Now I have ick... errrggh!!

[emilyekk]

Okay so I guess I should have seen this coming.
Last week I bought a clown loach (he's temporary, don't worry) to help me get rid of my snail infestation.
I usually am incredibly anal when first introducing a fish, but I had a family emergency as soon as I got home and my boyfriend ended up picking up the fish from the store and then releasing it into the tank.


Well, when I got home, I noticed the clown had several white spots on its back fin... I immediately thought ick, but then thought, well it's too late now anyhow to take him out so let's just see what happens. Within two days of being in my tank, his spots started to disappear... I thought maybe it was stress or something.

Anyhow - so I ended up having to black the tank out for 3 days (again) because of an algae bloom. Last night I uncovered the tank, did a 50% WC and looked at everyone, the clown loach still had no ick spots... some of my neon tetras looked like they MIGHT of had spots though... but I had a scare like that before and it ended up being nothing. Well, this morning I get up and there are definitely some white spots on my tetras and also on 2 of my balloon mollies... clown loach is still fine though.


Anyhow - so now I am certain I have an ick outbreak.

Now, this is my question. I know you are supposed to treat by upping the temp and adding ick medication. Well this is my problem... My water is CONSISTANTLY at 79 degrees... and that's with NO heater in the tank. I am willing to go buy a heater today if I should, but would it be dangerous to up the temp any more than it already is? It's at that temperature constantly btw bc I live in south Florida where its HOT and we have our ac constantly running at 78 degrees and so the tank is always at 79 degrees.

So, in my situation, am I still supposed to up the heat levels??

Also - what ick medication should I be buying?

I have NEVER had an ick outbreak before so I really need advice!!! :(

[Northernguy]

Be careful with ich meds and clown loaches.They are very sensitive to it.
Not sure which meds to get and good luck.Raising the heat a few degrees would help.

[Anomaly]

I've had good luck with Ich Attack. It's an natural treatment that's safer for sensitive fish like Clown Loaches than salt or traditional ich treatments. I have found though it takes longer to totally eradicate the ich with it than typical treatments, but I still prefer it to salt and copper-based treatments. I like to use it in conjunction with a UV sterilizer as well.

[jaysee]

Sorry to hear you're still having trouble with your tank.

Raising the temp only speeds up the life cycle of the ich, so it's not neccessary to do. Any time I've had to battle ich, I've used the liquid meds with great success. I'm not a fan of salt and would recomend against it - the meds get the job done on their own, as long as you FINISH the treatment. The spots might disappear after a day or two, but you need to finish the treatmnt as directed or it'll come back.

The clown loach (all scaleless fish) is sensitive to meds, as NG said, so that's something to considder. If you have an extra tank, I'd stick him in there and do a half dose. A quarantine tank is essential - doesn't have to be anything special - a petsmart 10 gallon starter kit will do the trick and save you MANY headaches, not to mention money.