Treating Ich

[Double_Gemini]

Ok, so one of my fish has finally caught the infamous whitespot, so I hurried of the store and bought some medicine, which i dosed correctly. It left the tank a faint shade of blue until this morning.

The thing is, (two things really) how long does the medicine take to have effect? (I know it's active for atleast four days, and kills off the parasite in their free swimming stage).

Also, should I continue with very regular water changes? Or will that mess up the medicine?

Thanks!

 

[Rbishop]

Table salt and heat would really be all you need for ich.

 

[Double_Gemini]

Table salt and heat would really be all you need for ich.

Thanks, but should I still change the water?

 

[TKOS]

Well a water change will rmeove the medicine. I am sure the bottle will have instructions, follow those. But also be awre that any treatment that doesn't last at least a week will not get tid of ich. And that is in a tropical temp tank where ich hatches and gets to the free swimming stage much quicker. Ina cooler tank the life cycle of ich is slowed down. After a course of the meds I would seriously look into doing a salt and heat treatment for at least a couple of weeks.

 

[Double_Gemini]

Floating

Well a water change will rmeove the medicine. I am sure the bottle will have instructions, follow those. But also be awre that any treatment that doesn't last at least a week will not get tid of ich. And that is in a tropical temp tank where ich hatches and gets to the free swimming stage much quicker. Ina cooler tank the life cycle of ich is slowed down. After a course of the meds I would seriously look into doing a salt and heat treatment for at least a couple of weeks.

Thanks, i'll start doing so, you've been a great help! However, one last question i promise!

Since the whitespot, my fish have been naturally floating to the top, and not left to swim around freely, especially the one that is currently directly affected. Whenever he tries to swim down, he just gets pushed back up again.

I know that Ich can make fish vunerable to other diseases, so if this is the case, which disease should i be looking out for?

Thanks so much!

 

[TKOS]

The ich may just be makign them weak, raising the heat in the tank may also make them lethargic. In that case I would suggest making sure the tank is adequatley aerated, either by dropping the water level in the tank so the water return makes more splashing or else add a bubbler.

Sometimes medicines will knock a fish for a loop as well, especially some of the stronger ones. The fish should be okay.

If it is another disease it is pretty hard to tell what specifically it might be. Keep your eyes on things and then post if there are any changes.

If you doa search for ich and salt in the forums there should be lots of great posts on how the treatment works, in case you haven't read about it.

 

[Double_Gemini]

The ich may just be makign them weak, raising the heat in the tank may also make them lethargic. In that case I would suggest making sure the tank is adequatley aerated, either by dropping the water level in the tank so the water return makes more splashing or else add a bubbler.

Sometimes medicines will knock a fish for a loop as well, especially some of the stronger ones. The fish should be okay.

If it is another disease it is pretty hard to tell what specifically it might be. Keep your eyes on things and then post if there are any changes.

If you doa search for ich and salt in the forums there should be lots of great posts on how the treatment works, in case you haven't read about it.

Ok, i'm basically now going for the "clean water, with salt" approach.

How much salt should i use for a 10 gallon tank? And does it affect the fish?

 

[Flaringshutter]

If you get some Jungle Labs salt, they have sick-fish dosing on the bottle. I definitely recommend their salt, as well as pretty much anything by Jungle labs. They are fantastic. And i wouldn't do the salt/heat treatment for longer than a week.

It's important to note that you'll need to use the salt and heat CONCURRENTLY with the medication. Heat will speed up the life cycle of the ich and also will stimulate the immune system of your fish. Goldfish are most susceptible to illness between 68 and about 75. Raise your temp to 80, stretched out over a couple of days. Also, the salt will weaken the ich and help the meds take effect. But you need to use salt/heat at the same time as your meds.

Follow the dosing and water-change instructions on the box, and if it tells you to maintain water changes, then make sure to add salt again when you add new water to replenish the salt dosage.