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View Full Version : Treating ICK in a tank full of tetras ???


rdmpe
09-12-2003, 4:51 PM
I have a 30g heavily planted tank with about 30 tetras (cardinals, glo-lights, rummy nose). I also have 6 pinapple swords and 3 small silver dollar fish. I also have lots of pond and malaysian trumpet snails which serve to keep the algae at bay.

The silver dollar fish, which I've had for about two weeks, have a few very small white spots on them. There are about 5 or 6 of these spots on each side of each fish. They are salt grain sized. Looks like ick to me, but I've only had it once before, a long time ago, and I'm not completely positive.

I've seen advice to treat at half dosage for twice as long when tetras are in the tank. I have some malachite green based ick medication that says to use one drop per gallon per day. Will half dosage be the best option for dealing with the ick? Will it kill the snails off?

Thanks,
Randy
ChilDawg
09-12-2003, 5:56 PM
It probably will kill off the snails to use most commercially-available ich treatments.
rdmpe
09-12-2003, 6:22 PM
That's what I was afraid of. If that happens, the tank condition could be pretty bad! And treating the fish in a seperate tank will not do any good since the ick will still be in the main tank! Hmmmmmmmm......
Brad CNC 76
09-12-2003, 6:44 PM
If none of the other fish show any signs of ick, I wouldn't worry about treating the entire tank. If possible move the infected ones to a seperate tank to treat them. The medication in your main tank may mess with the plants as well as the snails, but I can't say for sure.
ChilDawg
09-12-2003, 7:21 PM
Originally posted by rdmpe
That's what I was afraid of. If that happens, the tank condition could be pretty bad! And treating the fish in a seperate tank will not do any good since the ick will still be in the main tank! Hmmmmmmmm......

Since it is a fish parasite, it would be eradicated in the main tank by just having it fish-free for an entire ich life cycle.
rdmpe
09-12-2003, 7:50 PM
I thought I read that it lived part of it's life in the water and substrate... Maybe I'm wrong about that...
rdmpe
09-12-2003, 8:12 PM
Here's a good article that describes the life cycle of ICK...
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/hdwspot.htm

I guess if the tank was fish free for long enough, the ick would die off. But that's not an option for me, so I have to treat the tank.
ChilDawg
09-12-2003, 8:51 PM
You'd be right in saying that it does live elsewhere, but, as the article says, if ich doesn't get piscine hosts, it will die off.