ICH treatment safe for....

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xytrix01

Aquaria Intern (NOOB)
Sep 26, 2004
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San Jose, CA
I think the beta I brought home has ICH... He's got the little white grains of salt on his body and tail.... so heres my ? What treatment is going to be safe? I have a betta, a bristlenose plecto, and a snail in this tank... I didn't know how well the betta and plecto would take to heat, and I don't really wana do salt cuz of my snail.... My friend put an ich-clear tablet in his tank, and the next day his plecto was dead...we think mabey he ate the tablet on acident. Any sugestions for me?


btw, ammonia, nitrites, =0, nitrates <20ppm, ph 7.4
 
I hope hapychem or lepordess or somebody sees this... you guys always have good info. I'm headed for the store tomorow afternoon, so I hope I get some replies.
 
Ich transfers from fish to fish through free floating water-born parasites (cyst form i believe), so if you remove your betta and treat him seperately before the ich starts its free floating stage, then you should be ok. I heard increased temp and aquarium salt (1tablespoon per 5gal i believe, but im not sure) works best.

if there are no fish in the tank, the ich prasite has no host, and will die off. So, worst case would be removing all your fish, treating them, and letting the ich in your tank die off


Im sure if i got something wrong someone will correct me, but take what i say with a grain of salt, im new at the parasite scene.
 
http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml

Here's a pretty good article, The salt and heat won't hurt your snails, or your fish in the short term it takes to treat it. If there is a fish in the tank, there is a good chance ich will sirvive even if you don't see it on the fish. therefore you are better off to treat the tank with the fish in place.
Ich meds are IME much more stressful than salt and heat and therefore I use the salt and heat method. The article covers both meds and salt, and explains ich very well. It's worth the time to read it entirely and maybe even take notes.
Dave
 
While I have a lot of respect for Daveedka's opinions and experience, I myself have never had much success with the salt method. I certainly won't recommend against that approach -- too many people apparently use it and swear by it -- but I gave up on it years ago and use commercial meds -- some of which are admittedly better than others. Different brands use different chemicals, so you need to read the instructions carefully. Some require you to remove the carbon from your filtration, some are toxic to certain kinds of fish, some require you to raise the temp, etc. MANY of them should only be used at half strength in tanks with catfish and other scale-less fish. Whichever method you choose, keep a close eye on your fish during the process. Good luck.
 
catfish (pleco) can be sensitive to many ich med's so that might be why your friend lost his or if he overdosed. Jungle Ick Guard II is made especially for fish like catfish and tetras. I use this or a half dose of the jungle fizz-tabs and havn't lost a fish with it yet. KYle
 
I read some articles and went to the store today... I came home with some filter material that has no carbon in it, and a product called Quick-cure. The two ingredients it contains are Formalin and Malachite Green. The package claims that this product kills ICH in "Just three days!" From what I have read, that is bull****, and physicly imposible. It says for freshwater except tetras "dose one drop per gallon per day untill cured on all fish. replace carbon 24hours after last treatment. Max doseage 3 treatments. If further medication is required do a 25% water change before administering another treatment cycle."

So does it want me to put in 10 drops per day ( 10 gal) for three days, and then change 25% of the water and add another 10 drops on the fourth then change 25% of the water and add 10 drops on the fith...etc? It takes two weeks of treatment right? it seems like I would be building up alot of meds changing only 25% of the water between doses. Anybody have a beter dosing schedual for me to follow to treat this tank???
 
A good solution, When I had a huge case of ICH. I added something called "Super ICH Plus", worked like a charm. It's a blue liquid you add in ur water, it changes the color to green lol it's kinda cool lookin. but it cleared it right up within the week. I only really trust the Liquid solutions I dono about the tablets. anyways it should be at ur LFS, its made by Aquatronics.
 
This stuff must be pretty potent!!! After just one dose, all the spots have fallen off of the fish!!!! I'll keep treating as directed, but wow! It may help that the temp has also been raised to 82.
 
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