Round 1 with ich......

[nikipate]

Okay, so since we have learned about cycling (the hard way), fish compatability (the hard way), "help" from the lfs (the hard way) I guess it's no big surprise that we are now learning the pitfalls of not shelling out the additional money for a quarantine tank... sigh....

We now have an ich problem after buying some fish from a different lfs that we normally buy from. I had read another post that recommended Ich Guard but Petsmart didn't have any and I didn't feel like running all over town so I got Ick Clear from Tank Buddies. Anway, I put the tablets in (all 15 of them) and first thing to note was that it did not say it was going to turn the water blue. I passed up on another brand because it did say it would turn the water blue and I didn't really want that. On a little side note (which get side-tracked recently got me in a little trouble but what the hay) it was interesting to watch the fish when I put the tablets in... when I first dropped one in they all took off for the other end of the tank but within a few seconds they went back to investigate. Then they all started swimming back to investigate. They darted back and forth for a few times like they weren't quite sure about it but then they all started just swimming around in the area where the tablets were dissolving. It really seemed like it felt good to them or something. Okay, now on to my question... The directions say "If ick persists, treat every 24 hours until it clears". How do I know if it is cleared in 24 hours or not. I read an article that said the cysts are not affected by any type of medication and that the meds kill them after they hatch out of the cysts. I raised the temp up to 81 to speed up the hatching but now I don't know how to tell when it is better. From the article I read I thought that the "spots" the fish have now which are the cysts will fall off and then won't those hatch out and need to be killed with meds? I also was wondering about salt in the water. I have salt because the lfs said to add it at every water change. I only did it the first time and then stopped due to info I read here. I also read that it will help with the ich so when should I put it in? I put the meds in earlier tonight about 4 hours ago but didn't add any salt yet. Should I do that right now while the meds are still there?

Any info is greatly appreciates as always.....

[Chrona]

What kind of fish are they? Some fish won't tolerate salt. You want to treat ich for a minimum of 10 days to ensure you get every last cyst, or you start the cycle all over again. The ich info you found is correct.

Btw, there is no need to add salt with each water change unless you are keeping mollies, because healthy fish can regulate their osmosis just fine. If a fish is unhealthy, adding salt will essentially compensate for lessened osmoregulation. Some people say adding salt constantly is a bad thing as it can build up resistant strains of parasites that are normally killed by salt.

[nikipate]

I have:

black skirt tetras
gold skirt tetras
tiger barbs
rosy barb
red minor tetras
silver-tip shark
clown loaches
chinese algae eaters (don't even get me started)
black phantom tetras

[Chrona]

lol@Chinese algae eater ;)

Clown loaches are sensitive to salt and ich med's, so I'm not sure what you want to do. You can either take the clown out while you treat the tank or do half dose...

[nikipate]

lol@Chinese algae eater ;)

Clown loaches are sensitive to salt and ich med's, so I'm not sure what you want to do. You can either take the clown out while you treat the tank or do half dose...

Well, I went ahead and put the ich meds in at full strength so I'll just have to see how it goes I guess. When you talked about medication for 10 days did you mean every day for 10 days? Would you do the salt at the same time as the meds or after the meds?

[kimmers318]

It sounds like you caught this at the very early stages so a less aggressive approach might work for you, esp after the initial treatment you did. Clown loaches are going to be sensitive to salt and meds, and are very susceptible to ICK to boot. Since this is a fairly new aquarium it isn't surprising that you are dealing with ICK after reading your post about your previous newbie mistakes.
My suggestion would be to slowly raise the temp up to 82-84, do a nice large water change and dose the entire tank with stresscoat at the dosage recommended on the bottle for damaged skin/fins. Follow with water changes daily or every other day at a regular rate (20% or so) followed by doses of stresscoat if you see any indication of ICK bothering the fish.......spots on fish, scratching, flicking etc. Leave your temp up for 10-14 days continuing the pattern of water changes/stresscoat at any sign of ICK present and you should be okay. ICK is one of those things a healthy fish can fight off with a little help, and medicating isn't always the best solution IMO. Another tip, don't know for sure how well it works, but my fish are regularly fed frozen foods, not just flake, adding some nice bloodworm or mosquito larva may help boost their immune systems.
Good luck!

[nikipate]

Kimmer,

Thanks a lot for the info. I am seeing 4 to 5 spots on most fish so should I just give it time for them to fall off and then see if more appear to see if I’m in the clear? I really don’t want to have to keep using the meds partly for the cost, partly for the discolored water and mostly because I have lost several fish already and I don’t want to finish them off with too much medication. We did about a 75% water change last night and then put in the medication. Stresscoat would be a much better solution IMO also. I had read that healthy fish are better able to fight this off but I wasn’t sure if they could fight it once they had it. I did raise the temp yesterday so maybe I got a little bit of a head start on that part of it.

We will continue to fight to good fight…. lol

[Chrona]

Well, I went ahead and put the ich meds in at full strength so I'll just have to see how it goes I guess. When you talked about medication for 10 days did you mean every day for 10 days? Would you do the salt at the same time as the meds or after the meds?

Yes, I believe most meds will require you to dose daily, so just follow the recommended dosing regime (toned down a bit to account for the clown) for 10+ days. You want to have the meds in the water for at least 2 ick life cycles to ensure you kill all of the cysts. Salt apparently also helps prevent the ick from attaching itself to the fish and kills a small portion of it to boot, so a half dose of it would not be a bad idea.

[hungryhound]

Any recomendations on ICH medications. Preferably ones that don't turn the tank blue. Which i am guiessing is methalyne blue.

I have noticed ICH on one of my fish and am tryingot treat it. I have the temp at 80 degrees and have dosed with salt but have not added any medication yet.

[nikipate]

Several people here have recommended Ick Guard but I couldn't find any at my lfs. I used the Ick Clear from Tank Buddies that fizzed but they did turn the water blue. I passed up several meds at the lfs that said in the instructions that they would turn the water blue. The one I bought didn't say it would turn blue but it did. I do think it is working well though. The post that Kimmers put on this thread is great. I have been following it (only for a couple of days now) but I think I'm getting good results. The only thing I think I am going to do different is that I may use the meds again at the half-way point of the 14 days.

[nikipate]

Hungryhound,

Several people here have recommended Ick Guard but I couldn't find any at my lfs. I used the Ick Clear from Tank Buddies that fizzed but they did turn the water blue. I passed up several meds at the lfs that said in the instructions that they would turn the water blue. The one I bought didn't say it would turn blue but it did. I do think it is working well though. The post that Kimmers put on this thread is great. I have been following it (only for a couple of days now) but I think I'm getting good results. The only thing I think I am going to do different is that I may use the meds again at the half-way point of the 14 days.

[nikipate]

Hungryhound,

Try this thread also for info.

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquariumforum/showthread.php?t=3535

[hungryhound]

thanks for the information, and I hope that your problem is clearing up.

[nikipate]

You're welcome and actually the problem is coming along well. I am going with Kimmers' recommendations and so far so good.