 weeks post ich) One has still not regained his color. But they are all doing great. thank goodness. It was a great suggestion by the members here.
And I felt better about this choice, personally, because I try not to medicate if I dont have to. (heck, i wont even take tylenol hahaa)

[D.C._United_Caps_Fan]

Ahhh OK! Well Thanks for that. So what dosage did you use? I would imagine its something proportionate to the size of your tank? Also, what kind of salt? Seasalt? Table salt? Iodized? Does it even matter? Just trying to learn as much as I can! Thanks very much!

[shalafi04]

Ahhh OK! Well Thanks for that. So what dosage did you use? I would imagine its something proportionate to the size of your tank? Also, what kind of salt? Seasalt? Table salt? Iodized? Does it even matter? Just trying to learn as much as I can! Thanks very much!
fish stores sell "aquarium salt" thats what you use. and I believe its 1 tablespoon per 5gallons. It would say on the package. and while it says you should always have salt in your tank, thats debatable... so dont worry about that

[kitten3326]

I am very glad your clowns are doing much better, I have also not had an ich problem in years, however I am always prepared, with the way my luck goes it would break out on a holiday when everything is closed :)