My mollys has ick

salt and heat for a week and a half or more do wonders.

It sounds more like Velvet Fungus...? You said it was "fuzzy"? However, Velvet is usually located in a single spot (usually the mouth and looks like a small clump of cottten) and spreads from there. If it is all over the body (like salt specks) it is Ich.

I agree w/ the salt myself, but meds work as well, just be careful to monitor your tank parameters as this can throw these off and remove any carbon filtration.

But to answer your question, Yes, do a 50% WC and replace the concentration of your treatments from whichever you use.

Good luck, and try Googling for images of Itch - This may help.

However, Velvet is usually located in a single spot (usually the mouth and looks like a small clump of cottten) and spreads from there

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. this is incorrect! the disease known commonly as "velvet" is caused by a parasitic dinoflagellate that is variable in size, as the variants differ somewhat in their measurements. Other forms that cause very similar signs are Oodinium limneticum & Oodinium vastotor. They can measure in some instances more than 100 microns. Though more typical sizes are 50-70 microns. it looks like the fish has a 'dusting' of gold powder' all over its body. it does not necessarily begin at the mouth and does not look like a clump of cotton at all.

both the free swimming flagellated stage as well as the parasitic stage when attached to the fish, contains a form of chlorophyll which gives the parasite its typical gold or rust colour. while certain stages of the parasite are able to use the process of photosynthesis to obtain food, the parasitic form obtains almost all of its nourishment at the expense of the host. this causes tremendous damage which leads to death once the fish is heavily parasitized. On the fish the dinoflagellate form grows in size about 5-6 times, before falling off and replicating itself in the free swimming form.

The treatment of choice is an Acriflavine drug. i believe Fish-Vet makes a combination drug called Revive, and Jungle's Ick Guard contains Acriflaven as well. you can make up your own Acriflavine and if you choose to handle it this way, you should obtain the neutral form & use it at 3mg of the Acriflavine in a stock solution of 330 ml. Then use this stock solution at 8 ml to treat 1 US Gal or 3.8 litres. as with all medications, remove any carbon you may be using in your filter ... and replace it after the treatment period is completed to remove the green cast left in the water.

DO NOT elevate the temperature of your tank above it's current setting ... this is extremely stressful to fish already in a weakened condition. this is an extremely infectious disease so if you have other fish in the tank, regardless of whether or not they show symptoms, all fish in the tank need to be treated.

If it is all over the body (like salt specks) it is Ich.

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again, incorrect. the ich parasite can begin as only a 'few' specks on the fins.

if you want to erradicate the ich parasite, follow the link posted by kmail. http://aquafacts.net/wiki/index.php/Ich

Thank you liv2padl :duh:

I need to be more clear obviously. My generalizations are too vague. I was speaking of a more developed stage of Itch (This is just from my own experience and I have seen it as a single occurance and as an 'outbreak' if you will), but I am aware of it's diversity. However, I definately did not know all that about Velvet (Thanks!)

The more I read and experience, the more I learn! :read: