Think my aquarium has ICH...

[JaredCBell]

All three of my fish are scraping now. Does ICH contaminate the WHOLE water? I pumped the temp up to 84. After doing this, I came home to find my red claw crab Sitting half way out of the aquarium! He was right under the rim with his legs coming out of it, staying out of the water. Does this mean its too warm for him?

Well now I dont know what to do. I am taking these fish elsewhere, but this tank, I fear is infested with ich. My pleco seems fine, but should I maintane a temp of 86 degrees (for how long?) and do a week of quICK cure? I assume I need to put the crab in something else since he will die from the medication. I just want to resort to the med, last. Is there anything else I can do? I dont want to infect any new fish I put in there...

[Wild Turkey]

Ich is in the tank water, you need to treat the tank. Removing fish wont do anything.

Increasing the heat only speeds up the life cycle of the Ich and makes treatment faster. You still need to treat the tank, the method you use will depend on whats available to you, and what fish you have in the tank.

However, i would not treat for ich until you see actual signs of ich, besides scratching. Look for small white dots on the fish.

I would say yes the crab trying to escape is an indication hes not happy with the environment, so if you just jacked up the temp, id say thats the culprit.

[JaredCBell]

Ich is in the tank water, you need to treat the tank. Removing fish wont do anything.

Increasing the heat only speeds up the life cycle of the Ich and makes treatment faster. You still need to treat the tank, the method you use will depend on whats available to you, and what fish you have in the tank.

However, i would not treat for ich until you see actual signs of ich, besides scratching. Look for small white dots on the fish.

I would say yes the crab trying to escape is an indication hes not happy with the environment, so if you just jacked up the temp, id say thats the culprit.

no these fish are leaving this tank. i dont even know if it is ich they are all just scraping and twitching a lot, no white spots yet. should i go ahead and treat the water when they leave with quick cure?

[Wild Turkey]

no these fish are leaving this tank. i dont even know if it is ich they are all just scraping and twitching a lot, no white spots yet. should i go ahead and treat the water when they leave with quick cure?

Well, where are the fish "going"? And no i never recommend treating when you dont the cause. You could accidentally weaken your fish and make them more susceptible to getting sick.

[Sharon]

If you move the fish, the new tank will then be infected with ick...assuming the fish have ick. Have you checked your water parameters?

[LORENZO]

You should turn up the temperature gradually. Gradually. I use aqaurisol and it works very well. Especially for clowns that do like like the copper. IF you go with superick cure be sure and half the dosage for sensitive fish. But make sure it is ick!!!!!!!!!!!!!! before you go ahead and treat. The white spots should be on them by now. Note any strange behaviours in your fish. I hope that crab will be okay. sometimes just turning the temp up to 82 is fine. catfish are not going to like 86.

[Lady Hobbs]

Can you just remove the crab and treat the tank? Crabs have that shell so doubt it has Ick. Just removing the fish will not help as it's on the fish and will move with them.

Ick will die by itself without a source of food but Quick Cure is a lot faster. However.....you have the Pleco so either need to use an Ick mediation for SENSITIVE fish or the salt treatment. Your temps are already raised so I would go with the salt.

Do not use medications and raise temps. Only raise temps with salt treatments as medications deplete the oxygen in the tank and so do the medications so you don't want to do both.

[LORENZO]

lady hobbs what happens when you add melafix to a tank??? So they do affect the oxyten levels. They market melafix and primafix and "safe" meds. what could be a side effect of these types of meds? I did use melafix one time on a discus who got in a fight with another discus it did work. But the smell!!! not that it was an awful smell from the melafix but strong...

[Wild Turkey]

lady hobbs what happens when you add melafix to a tank??? So they do affect the oxyten levels. They market melafix and primafix and "safe" meds. what could be a side effect of these types of meds? I did use melafix one time on a discus who got in a fight with another discus it did work. But the smell!!! not that it was an awful smell from the melafix but strong...

The smell is menthol, and yea even though they are safe, using them as a precautionary can do more harm than good.


Good info hobbs!

[Northernguy]

I suggest you read the articles on ich in the disease section.
Do not treat your tank until you are sure there is a problem.

[Taurus]

lady hobbs what happens when you add melafix to a tank??? So they do affect the oxyten levels. They market melafix and primafix and "safe" meds. what could be a side effect of these types of meds? I did use melafix one time on a discus who got in a fight with another discus it did work. But the smell!!! not that it was an awful smell from the melafix but strong...

When using pimafix or melafix, you should break out an air pump and add an air stone to the tank. Both lower the oxygen levels in your tank water, so increasing surface agitation is a must.

[wolf_eyes]

Scratching can be a sign of several diseases. Velvet, Ich, flukes, anchor worm, Chilodonella, and Costia are what mostly cause them but it could also be ammonia burn. My betta did the scraping when I was going through my cycle. Have you tried doing a water change or a test on a ammonia kit to see if that's the problem? If it is it would be the easiest to solve with a few good water changes. I also agree with the others that you shouldn't treat with medication until 100% sure you know what you have.

[JaredCBell]

ok good. I didnt want to treat it yet. So the fish minus the pleco and crab are outta there, off to another aquarium, wont be back to this one. I am thinking about turning it into a puffer (figure 8) tank but I want to get it healthy before anything else goes in.

My tests showed fine, I do need to do a water change, last one was about a coupel days over a week ago....I have the temp up still....should I add some salt to cure the water at all? I just think the temp as well as the salt may harm the pleco. What do you guys think? I just want to make sure this water is healthy before anything else goes in.

How long to keep temps up?
How much salt to put in (aquarium, not marine)

My tank (which was bought new) has been cycling for about...4-5 months? Still fairly new. I do need to change the carbon in the media as well.

thanks for the help!

[Sharon]

So, where are the fish now?

[JaredCBell]

So, where are the fish now?

well they were in a quarantine tank but im leaving for two weeks so i had to take them back to the lfs.