Ugh! I HATE ICH!

[EmilyMarie85]

O yeah - forgot to add:

Yes and Yes to the airstone - keep that puppy in there. Higher water temp. = less oxygen. Med. treatments = less oxygen.

As far as the skinny loach goes - I would recommend a very high protein diet & cucumber slices. Cucumber will naturally help the immune system and protein will fatten.

 

[Carch]

Use one rounded tablespoon per 5 gallons, pre-dissolved in a bucket beforehand. Keep your temperature between 82-85 until treatment is done. Ick's life cycle is around one month long, even if you see spots disappear, it can still be there. If you do a water change, add the appropriate amount of salt back into the tank. Continue this treatment for 2-3 weeks after the last spot completely disappears.

Ick always looks worse before it looks better with salt treatments, since the parasite cannot be killed while it's on the animal. Ick can only be killed in it's free-floating stage, which is why you need to treat for around 1 month total to be completely sure you kill it.

 

[FallenAngel]

Ok, I havent seen any spots for a few weeks. It just that some of the fish are still scratching so it's obviously still there.
I bought a 200w heater for my 35g when I set it up so ill replace the old heater with this one for the time being to get the temp up to 29ish degrees C.
I will do the 1tbsp per 5 gallons rule after I do the water change.
It's funny that you suggest cucumber, I put a slice in last night and now all there is is the skin attatched to the lead pieces to sink it.
I also put cucumber in a few nights ago and the fish loved it. I think the BN pleco might have eaten most of it though.. I also have a new food that has garlic in it, so I hope that helps.

So heres what I'll do:

1. 50% Water Change
2. Add new heater to heat up to 29C
3. Add 1tbsp of salt per 5 gallons (dissolved in a bucket first)
4. Add another slice of cucumber and the garlic food
5. Keep air bubbles on 24/7

Does that sound like a good plan?

 

[FallenAngel]

Argh.. Just moved tank to garage, and caught some corys scratching

Better up the salt and heat for another week

 

[tayhudson]

Ok i havent lost any fish yet, but one of my loaches look really skinny and is alot more lethargic than he was before.
Temp is at 81F degrees, thats the highest my 100w Heater will take it.
I don't know the salinity, but I tried to do it on Sunday and I overdosed because I was so tired so I just did a few water changes.
I put an airstone in to give the water more oxygen.
I have Wunder's White Spot Cure, i'm not good with chemicals but on the bottle it says:
Active ingredients: 0.2% malachite green, 0.025% acriflavine, 0.02% quinine, in aqueos solution.

What should I do now? Big water change to get rid of all the salt then start over?
Dose with the White Spot Cure? Add More Salt?

I had Ich really bad about a month and half ago. I had 4 Clown Loaches that I lost. Most people think that loaches are scale-less, but they aren't. But they pretty much have microscopic scales. If you have loaches I would follow this thread if you can read it. This site (loaches.com) has some veryyyyyyyyy smart loach owners on it.

My one loach I noticed one night when the ich was at its worst was swimming straight up and down and in a circle, it was skinny, it's eyes were bigger and it looked horrible all around. The next day he was gone, and the 3 followed suit over the treatment. You have to be extremely careful with using SALT. The loaches equilibrium gets really messed up and the salt burns them. THEY ARE SUPER SENSITIVE TO SALT. Are you diluting the salt before you put it in? I'm sorry if you have answered these already, I saw the above quote and decided to comment.

But PLEASE read this article if you can. These people know all about loaches!

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=16721

I did the salt and high temps. It cured all of the other fish, even 2 yoyo loaches who showed almost NO signs of ich. They're pretty tough. But still watch the amount of salt with them. It really really messes them up. I hope you can get rid of it. It's so terrible.

GOOD LUCK!!!!

