Safe Ich med for Clown Loaches?

[LeahK]

Edit: my reason for questioning this is in regards to lessening the concentration of medication currently in the tank

I'll second Melody's advice--water changes will not decrease the medication's effectiveness.

My understanding is this: Many medications are not very stable, once in the tank. They break down in water after about 12 to 24 hours. So, when you re-dose, you are simply bringing the med levels back up to the concentration of a single dose.
You'll never have the concentration of more than a single dose in your water, unless you put in two doses at the same time.
What is building up in your water are the various ingredients of the medication, now broken down. When you do a water change, you only remove these ingredients that are already ineffective, anyway.
So, doing a water before a new dose will not decrease the med's effectiveness, because the dose you put in the day before has already broken down.

 

[Tay690]

update.

Largest clown loach now has 1 spot left on his tail (YAY light at the end of the tunnel) and I've now started medding 3 times a day...just to be rid of it

hopefully 5 or 6 more days and it should all be clear (keeping my fingers and toes crossed)

 

[mel_20_20]

Outstanding, Tay. I've been offline for a couple of days due to power outage, so I haven't been able to check on you. I'm glad things are progressing nicely. Your guys will be Ich free soon. Keep up the good work.

 

[Rbishop]

Table salt and heat....

 

[Tay690]

tank is at 84 now and i think it's gone...i don't see any more spots
so i'll med and siphon for 5 more days just to be safe

 

[mel_20_20]

Sounds great Tay. I think you've done it.

I think my guy is all over it, too, though a power failure from severe thunderstorms cut my treatment a little short. I'm going to be watching my tank to make sure there's no relapse.

You've done a fantastic job!!!

 

[Tay690]

I wish now that I put that heater in from the beginning...so I could have some accurate results to see how good this medicine actually works

I'm not really sure if I'll use it again

 

[mel_20_20]

Well, the heater would certainly have helped the Ich AttacK work faster, merely by speeding up the life cycle to the free swimming stage which is when the product has an impact on the parasite, but if your Ich is cured it did do the job, albeit more slowly than the heat/salt method.

I don't think the lack of a heater, during the majority of the treatment period using Ich Attach, undermines the observable effectiveness of the product.

Having said all that, although I like Kordon Ich Attack and believe it to be effective, I do believe that if I ever have another outbreak of Ich I will use the heat/salt method because it is so much faster. That is, unless I'm advised (by one of the experts on AC) not to use salt because of some sensitivity of plants or animals in my tank.

From what I've read, however, it seems that the heat/salt method is well tolerated by most aquatic plants and animals.

 

[dixienut]

Rid Ich Plus is a combo of malachite green and formalin. I think any med with those ingredients would work.
Although, I'm not sure if the recommendation to use at full strength would apply to other formulas....
I've also heard good things about Maracide by Mardel. Apparently, it has a binding agent that enables it to treat ich cysts while they're still on the fish (whereas other meds only treat the free-floating ich, which is why timing is so critical with most of them). I have no personal experience with Maracide though, since I only had that one (fingers crossed) ich outbreak.

quick cure is the same meds,.. i have used it but not on loaches,.. works great,.. but keep in mind don't reach in the medicated tank use gloves or keep hands out that formalin is nasty stuff,..

 

[Tay690]

ok update time...I'm thoroughly dissapointed to be honest

I've gone through 2 of the huge bottles of IchAttack and a small bottle also...basically 50$ worth of this medicine and it's still not gone

So i'm going to use quickcure at a 50% dose...it seems to be only 1 specific loach that seems to keep getting it after the cysts spawn

The only thing I can possibly think of is the fact that he stays in that **** cave all day other than when he comes out to eat in the morning...since the cave is enclosed and he hides up in the interior of the peaks...maybe the cysts are dropping inside the cave and spawning and going straight up the interior of the peaks in the cave...instead of the top of the water where I want them to go...
It is the big guys cave specifically and he doesn't share...and he keeps showing up with new spots daily...as much as i siphon...it's never ending...not to mention getting a good look at the big guy is difficult enough...he's super skittish except around me (cuz he knows where his food comes from lol)

Do you think removing all hiding places for the time being will fix this? I still have a 1/2 full bottle of IchAttack but I'm really tired of these daily WC...It's really affecting my job and my family and honestly I'm at my whits end

I want to thank everyone for their help, concern and information that has been provided

Edit: Also if i was interested in using a salt treatment...what would be a good ratio to add Aquarium Salt per gallons etc?
I have a 29g tank and yes I already have the aquarium salt (got it from a buddy) so may as well use it i guess

Sincerely,
Taylor