ich keeps coming back!

[pmart]

About a month ago my black tetras started getting little white dots on their fins. Then it spread to my neons so I did a three day treatment and it seemed to b gone. Then today i look and its back again. Only on the black tetras this time. I wanted to ask if there's anything I can do to prevent this from happening again in the future? Or what I should I b doing to get rid of it?

 

[Mr. Limpet]

About a month ago my black tetras started getting little white dots on their fins. Then it spread to my neons so I did a three day treatment and it seemed to b gone. Then today i look and its back again. Only on the black tetras this time. I wanted to ask if there's anything I can do to prevent this from happening again in the future? Or what I should I b doing to get rid of it?

The life cycle of ick goes beyond the spots you see on your fish, so 3 days isn't enough to kill ick. Most here prescribe to salt and heat for 2 weeks to deal with ick and if you search here there's a number of threads that can help.

IME, Quick Cure dosed everyday for a full week with PWC every other day got rid of it and no signs of its return. YMMV.

Sent from my Epic 4G using Aquarium Advice App

 

[whalen]

I'm at a month of dealing with ich now. I used meds, like 3 boxes in about 2 weeks. Salt and heat for about 12 days. Now I'm using Coppersafe.

Hope you have better luck that me.

 

[Zagz]

I have had ich that is very resistant, when I first got my clown loaches. I had to use the heat treatment for a month.

Keep in mind that switching medications and using medications often can cause harm to your fish as much as the ich can.

How often are you doing water changes? The more water changes with matched temperatures, the faster the ich goes away. Heat causes the ich to leave the fishes bodies and the water changes remove more and more of the ich.

 

[WendiDell]

I have had ich that is very resistant, when I first got my clown loaches. I had to use the heat treatment for a month.

Keep in mind that switching medications and using medications often can cause harm to your fish as much as the ich can.

How often are you doing water changes? The more water changes with matched temperatures, the faster the ich goes away. Heat causes the ich to leave the fishes body and the water changes remove more and more of the ich.

This is totally off topic but I just wanted to mention that my Grandmother was Born in Duck Lake. I don't often hear of anyone from Saskatchewan.
I don't know what it's like now but my Grandma said it was a truly beautiful place to live.
Back on topic I found daily PWC and really good vacuuming better than every other day. Also a water changer instead of the gravity vacuum works a lot better. The changer has stronger suction and pulls more ick out of the gravel. It doesn't really matter whether it's a Python or an Aqueon they are both great at sucking ick and other stuff out of the gravel

 

[pmart]

OK... I turned the heat up and did a water change added some meds and salt. Been doin wc every other day for the past week and it seems to left my fish. Should I keep doin this for a while or am I good? Btw I have sand not gravel... does that make any difference?

 

[Mr. Limpet]

OK... I turned the heat up and did a water change added some meds and salt. Been doin wc every other day for the past week and it seems to left my fish. Should I keep doin this for a while or am I good? Btw I have sand not gravel... does that make any difference?

If I were you, I'd keep up the treatment and PWC for another week.

As I understand it the spots (eggs?) of ick are the first stage, larve (whatever they are) 2nd stage in the sand, last stage are the parasites in the water column. If you don't get the last stage, it just starts over. The total cycle lasts like 2 weeks.

Might help to do a search here on ick and see if that's right or not

Sent from my Epic 4G using Aquarium Advice App

 

[WendiDell]

OK... I turned the heat up and did a water change added some meds and salt. Been doin wc every other day for the past week and it seems to left my fish. Should I keep doin this for a while or am I good? Btw I have sand not gravel... does that make any difference?

The sand doesn't make a difference. But you need to keep the heat elevated for 10-14 days to make sure that the ick has finished it's life cycle and the eggs have hatched and died.You don't want to re infect again.
Keep up the PWC, Salt and added aeration during the 10-14 days.
That's 10-14 days from the day you started your tank temp. at 84-86. Not 10-14 days from the time the signs of ick disappeared.
But congratulations on finally getting the ick off your fish. I know you were struggling, but you hung in there and fixed it.

 

[pmart]

OK... will do. But ya i was struggling and definitely got a little discouraged but I like my fish too much. I couldn't let um go. Ill update in a cpl weeks let u know how the advise worked out.

 

[WendiDell]

OK... will do. But ya i was struggling and definitely got a little discouraged but I like my fish too much. I couldn't let um go. Ill update in a cpl weeks let u know how the advise worked out.

No such thing as to much, when it comes to our pets.
I hope it all continues to go well. I'll be waiting to hear how it turns out

 

[pmart]

So the ick seems to b gone... been almost 2 weeks now and they're still looking healthy and ick free. Thx for the help everyone!

 

[WendiDell]

Congrats, ick is a serious PITA. I'm glad you were able to save some of your fish.

 

[pmart]

Me too... i lost a couple neons and a blank tetra in the process. Either way the rest look healthy still so I'm happy with that outcome.

 

[WendiDell]

Me too... i lost a couple neons and a blank tetra in the process. Either way the rest look healthy still so I'm happy with that outcome.

I'm sure you learned a lot in the process