Persistent Ich

[Aquarius0015]

I had successfully (or so I thought) treated a case of ich by raising the temperature to 82*F, adding 2tbsps of aquarium salt, plus Jungle brand Ick Guard, with 33% water changes every 3 or 4 days in my 12 gallon. My fish never seemed affected in any way by the ich or the treatment. After about 1.5~2 weeks, the spots went away, but I continued treatment for another 3 days.

Unfortunately for me, it has come back. I first started seeing the spots on my platies on Friday and began a similar plan of attack immediately. I am not sure whether or not to raise the temperature any more, or add any more salt. As of today, I can only see spots on the platies' tails. I also have 3 guppies, and a female betta, plus java fern, java moss, aponogeton, and moneywort (?). I'm afraid more salt will hurt my plants, and I have nowhere else to keep them. The only organisms that I could bear to part with are the guppies (they are new) and the moneywort.

[PumaWard]

Raise the temp to 85F and add salt, 1tbsp/5g if there are no catfish or loaches. 1tbsp/10g if there are. Salt needs to be added slowly though, like 1tbsp/hour. Worked like a charm to get rid of ick on my discus. I think you need to treat ich for 2 weeks to kill off any larvae that just hatched out and were previously immune to the medication.

[Aquarius0015]

Lost a guppy for unknown reasons. None of the guppies had signs of ich or of any other disease. The other two seem happy. I imagine the fluctuation of water chemistry played a role. I did not have them but for 3 days when I resumed my ich treatment, so the salt, medicine, and temperature change might have killed her. In addition, I think she was pregnant, so that might have weakened her, too. Luckily she was still under warranty from the LFS.

I already have 2 tbsp worth of salt in the water, I suppose I could add another 0.5 or so to make it an even 1 tbsp/ 5 gal (it's slightly less now). I'll start bringing up the temp up to 83 tonight and I'll reach 85 by tomorrow. I suppose more water changes are in order, too. I love getting wet!

[often dignified]

I've heard you should either do salt or meds - but not both. I could be wrong here though. How many fish do you have in there?

[Aquarius0015]

4 platies, 1 female betta, 2 guppies (previously 3).

[Aquarius0015]

My fish are acting very lethargic, are you sure 85*F isn't too high?

[Aquarius0015]

Ok, I can't stand this anymore, I'm turning down the temp until I get some sort of response.

[PumaWard]

It should not bother fish for short periods of time, especially the female betta. How fast did you turn the temp up, what was it at before?

[Aquarius0015]

It was about 81*F before, I turned it up 2*, waited three hours, then turned up 2* before going to bed. Actually, the female betta was the most lethargic.

And now my newly purchased male betta (in a completely separate 1 gal) is showing signs of cotton fungus. Argh!

[snakeskinner]

I never raise temp. I added salt some time ago but have done a couple water changes since so I'm sure the level has dropped. I have numerous platy's, mollies, tetras and danio's. I had a bout on my tetras the last few weeks and started using Ick Guard II and it started working great but I ran out and couldn't find anymore so I got Jungle fizzing tablets and used less than half dose and followed the water change instructions and it's worked well. There is only one spot left on a rummynose and I'm continuing a very small dose to be sure there aren't any left swimming around. I'm not sure if the one spot on the rummy is ich anymore because all the others are gone except this one speck so it may have been there all along and I just never noticed it till now. I'll just keep an eye on it and keep the water medicated. This is my first successful ich medication without tetra loss. I finally found another source for Ich Guard II this weekend and picked up a couple bottles to have on hand. I love this stuff. Kyle

[alexv1n]

I haven't had ich in the main aquarium for quite a while but get it from time to time in the q-tank when buying a new fish. I use QuICK Cure which works quite well and usually eradicates the parasites within 2 days as advertised on the package. At about 28°C the life cycle of the parasite is quite fast and most die off rather quickly. And QuICK Cure worked very well so far. My q-tank is a 10 gallon rather bare (no gravel) with a few plastic plants so the fish doesn't feel too stressed. And having bare bottom helps kill those ich cysts which fall down on the floor as well as clean and disinfect the tank after the treatment.

However make sure that you have ich and not velvet which is caused by a different parasite and sometimes could be confused (the dots are smaller and brownish not pure white as in ich).

[Aquarius0015]

I had never considered velvet. Under normal aquarium lights, the spots appeared white, but when I darkened the room and used my flashlight, they appeared darker. The spots are extremely small, about the size of a grain of salt or smaller and no bigger. They occur on the fins, which are sometimes clamped, but aren't currently. This morning when I flipped on the lights all of the fish were near the bottom. This is the first time I have observed this. I may have observed "flashing" too.

I will purchase some sort of anti-velvet medicine just in case. If I do have velvet, it would explain why nothing has made a dent in the dots so far. I am getting more and more convinced I have velvet instead. How long does one treat velvet before it goes away for good?