Ich on a gourami - advice needed!

[anna0219]

Hello all,

I am posting this on behalf of my dad, who has a 30 gallon community. Currently there are only about a dozen fish in the tank, and this morning we noticed that the gourami has some spots of ich on one side. So far, none of the other fish seem to show any signs of it anywhere.

We've been reading on various websites that we should raise the temp a little bit to help kill off the ich in the water, but what about the fish? One site suggested "destroying" the fish that is infected, as it is unlikely he will recover and he might kill the others. Other sites didn't suggest that but suggested buying medicine to treat the water.

What is the best way to try to treat ich? Should we get rid of the one fish that has it, should we medicate the water, or should we raise the temperature? Or all or some of the above?

When I was a little kid my dad always had this fish tank up and running, but it's been many years since he last had a tank and he wanted me to post and ask for some advice with the first ich outbreak he has experienced since reassembling his tank. Thanks so much!

 

[logansmomma1228]

Do you have a way to quarantine the fish? If it is ich chances are the rest will get it since it is basically contagious. Here is a link that should help you:

Fish Disease - Ich

Hope I am not too late and good luck, I hope all goes well.

 

[jewelz]

Im dealing with ich right now also. The best thing to do is raise the temp to about 86, take ALL rock, plants ect out and give them a bath in very hot water. Then put in ich medicine, it takes a good 4 days to kill it off. also what i did. is put in a bit of aquarium salt with the medicine. But every 24 hrs ya have to do a 50% water change and do it all over agian " the med and salt. Im only doin the salt once cause fresh water fish dont like to much salt. But yeah take out all fake plants ect. of course ya cant soak real plants in hot hot water. and im not quite sure what a person would do with real plants in this case. Hope that helps ya some. but once a fish gets ick the whole tank is infested! Thats why i take everything out and then give medicine and a bit of aquarium salt. Hope this helped ya a little. Julie

 

[logansmomma1228]

IMO the plants/decor shouldn't be taken out because they have beneficial bacteria on them, and rinsing them off could kill it as well.
This could result in a mini cycle. You don't want that since the fish will be weak from the ich and is more likely to die. The ich will move into a free swimming phase where it is most susceptible to the salt/meds and if you just keep treating your water it will eventually die.

 

[jewelz]

Thanks thats good to know, I was told to take it all out cause the ich attaches to everything in the tank! And by removing it all then it gives them less to attach to. My main concern was doing the water change every time i put in medicine. cause I know when ya clean a tank your suppose to use half of the fish water with the new clean water. But if I have to do a water change every time then eventually the fishy water fades out.

 

[logansmomma1228]

I am sure some people do that too, everyone has their own way, but it ups the chance of the mini cycle imo. The ich will indeed attach to everything, but then it will go into the third phase which is where you can't see it anymore.

As far as the water, the bacteria doesn't actually live in the water so the water changes won't hurt anything. Do you use any kind of dechlorinator?Chlorine will also kill your bacteria off. Seachem's Prime is pretty popular around here. If you google ich you can find some good info on it as well .

 

[jewelz]

Yes I do use dechlorinator. Well And I usually use filtered water if I dont bye it from the store. We also have a reverse osmosis that will be installed soon I think the 2 fish that do have ich are going to be ok. The spots are getting less and less. Thank you so much for the advise. Ive only been doing fish for a couple of years and still learning every day Hey I do have a question for ya that you might also know. I had a frog that died about 3 weeks ago and he had an unusual bump on his back and got pretty bloated, then a day later it looked like he had a black eye. It was red around the eye ball its self. Do you maybe know what the heck that was all about? I felt bad cause I had him for so long and he was my favorite. :/

 

[logansmomma1228]

you could google frog diseases and see what comes up? lol yes i google a lot, i would google it for you but im tired getting ready to head to bed right now. also yo ucould post in the FW anmphibian section here on the forums and you might get more feedback

 

[mommytron]

I don't think taking the decorations out will result in a mini cycle. the majority of the BB (beneficial bacteria) lives in the filter. then the substrate. then the decorations. then the walls. I think it would be a good idea to give it all a hot water soak, and give your substrate a good vacuuming with each PWC you preform during treatment. just be sure to monitor ammonia and nitrite levels during this process just in case. but like I said, most of your BB is in the filter and you don't want to risk the ich coming back.

 

[anna0219]

Thank you for all the advice! So far we have had the temp up around like 83-84 since Sunday, and we have medicated/treated the water.

The gourami did not make it, but so far he is our only casuality and some of the other fish began to show spots of ich later in the day after I originally posted this. So far, they are doing okay. One of our platys seems to be particularly affected but he seems to be recovering and is becoming slightly more active in the tank again as of this morning. Only two other fish have it, a molly and our other platy, but they are swimming around as normal with only a couple spots on their tailfins.

So thank you for your help! Hopefully we can get this under control without further losses!

 

[logansmomma1228]

Sorry to hear about your gourami