Ich or something else?

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snakeskinner

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Dec 27, 2003
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I'm not sure if I'm battling Ich or not. I have two Green Barred Danio's (similar to giant danio's) and both had a little white on their lower jaws when I bought them. They were added to my 36 gallon (didn't have my Q-tank yet) with 3 giant danio's which also have had this white and it's never progressed. Shortly after introduction the white started growing so I added some cotton mouth medication but it didn't seem to help much. then one day I thought there was Ich on them so I tried netting them to keep them still enough to see them and the spots rubbed off on the net. I decided to ignore the white on the lower jaw and see what happens since it seems to stay at a certain level and never get worse. A couple days ago I noticed what looked like a bad case of Ich on these two danio's. I already had a platy and a barb in my q-tank treating them for internal parasites because they'd been swimming wierd so I added some Wardley's ich medication (blue stuff) to the 36 and the next day both my black ruby barb females were dead so I had to do something different. I had been treating the Q-tank for about a week and the fish had been acting a lot better so I decided to return them to their tanks since this ich problem looked worse. I did a water change on the Q-tank and netted the danio's to there but after I did this, I noticed the "ich" had mostly rubbed off and some of the spots seemed to be hanging off the fish on strings. has anyone ever seen this? can ich be rubbed off just by netting the fish? any ideas what else I might be fighting? I added some jungle ich medication (trashed the wardleys, lost my last fish with that suff) to the tank but I can always do a water change and use something else. thanks for any help. Kyle
 

falcon

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Dec 16, 2003
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Too many meds, imo. I would use a carbon filter to get rid of them and do few partial water changes. After that, you might try a salt treatment. After trying it, I am a believer. Here is a post that I have posted somewhere else:

Well, I've never used meds before. I have tried sea salt and it works wonders. The best med in my opinion for different conditions. I have used it in a planted tank and it worked great. I treated ich, but I've read it's excellent for many conditions, fungus, you name it. I would treat the main tank. I have recently treated my friends oscars with it as they have been moved and went through a lot. Needless to say, the salt is aiding their recovery.

Some fish will take the salt better than others. I have lost some fish from the outbreak but I am not sure if I have treated them too late or whether from the salt. One clown loach was completely covered in white spots and lost loooots of weight. Needles to say, he has recovered nicely and gained most of his weight back and shows beautiful colors. Some cardinals died and some survived.

I think the key is to treat early. In the past I have used 1tbl spoon per 10g and it seems to work. Increasing temperature gradually seems to help as well while treating. When you use salt, don't change the water for the time of treatment, but if must, you have to replenish. Usually a treatment will last abot a week. Then, through partial water changes you get rid of salt.

Hope this helps.

Falcon
 
Last edited:

beviking

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Ich by nature forms white spots and then they fall off so yes, it is possible to rub them off by netting. I've never seen the stringy sightings you had but can't say it wasn't ich either (maybe they were held together by mucus?)
If you're treating for ich, remove any carbon in the filter system and treat the main tank. Check out www.skepticalaquarist.com for good ich info. Salt and heat does work, so does Jungles Ich med. Choose your weapon and stick with it for at least 7 days.

Good luck.
 

snakeskinner

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I already had the salt added to the tank before I noticed the spots. I normally use the rule of thumb to treat 3 days past my last ich spot sighting to make sure and kill off any eggs that have dropped off the fish. I remove the carbon filter cartridges anytime I medicate. I just added a new cartridge to remove any of the leftover Wardley's in the 36. The really wierd thing is my male black ruby barb survived but both females died and I didn't lose any tiger, green or albino barbs. Wierd deal. I'll be keeping an eye on the other tank inhabitants to make sure there isn't any ich on the rest of the fish. So far, so good. Kyle
 

fishguy001

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Oct 22, 2009
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Hm in dont think so.
 
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