Killing ick

[Industrial]

So my tatia perugiae went ahead and did what tatia catfish do best (getting ick). I had six of them, I always have trouble finding them all in my tank. I saw three so far. Two had ick, and one of those two was also dead (?).

I took them both out and right now I have the living one floating (in a bag) in my 5g while I decide where to put my two guppies.

I am wondering how I will know when the ick is totally gone and when all the equipment used will be safe to use again. I don't want the ick to spread around since it can completely kill two of my tanks.

 

[elynott]

I actually just did a lot of research on Ick because my fish tank had it. What I've found is that all tanks have Ick in them normally, it just comes out when fish are stressed usually because of new fish added to the tank or poor water quality. I would put the catfish back in a treat for ick, you can find the meds at any pet store but make sure you use the med for the FULL recommended time. I'm not a pro at this but my fish have been cured of ick so I felt I could at least give some information. Also, they recommend turning up the heat of the tank and adding aquarium salt but I don't know about catfish and salt :/ sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

 

[Industrial]

That is okay and informative. I did not know all tanks had ick in them. I was wondering where it was coming from. So it sounds like it is always a possibility and then once one fish gets it from stress, all fish in the tank can get it. I will make sure to treat for the full time.

 

[Star_Rider]

while there is a chance that all tanks have ich in them .
this really may hold true to a tank that has had an infestation.
the thought here is if you treat an infected tank there is a possibility the inhabitants will build up a resistance to the parasite. keeping the parasite infection in check.

leaving a tank run fallow(no live inhabitants) will get rid of ich.. it is a parasite and needs a host to complete it's life cycle.
generally speaking if you have no host the parasite should die off within a few weeks. but this can vary depending on tank temp.
you could also simply disinfect the tank which would require tear down and using bleach to clean the tank and equipment

scaleless fish need special care when treating for ich as they are sensitive to many methods of treatment.

 

[Ara]

I would say the best bet is to keep all the inhabitants in the tank and treat the wole tank for ich.. even if some of them don't look infected. Part of the life cycle of ich is when they fall off the body of the fish and become a cyst, only to give 'birth' to hundreds more little ich parasites (in this stage called Tomites) which will run right back to the fishies. It is in this Tomite stage when they are most suseptible to meds.

The whole cycle will take 12-16 days, so best to treat the tank for at least 2 weeks. If there is not more ich visible after that point, then you are safe.

This is the method I went with when I had an outbreak, and everyone recovered well and no more ich, even when I added a bunch of new fish.

Good luck! I hope all your babies survive!

 

[melissadotson]

Ara is right about treating with meds for about 2 weeks..but it takes about 21 days for all of the paracites to die off in the tank..that's if there is no host..but just to be safe i would treat the fish you have ..and i wouldn't add anymore fish for at least 30 days to make sure it's all gone..if you plan on adding anything else to add to that tank..

 

[KarlTh]

I actually just did a lot of research on Ick because my fish tank had it. What I've found is that all tanks have Ick in them normally, it just comes out when fish are stressed usually because of new fish added to the tank or poor water quality.

This is a myth, and I'm surprised you still found sources propogating it, since it's well known to be untrue. Ick has no dormant stage. It can't last more than a couple of days without a host. A tank with ick in it will have infected fish. You may not notice the symptoms (it can rumble along at a low level in otherwise healthy fish for a time) but the fish are indeed infected. It's not that hard to rid a tank of ick, and it's certainly nonsense that "all tanks have Ick in them". A tank with ick in it has sick fish in it.

You can rid a tank of ick by leaving it without fish for a few days. Simple as that.