totally desperate with ickky ich - 7wks+

[chicken2]

i bet you are all sick of us newbies and questions about icky ich - but here is another one!
i introduced 3 clown loach into my 240ltr tank 21st dec and as no surprise to you all out there little white spots appeared on their tails -

i have been medicating EVERY 2 DAYS since then - now this is an awful long time i know - but i have been going to a reputable aquaria outlet in b'ham and have been told to continue treatment no matter how long it takes to clear assuring me that it is ich and not some other 'thing' - the treatment they advised is ws3 and to keep the tank in the dark for 3 days at a time so as not to kill off my plants.
my neons, angles, danios show spots - then clear - then spots again I'M GOING MAD TRYING TO CLEAR IT.
I have trawled through your articles and am now going to try the salt/heat treatment and my only query is should i stop the green medication?

 

[Roan Art]

YES, stop the green medication

Follow the ich article to a "T" and you will be ich-less.

As for your reputable aquaria place, darkening the tank is for treating velvet, not ich. That won't affect ich at all. It's possible they told you to do that to make sure it wasn't velvet, however it's very easy to tell the difference between ich and velvet.

As for your current course of medication -- most medications require daily treatments and regardless of what the bottle says, you MUST treat for 7 days minimum or the ich will survive in the substrate and reinfest your fish.

Roan

 

[mduros]

When I first set up my tank, I had 5 albino glolight tetras develop ich. I was told to medicate, but they also asked me if I had enough aeration. I have a UGF and changed one of the powerheads to an air jet, raised the temperature of the tank to about 80 degrees f, and those fish were ich free the next day. Several months later, I still have those 5 fish. That is what I was told to do and it seemed to work.
Good luck,
Mary.

 

[chicken2]

many thanks for your relpies - being new to this computer/forum game I wasn't too confident in what I was doing. Just to confirm that I have added extra aeration and I don't have charcoal etc -so fingers crossed this will work.
I never had this problem in my old tank, I have gone up from120ltr to 240ltr and it is heartbreaking to see fish that I've had for 18months or more like this.
Better late than never I have set up for future use a small 50ltr tank to use as a quarantine/hospital tank
Thanks once again to you all - everhopeful - I

 

[Jay]

I'm glad to hear "quarantine tank" if you are serious about the hobby, or until you have to fight an ich outbreak they are invaluable.

When I first set up my tank, I had 5 albino glolight tetras develop ich.

Hope we all realize that ich is not spontaneous, it is introduced from an infected tank or source.

Jay

 

[rosita]

Just a supportive comment to your excellent ICH assistance--as a "newbie" last fall I started with a 10g and 2 shubunkin (I know I know, overload--not a reputable lfs I discovered). Almost immediately after introducing a supposed SAE, ick showed up and swiftly took the shubus--but not before the Chinese!!algae eater took off a fin. LFS told me ich is always there, just waiting for stress and that I let the fish get stressed by the CAE they sold me!! Found this site and learned that they were sooooo wrong!! So things are much better now :bowing:
Thank you all!

 

[mainer]

i have ich also currently and i was wondering if i have to worry about reinfecting a tank with my fish net or other things i put in the tank ???

 

[Star_Rider]

do some research an learn all you can about ich(ichthyophthirius) called white spot or ich.
the spots you see(usually white -resemble sprinkles of salt) is the cyst (parasite) that feeds on flesh till mature. in this stage you really won't effectively treat the parasite.
once mature it falls off the fish into your substrate, plant etc.
where the parasite encasulates and multiplies.
they then become free swimming attaching itself to the host(fish)
it is in this free swimming stage that you can effectively treat to remove /kill the parasite.

raising the temp of the water speeds up the cycle. one reason they recommend rasing the temp..at low temps the capsules can stay domant for weeks.
ich can effectively be controlled with treatments ranging from copper, coppersafe salt..etc.
good luck

 

[rrkss]

i have ich also currently and i was wondering if i have to worry about reinfecting a tank with my fish net or other things i put in the tank ???

Ich is one of those parasites that can not survive being dried out. If the net is completely dry for 24 hours or more, you will not have a problem. Anything with moisture on it is potentially a vehicle to transfer ich.

 

[rrkss]

After many failures treating ich with medication, I treat it with salt everytime from now on. I've not seen ich in a while ever since I used the salt method for at least 7 days at 80*F.