I have a serious ich problem. Need help!

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duragon

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Jan 16, 2010
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Hi. I am new to the forums (my 1st post), and I'm sad to say its not a happy one. About 1 week ago, I noticed that one of my mollies had white dots on its tail fins, ich. I went out and bought Quick Cure, as it was recommended by my local fish place. However, I've been using the Quick Cure as directed, but it does not appear to be working. I have turned the heat up to around 84*F, as well. Today I noticed that my molly has many more spots as it previously had, and in addition, atleast 3 other fish now have white spots (another molly, a platy, and a red glofish). It seems the problem is getting worse instead of better!

I am not a hobbyist, I just enjoy having a fish tank. I know my pH level is perfect for the type of fish I have, but I do not know about the nitrate, nitrite, amonia levels.

I am looking for any help you guys can give to me to help get my fish healthy again. I have thought about stopping the Quick Cure and switching to acquarium salt, as I've read about this working. I am hesitant to use CopperSafe (or something similar), as I have new born babies (maybe 2 weeks) in the tank as well.

I am not sure if I am jumping the gun, or if the ich is supposed to get worse before it gets better.
Any help you guys can give me would be much appreciated!

Thanks, Ryan.

Edit: Forgot to mention; I have 2 platys, 2 guppies, 3 glofish, and 2 mollies in a 16 gallon tank with a 115gph canister filter (carbon currently removed for treatment).
 

excuzzzeme

Stroke Survivor '05
You need to get a test kit and test your water. As far as the Ich goes stop the Quik-Cure and use salt instead. I use 2 tablespoons for every 5 gallons for 14 days and it kills it.

Other use as much as 2 teaspoons per gallon. Ich doesn't go away fast. Treatment needs to be a full 14 days but you should see improvement in 5-7 days.
 

mel_20_20

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Sep 1, 2008
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Don't worry, turning up the heat speeds up the life cycle of the Ich, so the Ich protozoans that were there, invisible to the naked eye, are now in the stage in which they are visible in the white cysts that you see. You didn't make it worse, you just made them visible, so to speak. Things always look worse before they start to get better.

I agree with Jeff, the heat/salt method works very well. I'm among those that had to use a higher concentration. I did one tablespoon, or three level teaspoons, to the gallon, which is a .3% salinity, and I had to go 28 days as I had a very resistant strain of Ich.

You probably won't, but as Jeff, Excuzzzme, stated, you have to continue the treatment, even when the specks have dropped off, because they are still there, waiting in the substrate to hatch and release thousands of the free swimming protozoans, that are now on the prowl looking for another host.

It's during the free swimming stage that they are vulnerable to the salt.

I think 14 days sounds right for most all cases.

Increased heat reduces the oxygen in the water, and they are already having a difficult time breathing with Ich, so add an airstone or two to help increase the O2 in the water.

Be sure your parameters stay really good: ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 0ppm, and nitrate at 20 or less. You'll need to do water changes as needed to keep their water pristine. You have to add the amount of salt back with the replacement water, to keep the salinity constant.

If you need more help regarding water changes and maintaining salinity just let us know. Hang in there.

EDIT: Get the API Master test kit, to monitor your parameters. It's less expensive than strips in the long run, and strips are terribly unreliable. Most often the results will not be accurate, and you really need to know your parameters to keep your fish healthy.
 
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duragon

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Jan 16, 2010
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Now more of my fish are getting it...

How do I get the salt into the tank? I assume I cannot pour it right into the acquarium. Do I make a 5 gallon bucket on the side. Also, do I add the salt every day? or just once for the whole time. And do I also use the carbon on the filter, or leave it out? If I add salt each day, how much do I add?

Thanks.
 

duragon

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Jan 16, 2010
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Alright, I got a test kit for ammonia, and judging by the color presented, I'd say the level was between 1.0 and 2.0 ppm.
 

mel_20_20

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It always looks worse before it gets better. Hang in there.

EDIT: OK, I posted this just after you posted about your ammonia, so I'm adding a comment here: You have got to do a big water change, or several smaller ones immediately to bring the ammonia down to 0ppm.

If your fish are used to big water changes do about a 50% change and test again. If still detectable ammonia then do another one.

If you do small water changes, do several over the next few hours to get the ammonia to 0ppm.

Have you tested for nitrite, nitrate, and ph? If the tank is fairly new then just test for nitrite and ph, in addition to ammonia, of course.

Once your ammonia is 0ppm then lets get started with the Ich treatment.

Since you have babies I think I'd go with 1 teaspoon per gallon. (slightly more than the tablespoon per 5 gallons Jeff mentioned, just in case your Ich protozoans are resistant)

So here's some information I hope will help. This is easier than you think, though it still is quite a bit of work.

