Finally got ich :(

[libertybelle]

Well apparently I did not quarantine for long enough. A few days after moving glo tetras from the quarantine tank the white spots show up.

Believe it or not I’ve never actually dealt with ich before despite having fish tanks for years.

I’m nervous about heat/salt because there are otos in the tank. I have ordered paraguard but I’m a bit nervous about it as well because there are a couple bamboo shrimp / ghost shrimp / snails in the tank.

All fish are still acting normal and eating well. Glo tetras are the only ones with spots at the moment, just a few on their fins, but I see no point moving them considering the whole tank probably needs to be treated for ich now.

No spots on the Pygmy cories in the 10 yet but they were sharing water with the tetras for a day and the 10 was the quarantine tank before I made it my shrimp / Cory tank. It’s probably up to their immune system whether they get it too.

Any advice for the best route to go given the presence of otos/ inverts? This is in the 29 gallon. (Details on my profile page) just tested and water chemistry is normal (0/0/5) I don’t have meds on hand so for tonight I’m just going to do a big water change and gravel vac. I will also increase the temperature a bit since I know most ich treatments do better at warmer temperatures to speed things up. I normally keep my tanks on the low side ~72 so I will probably have to creep that up quite a bit over time do treatment doesn’t take forever whatever I decide on.

 

[BBradbury]

Hello liberty...

Keep your tank extremely clean with lots of large water changes. Work up to half the tank water every few days for a while. Do a good job of vacuuming the bottom material and add a teaspoon or two of standard aquarium salt to every five gallons of your water change water. A little salt isn't going to hurt fish or plants. The Ich parasite won't tolerate pure water conditions and a trace of salt in the tank water. Don't use heat. It will kill off your plants and increase the metabolism of your fish, so they poop more. Not good for the water chemistry. Include some Spirulina in the fishes' diet, but don't feed more than a little every day or two. Fish that aren't feeling well aren't inclined to eat much. They'll like the Spirulina, though. I would keep up with the large water changes forever. Do half the water weekly for the life of the tank and you'll have no tank problems.

B

 

[libertybelle]

Half per week is pretty standard for me when fish are in the tank so that’s no big deal. (I do less in my shrimp tanks as big changes tend to upset them more)

I was worried about the salt with plants and otos/ bamboo shrimp, you think they’ll tolerate it?

What about the seachem paraguard?

All inhabitants are still eating ravenously though I do feed sparingly already. I feed before the water change which will now be daily so less mess. This is a group that just got out of a clearly not long enough quarantine so I know I caught it early. First spots just showed up yesterday on the newest fish.

I feed omega one flakes and a variety of pellets and Repashy Soilent Green for the otos/ shrimp so there’s spirulina in their diet already.

 

[BBradbury]

Hello again...

I never put chemicals in my fishes' tank water, ever. That's because I don't know how my fish and the bacteria colony will react. Every one is different and I want to make sure the tank water is always perfectly clean. The water changes and salt will be enough. A couple of teaspoons of aquarium salt is very minimal, but enough to retard the growth of the Ich parasite and should be fine for your tank inhabitants. Make sure to vacuum the bottom material in the tank too. There may be some parasites living there. The vacuum will remove them.

The Ich parasite thrives in less than pristine water conditions. Clean up the water and keep it clean and the parasite or any pathogen or virus won't be able to reproduce.

B

 

[libertybelle]

Thanks; I was hoping you’d say that! I’ve always just used clean water to clear up just about everything but I’ve never had ich so I wasn’t sure I’d get away with that. I’ll keep the para guard around in case I need it but start with just the water changes and salt.

There’s some of my substrate that I can’t vacuum because of a thick clump of val but I have started vacuuming everywhere I can reach when I noticed the spots.

So far it seems very mild. One or two spots on just a few fish and all acting entirely normal. In fact, they spawned in the quarantine tank and are continuing to do so in the 29. (Baby glofish might just be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my tanks. Tiny fluorescent red specs darting around!)

 

[libertybelle]

So after just two days of water changes the spots are almost gone. Seems an unreasonably quick time for resolution of ich. I do know about the parasite’s life cycle so I’ll keep up the gravel vaccing just in case.

But the spots were exclusively on the fish’s tails; I wonder if I was misinterpreting healing spots from fin nipping as ich? Like I said this was a fairly new group of fish so they were still figuring out their pecking order.

I’ll keep up the daily water changes for a while since it certainly won’t hurt even if it turns out they didn’t have ich.

 

[libertybelle]

Well I think I must have jumped the gun worrying about ick. The spots that I thought were ick we’re gone within a day or two and no more have showed up since they’ve figured out their pecking order. I guess they were just nipping each other a bit.

Phew!