Defeated by Ick!

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kane2004

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jan 8, 2005
Messages
21
Location
Abilene TX
Well, after a week long war there is the first casulty...a 5" clown loach. Poor guy.
I have had the temp set at 86 degrees, and have raised the salt level, and been treating with super ick from the lfs, which i now know is some nasty stuff..
All those attacks on the ick and it got worse instead of better, completely covering all the loaches and the pleco; seems to have ignored the scaled fish completely.
I have removed all fish to the qt, but i dont want to tear down and sterilize the tank, lots of plants and stuff, should i continue salt and heat in the main tank with just plants?
 
Stop using the meds. Scaleless fish are very prone to having problems with medications. Ich will get worse before it gets better. The higher heat speeds up the life cycle. The higher heat also reduces how much oxygen is getting into the water, so drop the water level an inch, if you have a HOB filter or add an airstone. How long have you been treating this tank?
 
Tank has been treated for 2 weeks, 3 doses of meds. Water changes every 48 hrs.
Tank is planted and oxygen lvls have been fine at higher temp, but there is a stone below the substrate incase fish start breathing hard.

By the way, i think i got the ich from petsmart. When i introduced some new plants. Though im not for sure.

Total Fish load is now 1 clown loach, 1 small pleco, 3 green barbs, 2 small comets.
Oodles of plants. I am running a Penguin 170, and using flourish line Ferts. Using 1 tablespoon of Jungle Salt per 10 gal, at 85-86 degrees. I run air only at night.

The ich seems to appear only on the loach and pleco, but maybe i just cant see it on the others.

Should i keep all the fish out of the main tank? Or place them back in and continue with straight heat/salt? Thanks for any input.
 
Or you can keep all fish out of the aquarium for a minimum of 1 week, ick is a parasite, with no hosts it will die after 1 life cycle.
 
25% water changes. I have Installed the carbon/ammonia filters back, to remove meds in both the QT and main tank, I will put fish back in main tank. The reason for the frequent water changes was the lack of carbon/ ammonia media in the filter. Since I wont use meds i can put the media back. Is the 1 tablespoon per 5 gal the amount of salt i should use?

BTW thanks for the help menagerie. Tell the cat hi for me :lol:
 
Is the 1 tablespoon per 5 gal the amount of salt i should use?
That sounds good. Check the water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and temp). You want everything to be "perfect" and as little stress on the fish as possible.

Or you can keep all fish out of the aquarium for a minimum of 1 week, ick is a parasite, with no hosts it will die after 1 life cycle.
Depending on who you talk to, ich maybe able to sit around longer than that. I have researched ich and fully believe it is in just about every tank. If your fish are healthy--no ich. Add stress or another illness and ich is more likely to show up.

Tell the cat hi for me
Which one :?: :biglol:
 
Squirrel says "Hello" and to take good care of your fishies!
 

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