Please Help me with some urgent ICH Care Questions

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Ninkylou

The Wet Gang
Mar 10, 2006
27
0
0
Birmingham, AL
Okay everything was going great until I moved everyone to the 72g.

Here is what changed.

4 Orandas from stable 20g tank
1 Bubbly eye from stable 5 g tank
2 New Orandas after 3 week stint in QT

Got the 72 from someone and it had been set up as a tropical tank. Drained in my presence, still had all the fish, a million guppies, 3 common plece and a panda cory.

All guppies and Plecos went to LFS, cory is doing well in my tropical tank.

I used the gravel that was in the 72, cleaned it somewhat, not completely as i wanted to leave some of the bacteria.

Set up tank using existing marineland HOT Pro Magnum w/ Bio wheel and existing Aqua Clear 300/70. Let it run a few days before putting the fish in. Have had no problems with Ammonia or Nitrite as both filters had a good bacterial buildup.

Day before yesterday BAMM ICH, OMG it was so fast, I had them on the webcam all day and had been at the tank so much. Daughter walks by and asks what is all over the fish. Started with Red Cap, and now all are fully engulfed.

Here is what i have done so far

Did 25% H2O change with gravel clean

Took out the snails.

Increased Temp over 24 hrs to 82 degrees
Added 1tsp/gallon of salt, so now somewhere between .1 and .2 concentration, as I keep the tank liberally salted.

Treated with recommended dose of CopperSafe (am perhaps regretting this)

Removed all carbon and am running the microfilter which i have been rinsing each day.

Added extra bubble curtain and dropped h2o level to improve oxygenation.

h20 testing this morning, before water change, which i will be doing shortly.

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20 on dip stick (safe)
pH - 7.4 ( usually runs 7.0 -7.2)
KH-71.9
GH - will not register got to 25 drops and no change, think the solution is bogus, but we do have hard water.

What next.

Fish still active and eating eagerly. Flashing some. Red Cap has red fin streaking.

Here are my questions.

Should i put the charcoal back in and get rid of the copper and just use more salt and temp control for the ich, and h2o changes, my concern is that a month without charcial filtration is going to leave me with what other undesirable effects??

How high can i safely take the temperature (usually sits at 76), cannot really find what is max for fancies??

Should i treat prophalactially with Melafix for the lesions that the parasites will leave when the fall off, or will the salt load take care of that??

Do I need to add more salt?

Do I need to drop that pH at all??
 
Last edited:

Ninkylou

The Wet Gang
Mar 10, 2006
27
0
0
Birmingham, AL
Got control of the ICH

Okay, sorry that the post was so long. Too bad no input from anyone, a bit disappointing.

Just to follow up.

Fish doing great. Left copper in but did not add more with water changes.


Have been doing 15g water changes with gravel vacuum every morning.

Also have increased their vit C intake with Spirulina and some Oranges (they love oranges), but oh what a mess.

Kept salt at about .2.

Did not mess with pH.

Temp at 84 degress, going to leave it there for a while

All spots gone. Fish not flashing anymore, eating well. I think that the temp and the salt are the ticket.
 
Apr 2, 2002
3,532
640
120
New York
You are on the right track. However it is best to treat either with salt or with meds but not both. In either case raising the temp helps as it speeds up the ich life cycle.

I am not a fan of coppersafe for anything. If you want to use a med for ich I would suggest QuikCure.

Taking out the carbon wont hurt anything. I have 15 tanks running for years and none with carbon, except for a specific cause like clearing out meds after treatment.

If you do wc during ich treatment with salt, be sure to salt the new water to keep the levels up.
 

Ninkylou

The Wet Gang
Mar 10, 2006
27
0
0
Birmingham, AL
Thanks

I am going to not continue to add the coppersafe. Just let it go by the wayside with the water changes.

I was hesitant to use the QuickCure because of the formalin being carcinogenic. I am in the tank up to my shoulders every day it seems

I have been adding the salt to the new H2O and am keeping the temperature up and things are clearing up well.

Interesting about not using carbon. I am going to put it back in in a few days to clear out the remaining coppersafe.

Thanks again, i just wanted some input
 

AgnesJG

AC Members
Apr 24, 2006
15
0
0
40
Edmonton, AB
I have two goldfish , who just got over ich and a lot of people told me not to use copper. I found that adding salt and raising the temperature gradually worked the best. I didn't add any meds cause I don't like to if I don't need to,IMO. :eek:
 
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