starving ick

[wowimsocute]

hello, i knew nothing about fishes and aquaria. someone set it up for me and i did whatever i thought was ok. i'm a moron =) i never knew fish were so hard.

so i have a 55 gallon tank. i got a bunch of goldfish cuz the guy said i should. probably about 25 of em. (overstocked, eh?) recently, i added a 3 tetras. most of the goldfish have died now, because of ich. i am guessing it is ich because they all have white spots all over.

i found one tetra floating dead today. the other two have white spots. so they are probably going to die.

my question: after all the fish die (i dont think i can reasonably save them), can i just leave the tank on for a week or so to "starve" the ich? no hosts mean they die, right? turn up the temp and let them fry.

will it work? after a week, can i start adding fish slowly again?

thank you!

[OrionGirl]

There are treatments you can try--salt and high heat. Otherwise, if all the fish die, leave the tank fishless for about 4 weeks, temp at least 85. You will need to recycle the tank, unless you feed the tank with ammonia this entire time, because the bacteria can NOT go that long without a food source.

Do some research on the fish you want, so you don't mix cool and tropicals, ect.

HTH

[wowimsocute]

do i really need to leave it sitting around for 4 weeks? 1 week isn't enough?

[Leopardess]

firstly, I think you should try and save the fish. Ich is a rather curable thing and it would be a shame to lose all those lives.

If, they die....you could tear the tank down and give it a good rinse and maybe use some new filter media (with ich, you may also have some other secondary diseases "floating" around) and then set it up and cycle it again. This wouldnt be much less time-wise than starving the ich.

one week is NOT enough...ich's life cycle is longer than that and you need to ensure that you are killing off second and third generations, too.

Do some research on ich...there's tons of info. If you don't find out about its causes/treatments, etc, I bet you'll be in the same boat when you start again because new fish are stressed and there is always the possibility of another ich outbreak.

Good luck.

[wowimsocute]

anyone have experience with try this?

http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=84552444177 6970&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302026282&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023693&bmUID=1076533316161

it is supposed to get rid of ick in one treatment? i have read about ick and know the life stages; thats why i am skeptical about this product.

thanks for the help!

[OrionGirl]

I would not use any medication. The salt and heat method works, is easy to implement, and doesn't ruin your beneficial bacteria like many medications can.

[Leopardess]

While I *do* use ich medications...I do not trust any that say they will kill ich in one treatment.

[Aquarius0015]

I did not have any luck with the salt + heat method the time my fish got ich. I was losing fish pretty quickly, so out of desperation I turned to QuIck Cure (a malachite green/formalin mixture). I dosed every twelve hours because a trusted website (I've now forgotten which one) said that the ich medication's chemical half life was 12 hours and also oxidized by light. In other words, most of the old dose was gone by the time I added the new dose.

At any rate, my ich disappeared within two days. I kept treating with QuIck Cure and 82*F water temp for about a week, after which I kept the temperature elevated for another 2 weeks but stopped medicating.

If all your fish die and you are not concerned with preserving any bacteria, you might be able to raise the heat AND medicate the water. I think this would get rid of the ich much faster than the heat + salt method, and since you wouldn't have any fish, you wouldn't have to worry about them being adversely affected by the medicine.

Of course, I defer to the more experienced board members if they have issues with this.

[Must4ng s4lly]

I agree with Aquarius....You have to medicate... can't use salt with scaless fish like loaches / botia and catfish which i have ( i know you don't have ). I use the Maricide by Mardel and have not yet lost a fish to ich....

[shewlett]

I use a quarantine tank and put the fish infected with ich in that along with salt, Ich Cure by Aquatronics, and elevated temperature. I change 50% water every three days and re-medicate. After 10-12 days I put the fish into a different aquarium than his original one and leave the original one running for a month or longer with no occupants.

[kevinfishboy]

I had this problem when I first started all u need to do is turn your temp up just a little and u should be fine

[daveedka]

I've always used meds carefully, and have even pulled pictus cats and bala sharks through ich. It seems to be the most common and easiest to cure of all the nasties you can get Just my observation not to be confiused with facts or statistics. even if you don't wish to keep your remaining fish, try to save them, learn from the experience, and then if you don't want them sell them or find them a good home. And take your experience with you. Although there are some incurables (that dictate a humane intervention), I am a firm believer that you should Never give up on a fish untill it does the motionless backstroke. Ecpecially with ich

[gnahc79]

save them fish! You get very good at doing water changes and doing tests :D.