Medicating info needed.

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Fishalicious

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Messages
338
Location
Lowell MA
Alright well as some of you may know from my previous post, my rainbows have ich and pretty bad, too. It's been almost a week now and the water is currently 87-88F. I've been adding salt and still have not seen any results. It's actually worsened since the cysts have hatched. Now it's a bunch of tiny white spots covering them. The Danios and the Otto's seem unaffected....

My question. I'm planning on buying some Rid-Ich+ so I can medicate these guys away. I plan on gradually dropping the temp back down before I medicate but what im wondering is:

I have two HOB filters running. One EMP400 w/biowheel and one AC500. Both have carbon running through them. I can simply take the carbon bag out of the AC500 but the EMP has carbon built into the pads. Now do I....

Unplug the EMP and keep the AC running w/out the carbon in it? If so, while the emperor is unplugged what do I do w/ the bio wheels and the filter pads? Will the filter pads be okay in a bucket of dechlorinated water and the biowheels be okay in my FISHLESS PURE AMMONIA cycling tank? Im afraid that when I put the bio wheels back in the main tank that they would be contaminated with the ammonia and kill off my tank. Would a good rinse in dechl water do the trick??

Also, The EMP has been on since day 1 of the tank (about 4 months) but the AC500 has only been on for about 3 weeks, do you think that the filter would be established well enough to handle working on its own?

Please let me know because I am very attatched to these rainbows and want them to be better ASAP.

THANKS
-Dan
 
WAIT!! Ich tends to get worse before it gets better with the heat treatment. Heat spends up the life cycle of the organism and then the osmotic concentration of the water (with the adding salt) kills the ich.
 
Okay well the Ich has definitely gotten worse. It went from 8-10 bigger spots to about 50+ little ones covering the poor little guys. The heat is currently at 89 and I think I'm going to leave it right there (dont want to push it too much). The fish seem okay. A bit sluggish now that the heat is up, but overall no severe signs considering I have plently of surface aggitation.

How long after the last spot do I keep up with the salt/heat treatment? 1-2 weeks?

Is there a set amount of salt that I really need? I dont want to hurt my otto's. So far they seem unaffected but you never know....

Also, does Ich pose any possible threat to humans? I really dont think so but just a random question..

Thannnks
Dan
 
The parasite that causes ich should not hurt you. Have you read the article on ich in the Articles section? It talks about the salt, temp and time needs of this treatment. The article also has pics of affected fish. Are you sure you are dealing with ich?
Since the fish are sluggish, I suggest dropping in an airstone to increase surface aggitation. The warmer the water, the less dissolved oxygen it can hold.
 
I'm positive I'm dealing with Ich. My rainbows looked like they were getting ready to be fried and dipped in table salt. I cant think of any other disease that would make them look this way...Plus the life cycle thing was right on track. I noticed some big ones, then they werent there a few days later, then out of no where, a bunch of tiny little ones. Sounds like Ich if you ask me, but hey I'm no pro. Thats why Im here! and yeah I did read the article on Ich. I just wanted to see if times usually varied. Also, I know how much salt is usually used, but I wanted to know if I could half dose that and still get away with killing the parasite. For the sake of my ottos.

I've been working on an airstone but the pump I want is very expensive (RENA300) and the tank is in my bedroom and a loud airpump is the last thing I need to fall asleep. My water level is lower than normal and I have two filters pushing out a total of 900gph in a 55 gallon so I think it'll be okay at least for now.

THANKS
Dan
 
BTW, this morning I almost :censor: my pants when I woke up. I was still half asleep and I looked over at my tank and usually the first thing I'll do is look at the filter intakes (thats usually where dead fish end up) and I looked at the EMP400 and I saw a BUNCH of white cyst looking things but they were HUUUUGE!! and I was like omg omg omg omg omg what the ergerg5ty34t30 are those??? Thinking that they were like the mother of all Ich's....

Then I noticed that the ottos ate the whole entire piece of zuchinni I gave them last night. They were just seeds stuck to the filter :oops:
 
Then I noticed that the ottos ate the whole entire piece of zuchinni I gave them last night. They were just seeds stuck to the filter
:biglol:

That's okay! I once had some zucchini floating at the top of a tank and thought I lost a fish.

BTW~ How are the fish doing?
 
It's pretty hard to tell.
The yellow rainbow and threadfin still have a good amount of spots on them although it does look like they're reducing a little bit. A few days ago I wasn't sure whether the yellow was going to make it. He was very stressed and swimming in one spot for hours and hours with no coloration. Now he has some of his color back and is a little more active. Luckily, they're both eating.

What I find really weird is that the threadfin seems less stressed, more active, and has been eating more since it GOT ich. He's not even phased!
Pheonix (the yellow) knows something fishy (no pun :lol: ) is going on. He's doing alot of darting back and forth now but mostly swims against the strong EMP400 current (I'm assuming it feels good to him). I'm almost certain that they will both be okay.

I'm still doing the heat/salt treatment. Today I went out and bought rid-ick+. If I dont see any positive results within the next two days, I'm going to pull out that carbon and start treatment.

I'll keep you updated.
Thanks for the concern, Menagerie!!
-Dan
 
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