I left for the weekend and when I got back I found ick all over my community tank. I think it came in with the feeding of black worms I got from my lfs. Anyway, I am treating it with an over the counter product and raising my temp to around 85. How long does it normally take before the ick is gone? will it take hours, days, weeks? Should I be changing water also during the treatment.
ick
- Thread starter muskieswen
- Start date
muskieswen said:
When I had it, and conqured it, I raised the temp like you did, treated with maracyn every day at the same time, with about a 75% water change just before each treatment. I also added quite a bit of aquarium salt since ich doesn't like that too much. You need to treat for 3 full days following the last ich parasite you see on your fish. Look closely too! Good luck. I hate ich. By the way, my treatment lasted for about 8 days before I could stop.
you could search the forum for solutions to ich.
in essence it is a parasite that lives in various stages in an infected aquarium.
the stage you see is the stage we see as the infection(salt like) the ich is not treatable in this stage..it will eventually fall off into the tank..it will multiply in this stage..still not treatable.
it will eventually become freeswimming and look for a host..this is when the ich is treatable.
treatemt ranges fro adding salt, raising heat, or a combination. (raising the temp itself can eliminate the ich but temp needs to be in the mid 80's to 90)
raising the temp to 84-86 is generally recommended..warm water tends to speed up the life cycle)
there are also a lot of meds out there that is effective..
how you treat the ich depends partly on the species you keep.
the treatment for ich may last as long as 14 days .
some meds release a chemical that remains in the tank and will kill the ich(coppersafe many do not like this form of treatment)
in essence it is a parasite that lives in various stages in an infected aquarium.
the stage you see is the stage we see as the infection(salt like) the ich is not treatable in this stage..it will eventually fall off into the tank..it will multiply in this stage..still not treatable.
it will eventually become freeswimming and look for a host..this is when the ich is treatable.
treatemt ranges fro adding salt, raising heat, or a combination. (raising the temp itself can eliminate the ich but temp needs to be in the mid 80's to 90)
raising the temp to 84-86 is generally recommended..warm water tends to speed up the life cycle)
there are also a lot of meds out there that is effective..
how you treat the ich depends partly on the species you keep.
the treatment for ich may last as long as 14 days .
some meds release a chemical that remains in the tank and will kill the ich(coppersafe many do not like this form of treatment)
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You should treat for at least 1 week following the last sighting of ich since the life cycle of ich is around a 1 week turn around (it will be faster in hotter water).
I am going to start a fight with my first statement. ICK lives in your water all the time :Angel: Yeppers another fight waiting to happen.
Remmeber when you treat your aquarium to remove your chemical filtration as this may just filter out the meds. ICK is not that scarry and can easly be taken care of. I have never lost any fish to ick. It can kill but treated soon as you spot it will usaly prevent this.
Good luck
Remmeber when you treat your aquarium to remove your chemical filtration as this may just filter out the meds. ICK is not that scarry and can easly be taken care of. I have never lost any fish to ick. It can kill but treated soon as you spot it will usaly prevent this.
Good luck
Do you WANT to fight?? LOL What does it live on, if it stays in your water all the time? It would starve unless it is attached to a host. Ich reproduces quickly. If it's in your water all the time, where are all the new parasites? Wouldn't your tank eventually be overcome by BILLIONS of ich parasites? Just food for thought.desertgoldhound said:
This should help answer a lot of your questions on ich and treatments for it.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88601
ALSO ICH DOES NOT LIVE IN YOUR WATER AT ALL TIMES! You should do some research before makeing a statement like that.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88601
ALSO ICH DOES NOT LIVE IN YOUR WATER AT ALL TIMES! You should do some research before makeing a statement like that.
I agree. The reason the myth of the ever present ich came about is due to people not fully killing the ich off in the first place. Most healthy fish can survive and fight off low levels of ich. So if you combat ich using some meds that only do a superficial treatment, it may seem that ich has cleared up, only to rear its ugly head sometime in the future. Similar myths say that ich is caused by stress.
Successfully treated, there should be no ich in your tank. Also a good reason to have a quarantine tank setup to check new fish for ich coming into your setup.
Successfully treated, there should be no ich in your tank. Also a good reason to have a quarantine tank setup to check new fish for ich coming into your setup.
Did you know all those jerms flooting around you daily arn't eating at a host. OK yes we have probaly all done some research on this. I did some in high school lab infact. It showed very inconclusive. Some tanks showed it for weeks without a fish being infected. Out of the 5 tanks without fish it proved to be in 3 of the aquariums. How these were tested was by sending to a lab. We numbered them and the labs did not know what was what. Yes I have done my reserch. I am sure you all have done your research. I have only gotten ick in my quarantine tanks but this does not mean it isn't present in my main tank. Just becouse you cant see them doesn't mean they don't exist.
Just wonted to also mention that this is a great place for people to get information from good job. I like the fact that you can hear many veiw points.