OH @*&! I have ICH!

Neo Sithlord

Neo Sithlord

Nerf Herder
Mar 20, 2004
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Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
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Well I've had a turn for the worse! My job had me working an opposite shift to my normal night shift and I literally fell asleep at the wheel with my normal 10% daily water changes the last few days (fishy cycle with a partial fishless). Now I have ich! My nitrites have been from 0 to .25 ppm max. Today I had 2 ppm when I tested. GAH! So I have the tank stocked with 1 male betta, 2 white cloud minows and (I KNOW NOT A GOOD IDEA!) 3 neon tetras (Survivors of the 6 original). I just did 2 back to back 10 gallon water changes (29 gallon tank) to remove the nitrites and I'm reading zero right now. The stuff I used to treat the tank has Formalin and Mlachite green listed as active ingrediants. The directions said to add 1 drop per gallon or 1 drop per 2 gallons with tetras. I added 11 drops to play it safe for my neons. The betta has it the worse. His fins are clamped and he seems abit lethargic. He did eat well though when I fed them tonight. Also when I did the water changes I sucked up very little waiste off the substrait so I'm assuming I'm not over feeding these guys. I had a bad heater that only kept one temp no matter how I set it. Which was ,pretty much, 78-80 degrees F. I replaced it last night with a new one I bought and hoped it would keep the tank arround 75 degrees. It actually dropped to 71 when I got home but I had anouther stupid moment today and forgot to shut my window so that may have contributed to the low temp. *sigh*
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So what are fishes chances of pulling trough this? I've put the old heater back in since I at least know it'll aleast keep a steady temp and 78-80 should speed up the life cycle of the ich enough to help with the treatment. Plus it's a temp the fish have seemed to have done well with in the past. I just can't beleive I let this happen again! After I was so carefull to do this correctly the second time arround. I really don't want to watch my fish die again please give me alittle help here. What can I do to max my fishes chances of survival?
-Neo Sithlord
 
I think you want to get that temp up to 86F and add 1 tbsp of salt per 5 gallons. That seems to be a standard non chemical ich treatment. You may need to increase the surface agitation on the tank as the oxygen levels will drop and white clouds are cold water fish (thus needing higher oxygen levels). The neons are the ones most likely not to pull through. The white clouds and betta are pretty tough guys so should do fine.
 
Ditto what TKOS said... I had ich once in my 29 gallon and I added 6 tablespoons of salt, bumped the heat up to 87' and kept the tank covered w/ a big beach towel for a week (opening once a day at night w/ the lights on to feed and so the fish wouldn't feel like vampires or something!!). The ich cleared up no problem. I lost all of my 8 neon tetras, but my shark, pleco and assorted guppies and mollies made it just fine.

edit: I don't remember where I read or heard about covering the tank w/ a beach towel, so maybe someone can tell you for sure if that's necessary!!!

Good luck!

~Tara
 
Everyone but my betta seems to be doing fine right now. I'll try adding the salt to the tank later today when I wake up (again I work nights so my days are abit off the norm) and see where that gets me. Thanks for the info on the salt. I wasn't very clear on how much to add. Seeing as to how the betta is the only one really showing signs of ich and I mean REALLY SHOWING ICH! I could seperate him from his tank mates and try treating him seperately. While keeping a small dose of medicine in the main tank to be safe. Whould that be ideal? I'd have to set up a compleatly uncycled 10 gallon to do it though. Or put him in a betta bowl I have. I'd prefer the 10 in this case so as to keep the water at better perams and temps. I guess you could say I'm treating my first out break with afew book smarts. I'd like to save my neons but I hate to admit, they were my "miners canaries" in the tank. In other words I knew from the start if they started having problems something was going wrong. I can't really see how covering the tank would help, since Ich is a paracite but I guess it might be worth trying. I have to wonder though if my betta was sicklier then I thought when picked him out. I bought him because he seemed the less agressive of the lot. Maybe it was because he wasn't the healthiest one of the mix? I really don't know. Maybe I made a mistake with my thinking there. I wanted to keep a betta in a comunity tank from the start and hoped to get one that was more passive. Maybe my logic was flawed. Then again I knew this cycle wasn't going to be easy once I decided to add fish. I think this is the price I'm going to have to pay for my impatience. Trust me I feel like I made a big mistake again but I'm fighting it this time to what ever end! Wish my fish luck and send them good vibes! Hopefully both keeper and pet can pull through this.
-Neo Sithlord
(edit) I have afew bubble stones I can put back in and see if that helps out the white clouds. I wasn't aware they were cold water fish! I thought they were from the same area as bettas. Hence tropical and prefering warmer water.
 
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Neo... hahah, like I said, I don't remember who told me to cover the tank up, but I did it and my husband thought I was a mental case!... As for separating the betta, I don't think that will be helpful since ich floats around in the water and will eventually attach itself to one of the other fish, or at least will always be in the water. Treat the whole tank. It would just be easier on you to have to take care of that one tank, rather than have to worry about the betta bowl/tank and the big tank.

I also forgot to say that while treating w/ salt and heat and covering the tank, I did 20% water changes every other day and added another tablespoon of salt after the change (I 'melt' the salt in a cup of warm water and slowly added it to the tank, so the fish wouldn't get burnt).

Good luck!

~Tara
 
Don't use a small dose of meds. That is like giving someone with a migrain half an tylanol. And treat for 3 weeks like this to make sure you get all stages of the ich. Lots of water changes are a good idea, and table salt is fine to use. There will be lots of evaporation but only use more salt when you do a water change, top off water should eb salt free or the salt level will sky rocket and pickle the fish.


As was mentioned, the ich is in the tank so treat the tank while the other fish are still fairly healthy and able to fight the ich themseleves.
 
Sorry to butt in on your thread, Neo...hope you don't mind a related question.

I'm currently treating my 20 gal. for ich. I have 2 swordtails, 2 zebra danios, 2 long finned leopard danios, 2 otos. Are any of these fish considered tetras? My remedy also says 1 drop per gal, or 1 drop per 2 gal for tetras. So far, I've added only 10 drops to play it safe, but don't want to "treat a migraine with 1/2 a tylenol."

Also, is it ok to use salt with these fish? 1 tsp per gallon?

Thanks in advance for the help...

Margaret
 
To treat ich, 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons is a good rule of thumb... I don't think any of your fish are considered tetras. I tried an ich medecine the one time I had it, and it didn't work.

Up the heat to ~87'
6 tablespoons of salt (I had a 29 gallon tank)
I draped a beach towel over the tank, don't remember why that was suggested to me (thinking back, maybe ich needs light to flourish?)
20% water changes every other day, adding back 1 tablespoon of salt after each water change

Ich cleared up and hasn't yet returned.

Good luck moboe!

~Tara
 
None of those fish will be hurt by that low dose of salt for a brief time. Your ottos are the weakest generally. And you can easily use the salt and medicine at the same time. You might as well keep using the meds since you have started with them.
 
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