 

[tayhudson]

Ok, I havent seen any spots for a few weeks. It just that some of the fish are still scratching so it's obviously still there.
I bought a 200w heater for my 35g when I set it up so ill replace the old heater with this one for the time being to get the temp up to 29ish degrees C.
I will do the 1tbsp per 5 gallons rule after I do the water change.
It's funny that you suggest cucumber, I put a slice in last night and now all there is is the skin attatched to the lead pieces to sink it.
I also put cucumber in a few nights ago and the fish loved it. I think the BN pleco might have eaten most of it though.. I also have a new food that has garlic in it, so I hope that helps.

So heres what I'll do:

1. 50% Water Change
2. Add new heater to heat up to 29C
3. Add 1tbsp of salt per 5 gallons (dissolved in a bucket first)
4. Add another slice of cucumber and the garlic food
5. Keep air bubbles on 24/7

Does that sound like a good plan?

LOWER THE WATER LEVEL ABOUT 2" TO ALLOW MORE OXYGEN. IT'S A HUGE HELP. I KNOW ONE THING I NOTICED WITH MY CLOWNS DURING ICH, WAS ALL 4 OF THEM WOULD BE IN THE TOP BACK RIGHT CORNER OF THE TANK, ALMOST GASPING FOR AIR DUE TO THE SALT. WHAT KINDS OF LOACHES DO YOU HAVE?? IT LOOKS LIKE YOU HAVE BOTIA STRATIA IN THERE??

 

[FallenAngel]

I had Ich really bad about a month and half ago. I had 4 Clown Loaches that I lost. Most people think that loaches are scale-less, but they aren't. But they pretty much have microscopic scales. If you have loaches I would follow this thread if you can read it. This site (loaches.com) has some veryyyyyyyyy smart loach owners on it.

My one loach I noticed one night when the ich was at its worst was swimming straight up and down and in a circle, it was skinny, it's eyes were bigger and it looked horrible all around. The next day he was gone, and the 3 followed suit over the treatment. You have to be extremely careful with using SALT. The loaches equilibrium gets really messed up and the salt burns them. THEY ARE SUPER SENSITIVE TO SALT. Are you diluting the salt before you put it in? I'm sorry if you have answered these already, I saw the above quote and decided to comment.

But PLEASE read this article if you can. These people know all about loaches!

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=16721

I did the salt and high temps. It cured all of the other fish, even 2 yoyo loaches who showed almost NO signs of ich. They're pretty tough. But still watch the amount of salt with them. It really really messes them up. I hope you can get rid of it. It's so terrible.

GOOD LUCK!!!! [/COLOR]

Thanks Heaps for all that!
Will look on that site in a moment and re think the salt treatment.
I'm considering indian almond leaves aswell...

LOWER THE WATER LEVEL ABOUT 2" TO ALLOW MORE OXYGEN. IT'S A HUGE HELP. I KNOW ONE THING I NOTICED WITH MY CLOWNS DURING ICH, WAS ALL 4 OF THEM WOULD BE IN THE TOP BACK RIGHT CORNER OF THE TANK, ALMOST GASPING FOR AIR DUE TO THE SALT. WHAT KINDS OF LOACHES DO YOU HAVE?? IT LOOKS LIKE YOU HAVE BOTIA STRATIA IN THERE?? [/COLOR]

I can't lower the water levels to 2" because I have angelfish as tall as 3 1/2 inches
I haven't seen them gasping at all and they are tiny compared to clown loaches, yes they are botia striata.

 

[FallenAngel]

Well my golden zebra loach died the other day, I think it was starving and didn't like the salt + heat treatment. She/He was my favorite loach

Oh well, it happens.

RIP

 

[Borgey]

I know how you feel. I am battling a case of Ich right now in my QT tank. 2 of my South American Puffers got it. They started showing signs a couple days after I brought them home. I started with heat and salt with daily vacuums. I have no substrate in the QT either. I really hope this is over soon. I noticed one of my Puffers laying around a lot and kind of breathing heavy. I hope he gets better soon.........

 

[FallenAngel]

Yeah, it isn't fun. Good luck with your treatment though.