ICH !!! Need your help!

Cribbinator

Cribbinator

Fish are Friends, Not Food
May 26, 2004
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Alpharetta, GA
www.thecribbs.com
Hello,

Well, its back. My two loaches have Ich and it is starting to show on some of my other fishes. The two loaches are covered in spots whereas the other fish only have 3 -4 dots on thier tail fins. I started using Rid-Ich today (1 dose this morning and just finished another dose 30 min ago). I was told to use the Rid-Ich twice a day in stubborn cases. I haven't had much luck with this product and method before. I had two clown loaches awhile back and they cought Ich and died and ended up killing 2 other fish in the process even after all these meds. I don't want this to happen again. What can I do to make sure this Ich goes away ? What is this about salt ? Raising Temps ? Any tips or help I can do for my fish ? I feel so bad for them. Any help or information would greatly be appreciated.

Regards,

James
 
Whatever method you chose to treat for ich, you should treat for several days, maybe even a week or two, after ALL the spots are gone.

If you want to use salt, I would recommend adding 3 tablespoons per 5 gallons of water. I chose to add 1 tbsp per 5 gal every 12 hours. You might not need to add that much salt, or you may want to add more. The 3 tbsp is based on my personal experiences with ich. It may also depend on your fish's tolerance to salt. I've used regular table salt as well as aquarium salt. A lot of people even say iodized salt is safe, but I don't know anyone that has actually used it.

I also raise my temp from 80 to 84 or 85 over a 24 hour period. I've heard people say you can raise it as much as 90 degrees. I guess it depends on what kind of fish you have.
 
Thanks for the reply. I will give the salt remedy a try. What do I do about my Rid-Ich routine ? Should I stop the Rid-Ich and go to the salt remedy ? Can I do both at the same time ? Or is that too much for the fish to handle ? Thanks again for the info. Hopefully I can kick this parasite before it takes any of my fishy friends. Thanks!

James
 
ICH

Here is a great article that will teach you more than you ever wanted to know about ICH. I can personally vouch for the salt and heat method having just been through it with smashing success. The article covers the meds as well, and doesn't discount their usefullness. I have used both, and like the salt much better than the meds. BTW if there is any doubt. table salt works fine. with or without Iodide.
Daveedka
 
I've never used store bought meds, with or without salt. So I can't comment on that aspect. Hopefully someone else, with more experience can help you with that, good luck.
 
Thanks for the reply. I will give the salt remedy a try. What do I do about my Rid-Ich routine ? Should I stop the Rid-Ich and go to the salt remedy ? Can I do both at the same time ? Or is that too much for the fish to handle ?
Click to expand...

I would imagine that both at once would be too much stress, one of the downsides of rid-ich is that it does cause some serious stress, and with fragile or less than hardy fish Rid ich is more often the cause of death than the ich itself. Meds can be removed easily with water changes and or carbon in the filter. Salt will have to be removed with water changes but causes very little stress and therefore you don't have to go to heroic measures to clean it out of the tank right away. In my tank, I added salt to total 1 tsp per gallon to start the treatment, and then added 3 tsp per gallon with each 30% change for a couple of weeks. During this I raised my temp to 86* F. Then I just quit adding the salt to the change water, so eventually the salt level will reduce to near nothing, and I slowly brought the temp back down after two weeks. This is the first time in my life I had a pictus cat survive ICH, and he really didn't even give me a lot of worry. he kept eating and stayed active once the ich spots fell off, He showed no signs of being stressed by the treatment. Rid Ich is effective if used properly, but does cause stress while in use.
 
Thanks Daveedka. I went ahead and just started the salt treatment tonight. I stopped using the Rid-Ich and did only salt 1sp to 1 gallon rule and will slowly move up and you suggested. I've always had a problem with Loaches and Ich, don't know why but I've always liked Clown Loaches but every time I would add them to my tank they would get Ich and die and usually take about 2 other fish with them, may be due to the meds I was giving them. This time I will try the salt method and see how I do. Do I need to remove the carbon for the salt method as well ? Thanks again. Will let you know my progress.

Regards,

James
 
One last question ;) So every twelve hours I just add salt to my tank in the 1 tsp to 1 gal ratio ? If I keep adding salt every twelve hourse doesn't the amount of salt in the whole tank keep accumulating ? Am I supposed to do a water change every twelve hours with ease dose of salt ? (I wouldn't imagine so, seems like one heck of alot water changes but I'm a newbie.) Please let me know so that I don't turn my freshwater tank into a overly salted freshwater tank :eek:

Thanks again for the info.

Regards,

James
 
I guess i should have been more clear,
My method: I add 1 tsp per gallon, and then 12 hours later add 1/2 tsp per gallon, and repeat untill I reach a level of 2-2.5 tsp per gallons total. You can take it as high as 3 tsp per gallon, but it isn't necessary to go that high to kill the ich, After reaching a level of 2+ tsp per gallon, then add 2 tsp per gallons to any change water for the course of the treatment This maintains the level at 2+ tsp, and since it's fairly short term evaporation should never be enough to raise it above 3 tsp per gallon. after (I gave it three weeks but that was probably overkill) treatment, just procede with normal water changes no salt added, and eventually the level of salt will drop back to almost nothing. During the treatment you should also slowly raise the temp to 86*f and keep it there for a minimum of 1 week. This does two things.
1: Ich doesn't survive well at 86* F if at all
2: the higher temps accellerate the life cycle of the parasite getting them off of your fish and killing them sooner. Since they can't survive all stages of life in the salt you want them to go through these stages rapidly to rid the problem quicker. Long term salt exposure at levels above 5ppm will kill them regardless of temp, but the temp makes the treatment go faster, and get the little uglies off your fish quicker.
 
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