Just noticed ick, but stores are all closed!

[skiweeangel]

Just noticed that a few fish in my 55 gal FW were swimming funny earlier in the day. I did a 75% PCW and they settled down for a little while. We went to dinner at my in laws house, just came home and I noticed two fish of different species have a few tiny white dots on them. I haven't had ick for YEARS! I know I need to treat right away, but the only thing I have on hand are aquarium salt (not marine) and about one 55gal tank dose of melafix left. What should I do? Plus I have a 13 hr day tomorrow and I have to leave before the LFS opens? I am really worried.

 

[chevy_guy2002]

First the heat should be turned up to 80 to 85. I wouldn't go higher than 85. THis should control the growth of ich from what i understand. Treating the infected fish in a hospital tank would be the best option. If you dont have a hospital tank i would treat the main tank and do water changes daily until its all gone. Should take a week or so. If the ich isn't bad you should still have sometime to get to the LFS for treatment.

 

[skiweeangel]

Ok, I turned up the heat and dosed the tank with aquarium salt. I read a few of the stickies and you are right, it tells you to turn up the heat. So, keep your fingers crossed. I should have known something was going to happen, I was just starting to relax about my tanks! I always seem to have something going wonky in one of my three tanks. oh well. Wish me luck, or I should say wish my fish luck. I think I caught it very early.

 

[eco23]

You've already got everything you need .

Ich is a pain in the butt, but it's pretty easy to treat when caught early. First, raise the heat SLOWLY over a few days...don't just suddenly crank it up. The salt should also be introduced slowly into the tank so the fish can acclimate to it.

If one fish has Ich...the whole tank needs to be treated regardless. Quarantining an infected fish will not remove the parasite from the aquarium.

Is the tank established? Are there new additions? If the fish have been in there a while and Ich suddenly shows up, it shows something has gone wrong and is stressing them. This can be anything from tank changes, toxin spikes, etc... So you're going to want to make sure there isn't some other cause like a mini-cycle which created the outbreak.

Here's the article to follow-
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/29/1/Freshwater-Ich-Yuck-/Page1.html

 

[chevy_guy2002]

How should the salt be introduced? I've dealt with ich in the past but never used salt only meds.

 

[skiweeangel]

I had to open up my filter and to clean the impeller and it's housing this week. Had a few other issues with it and it took about two days to get it up and back to normal. I got everything running this morning and did a huge water change. I have been paying very close attention to them all week while I sorted out the problems and the spots didn't show up until this evening when we just got home. so far I have added half the amount of salt the box called for and turned the heater up one to two degrees (very hard to read). We'll see where we are in the morning.

Oh and the tank is about 6 months old. Last member added was a danio about a week ago. I thought the little one was ok. His three friends went into my other 55gal which is fine. I checked that tank over like crazy trying to see if anything was on them, but that tank looks clear for now. So we will see.

 

[eco23]

How should the salt be introduced? I've dealt with ich in the past but never used salt only meds.

The way the heat + salt method works is that the increased temperature speeds up the life cycle of the parasite...simply so it's not around as long to do damage and to help make the outbreak reach the end faster. Using aquarium salt does 2 things, it helps protect the fish by restoring electrolytes / slime coat / and easing respiration if the Ich is effecting the gills. It will also help to basically dry out and kill the Ich parasite during the stages it is exposed.

The reason for doing things slowly (not jacking up the heat or dumping salt in) is to keep stress as minimal as possible. Stress weakens the fishes immune system (usually what let's Ich take ahold in the first place)...and we're relying on their immune system to fight off the parasite.

If you see a fish with Ich, the entire tank has Ich and needs to be treated. I know using a hospital tank is the first reaction, but it's just inviting another outbreak (or letting the current one continue) if it's not battled in the main tank.

Also, many medicines destroy your bio-filter...and using natural options should always be the first remedy when possible. The medicines for Ich are really only effective at a particular phase of their life cycle during the free swimming stage anyway. Heat + salt (applied slowly) is the best and most efficient way IMO

 

[chevy_guy2002]

Yeah in the past when my fish had ich I would always first always turn the heat up slowly no more than 2d in 24hrs. Then i would remove the infected fish to a hospital tank for treatment. Then i would treat the main tank as well as the hospital tank with meds. Id take the carbon filters out so the meds would work. Doing that with daily water changes has always worked for me. I had heard about adding salt but was always afraid to do so because of the fish being fresh water. Afraid id add too much salt lol

 

[skiweeangel]

You've already got everything you need .

Ich is a pain in the butt, but it's pretty easy to treat when caught early. First, raise the heat SLOWLY over a few days...don't just suddenly crank it up. The salt should also be introduced slowly into the tank so the fish can acclimate to it.

If one fish has Ich...the whole tank needs to be treated regardless. Quarantining an infected fish will not remove the parasite from the aquarium.

Is the tank established? Are there new additions? If the fish have been in there a while and Ich suddenly shows up, it shows something has gone wrong and is stressing them. This can be anything from tank changes, toxin spikes, etc... So you're going to want to make sure there isn't some other cause like a mini-cycle which created the outbreak.

Here's the article to follow-
Freshwater Ich? Yuck!

thank you, that article was perfect.

 

[skiweeangel]

How should the salt be introduced? I've dealt with ich in the past but never used salt only meds.

What I just did was measure out the amount of aquarium salt that would be needed to dose the tank, pour some warm water into my fish tank pitcher (the plastic pitcher i use for topping off) treated the tap water with de-chlorinator, then added the salt while stirring until it was all dissolved. Next I added the mix slowly to the tank over a few min. Every one seems a little bit calmer at the moment. I turned off the lights a few min ago and I'm heading to bed myself. Tomorrow during my lunch break I am going to talk my husband and talk him through it and I'll have him add a little less salt than I just put in. I figure if he does a 75% PWC I'll just have him put in 1/4 less salt than tonight.

 

[eco23]

You've got a good plan . Like you said, a 50% pwc takes out half the salt, a 75% takes out 3/4 and that's what needs to be replaced. Try to thoroughly vacuum the gravel as well during treatment since when the parasites fall off that's where they'll be.

Good luck!

 

[skiweeangel]

Ok, my husband will be doing it tomorrow with me overseeing via phone! hope he can handle it, he seems a bit shaky right now.

 

[skiweeangel]

oh, and it's a sand substrate.