ick, no improvement on small clown loaches

[Silhouettes]

I've had my 20 gallon tank for over half a year, and a few days ago had an outbreak of ick. I noticed it the day it started, and the next day bought "Super Ick Treatment" at our local pet store.

The tetra's are back to normal, aswell as a goldfish which is momentairly in there. Unfortunately, even with tomorrow as the last treatment day with the 25% water change, I haven't noticed any imporvement at all with the two of my smaller three clown loaches. The meduim clown loach never caught the Ick at all...

So now, I'm a little worried about what I should do... it's my first encounter with ick, or any real problems in my tank.

If I don't notice a large inprovement should I start the treatment for ick all over again?
How long should I wait until I treat again, if I do?
Will another round of treatment affect the health of my other fish?

Any help will be very, very appriciated. Thanks for your patience :)

*Louise:confused:

[beviking]

Hi and welcome. IF you haven't read much about ich, check out skepticalaquarist.com in the disease section.
A couple quick points...
1) Ich can attach to the fish's gills and you won't be able to see it so to say a fish isn't infected may or may not be true.
2) Depending on temperature, it may take a couple days for a tomite (young ich) to develop into the white salt-like cyst that is visible- again the may/may not be infected thing.
3)If I remember correctly, super-ich treatment is formaline based. List the active ingredients just in case I'm wrong, you should be able to treat up to 14 days w/o any ill affects. It sounds as if you've only treated for 3 days, most here will tell you to turn up your temperature to 80-85 degrees and treat for 14 days.
4)I would suggest adding aquarium salt (you use rock salt but its messy) at a rate of 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons or 2 tblsp for your 20g.
I could go on all night, but the kids are calling. I'm sure others will post replies and if you use the search button (upper right corner) for ich or ick, you'll find MANY replies!!! Good luck!

[Sum-X]

Loaches, having no actual scales, are prone to get and have ICK... this is especially true with Clown Loaches...

I just suggest, keep adding the treatment, keep doing water changes, and keep watching those clowns closely...

HTH
MM ;)

[SnakeIce]

Cut your feeding in half for a while. just make sure no one loses to much weight. that will improove the water quality and help the clowns get over the ich. I have some that I treated off and on for almost a month and It was after I put them on a "diet" that they got over it

[shmeeb001]

i've never used that particular brand med, i've always had really good luck with quick cure, which is a mixture of formaldehyde and malachite green. how long have you been treating them? oh, and did you remember to take out your active carbon? i goofed on that once.

[hollyatkinson]

I am currently treating my 55 with ich also, and it does take patience, but it won't be gone in 3 days no matter what the medicine bottle says. Usually ich takes 5-7 days or longer to completely clear.
Here is some info I got off the website petsforum.com about ich:

The only time the medication can kill the parasite is when it leaves the fish to mutate, another words when you visibly see the white spots on the fish the medication is ineffective, only when they drop off the fish to multiply is when the meds will destroy them. The spores have 24 hours to find an existing host or they will die. That's the part that takes the longest. So 3 days won't be enough.
Always perform a 25-50% water change before and after treatment. by doing this it:

1. removes some of the spores from the water
2. it helps with oxygenation
3. it prevents ammonia and nitrite levels to become toxic because the medication will suppress biological filtration.
4. it prevents the medication from becoming lethal levels to the fish.
5. add some aquarium salt to help with making nitrites less toxic and it also helps with gill function
6. tank temp should be around 80 degrees to shorten the life span of parasite. (raising temp will decrease oxygen, so good aeration is important)

Make sure the carbon is removed from the filter media and continue to treat as long as necessary for at least 1-2 days after the white spots are no longer visible to insure all the spores were destroyed. If you don't thing your meds are working try a medication called quick cure, it has formalin and malachite green in it which are the 2 top meds for curing ich. I hope I was of some help. Good luck Holly;)

[Silhouettes]

Thanks everyone for the great advice for my little loaches about their ick, I understand whats going on alot better now :)

*Louise

[gutterguppy]

I had repeated problems with ich on my clown loaches. Even when I thought it went away, within a month it would be back. I started keeping the tank temp. between 82-84, and they have now been ich free for about 8 months. They also seemed to become more active, and now spend quite a few daylight hours outside of their hiding places. Before I raised the temp. they spent most of the day hidden.

[Orbitorly]

There are two main approaches to curing whitespot, and opinions vary on which is the more effective. There are several effective commercially available remedies, normally based on malachite green and formalin. Note that malachite green is hard on scaleless fish like catfish and loaches, and also other fish such as tetras. Some alternative medications are based on copper and formalin. The other method employed is to add salt to the tank (gradually), up to a level of 6-8 tsp per gallon. Note that fish vary in their tolerance of salt, and for more sensitive soft-water species, it may be better to use 3-4 tsp per gallon maximum. Higher salt levels may also affect plant growth.

In either case, increasing the temperature should kill the parasite off more quickly, because it will speed up the life cycle of the parasite, so that the free-swimming stage is reached as quickly as possible - this is the only stage affected by medications. However, increasing the temperature means there will be less oxygen dissolved in the water (some medications can lower it too), so ensure the tank is well aerated, and do not raise the temperature beyond around 28oC (82oF).

Due to the life cycle of the parasite, the whole tank must be treated, in order to kill the parasites which are not attached to fish. Therefore it is not appropriate to treat only the affected fish in a separate isolation tank.

[Cichlid Woman]

How are the clowns coming, Silhouettes?

You've already gotten excellent info on treating ich on clown loaches, but just in case they're still afflicted ...

I have clowns, and what I always successfully use for ich is a product by Jungle called Ich Guard (the granules, not the less-potent Ich Guard II liquid, which does not work). Do NOT use the Ich Guard granules full-strength, though. I use it half-strength, and it always works. It doesn't harm the loaches, and you don't have to raise the tank temperature (you do have to take the carbon out of your filter, though).

I dose the tank half strength. If, 24 hours later, the ich appears to be all gone, I just let the tank sit and wait another five or six days before doing a partial water change. This gets rid of the nonvisible ich nasties that haven't been eliminated yet.

If, after the first 24 hours, I still see ich, I do a partial water change (20-25%) and re-dose the tank, again at half strength. That always seems to do the trick. I do not add more med after this point--just give it a few days.

If you already have ich meds in your water and the ich's not gone yet, you'd need to do a substantial water change (30-50%) to get most of the old med out of there before adding the new one.

Hopefully, your clowns are already well. But if they're not, you might try the Ich Guard. Many times, if one med doesn't work another one will. Everybody has their favorites.

Hope this helps.

-- Pat

[punch]

Take carbon out of your filter (if you use it) Intill after treament.
Carbon takes medication out.

[Silhouettes]

Thanks everyone for their advice and experiences with ick. All of my fish have recovered from the ick, and all but one loach is perfectly back to normal. (I believe the loach is having non-ick realted issues).

Thanks again,

Louise

[stargurl]

Originally posted by Silhouettes
The tetra's are back to normal, aswell as a goldfish which is momentairly in there. What temperature is your tank if you have tetras, loaches and goldfish in it? Raising the temperature is often recommended for treating ich (I do it) but that would pose problems for the goldfish (which shouldn't be mixed with tropicals, anyway).