You have a 16 gallon tank. When did you do your last water change?

We can do one now to get started with the salt. Here are a few pointers before you get started. You may decide to do this a different way, but I found this to be a good system that worked really well for me.

I like to use buckets for refilling, rather than a Python or other faucet-attached system; this way, at each water change, you are adding back water that is at the proper salinity each time and you are not having swings in the salinity perentage in the tank.

It is helpful to prepare the replacement water in a bucket before you siphon out the water. This way you are able to quickly add the replacement water back in to the tank.

Getting the temperature right takes time and I don't like the fish having to sit in a partially full tank with the filter and heater off for very long while I'm mixing up fresh water with salt, dechlorinator, and trying to make sure the temperature is the same as the tank.

We want to eventually bring the tank up to 1 teaspoon per gallon, so I would take four gallons (24%) out of the tank today, using a bucket that is clearly marked so you know you have taken out that quantity. (two 5 gallon buckets with marks showing gallons would really make this easier for you)

I think I would do daily 25% water changes each day during the treatment. Let's take three days to bring the tank to full .1% salinity, which is what 1 teaspoon per gallon is.

In the replacement water today and for the next three days, mix up and carefully dissolve (stir the bejeebers out of it) about 1/3 teaspoon of plain table salt per gallon, with 4 gallons of water that is at the proper temperature, and that has the dose of Prime added to the bucket for the full 16 gallon tank, not just the 4 gallons you're putting back in.

Then, very carefully and slowly pour that into the tank. It's diluted enough you don't need to take too long, just kinda slowly pour it in.

Tomorrow you will do the same thing, and again on Tuesday.

After Tuesday, I would keep doing daily 25% water changes. This will help not only with fighting the Ich, but will help them feel generally better, and will be helpful to their immune systems, hopefully resisting the secondary bacterial infections that can often occur after an Ich infestation.

So, on Wednesday the tank is at .1% salinity and steady, and when you do your daily 25% water change, you remove 4 gallons, and this time you will dissolve 4 full level teaspoons in the replacement water. Again, temp match is important, and Prime at the full dose for the full 16 gallon tank.

This is what you will now be doing for the next 14 days.

Doing daily water changes should eliminate the problem of evaporation, but if you do see that overnight the level has gone down somewhat, then bring the water back up to the original level with temp matched, Prime dechlorinated water.

Then, once the water is at the proper, full 16 gallon level, you're ready to do the actual water change that has the salt in it.

This way you are not allowing the salinity levels to creep up to undesirable levels, as could happen when you're not factoring in significant evaporation of tank water in between water changes.

During this process you need to monitor your parameters, however, the fact that you do daily 25% water changes and use Prime will probably insure that the parameters are going to be optimum.

Feed lightly during the treatment and suction leftover food with a turkey baster, (used exclusively for aquaria, never exposed to soap, as also true for buckets or any equipment for fish keeping purposes), within 2 hours after feeding.

If you don't have the test kit you must get one asap, and a really good one is the API Liquid test kit.

You absolutely must get a good test kit to test ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph every day, or you will be shooting yourself in the foot. The fish must have excellent water during and after this treatment, and from now on.:)

Again, I really think it is easiest to treat for Ich using this bucket system.
It's not really too difficult with a small tank anyway, though it gets tedious with the big tanks.

Remember that the water needs to be the right temperature, matching the tankwater, and keep track carefully.

Also, I think it's just easier mixing the salt and water in the bucket and adding that back to the tank, as I described above.

You don't want to remove tank water in which you have the salt dosage set, and then add back unsalted water, running from the faucet, (if you are using the Python clean and fill or something similar you know what I'm talking about) and try to then dissolve and add the salt dose afterwards. You would have swings in salinity that can't be good for the fish and the dosing is more difficult, too.

I hope this helps. If anything is unclear, or you have other questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
 
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mel_20_20

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What has your water change schedule been, up to this point? Frequency and volume?
 

mel_20_20

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Ok... math correction...

You want a total of 16 teaspoons per gallon by the third day.

So on the first three water changes I would do about 6 teaspoons per 4 gallon bucket. It's not precise, because some salt is removed and not replaced exactly proportionately on the second and third day, but you will be right at .1% or slightly under.
 

THE V

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If possible post some pictures of your fish. Quick cure is a really strong chemical combination and generally works within 72 hours. Malachite green + formalin is pretty toxic stuff.

You might not be dealing with Ichthyophthirius at all. Ich is one of the most common infections that occur but there are others that look similar. How large are the white spots? If they are larger than a table salt grain it is probably not ich.
 

duragon

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Jan 16, 2010
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Hard to take a picture of them, they are camera shy... I will try to get a better one. All those glowing things on his tail are the spots I'm talking about. Diagnosis?

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