Newbie with ick

[CallMeIshmael95]

Hi. I'm fairly new with fish keeping and I'm dealing with my first case of ick. I was mainly wondering what it is, what it can do to my fish, and if there is an easy way to treat it. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[bkiggy]

ICK is fungal. Aquarium salt at 1 tablespoon to 5 gallons will help. Raise temp in tank to 82. Vacuum gravel ALOT! It breeds in gravel. Depending on what fish u have?, - Quick Cure will help. It can be fatal so act quick

 

[Calypso77]

That temp is not accurate for curing ich. It needs to be higher but raised slowly.

If you do a search on here for ich you will find a lot of threads on it and curing it with heat and AQ Salts with out having to use any medications, just search in the search bar located on this site ich and you will be sure to find them, but 82 is not warm enough at all.

Good luck

 

[jlk]

ICK is fungal. Aquarium salt at 1 tablespoon to 5 gallons will help. Raise temp in tank to 82. Vacuum gravel ALOT! It breeds in gravel. Depending on what fish u have?, - Quick Cure will help. It can be fatal so act quick

Ich is NOT fungal- its a parasite. The best treatment depends on the type of fish. High temps (86-88f) will treat it without meds but not all fish can handle these temps. Increasing the salinity to .3% will also treat it without meds but not all fish can tolerate salt. Whether using heat or salt, these methods need to be done gradually so fish can adjust. Ich is generally not fatal and fish can actually live for months with the parasite on them before succumbing to complications from the parasite so acting 'quick' is not necessary but it does need to be treated appropriately.

 

[Calypso77]

jlk. I agree great advice. It pays to not jump on the first thing someone's say it is. I didn't think ich was fungal, but I don't know all...lol