Quick Cure?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Chriznat20

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Aug 11, 2004
Messages
255
Location
Michigan
Ive had a very small outbreak of ICH for the past week ... trying to keep it under control with salt and heat but Im afraid my corys and pleco are getting too stressed out :(

I went to my LFS today and bought API's "Quick Cure". Besides my corys and 1 pleco, everybody else is hardy (i.e. zebra danios) in my tank.

What does everybody think about Quick Cure and what have your experiences been? Should I dose and 1/2 strength because of the pleco and corys?
 
i dont like to use any meds in my tanks (except pimafix/melafix cause theyre all natural stuff), the pleco and corys are sensitive to those ich meds too. i think you would be best off with the heat, you dont really have to have the salt
 
i dont like to use any meds in my tanks (except pimafix/melafix cause theyre all natural stuff), the pleco and corys are sensitive to those ich meds too. i think you would be best off with the heat, you dont really have to have the salt

Man, so many conflicting things about what to do!!! :confused:

Some people say you HAVE to use salt, some people say heat doesnt matter, as long as its 80f, some people say meds are the way to go...aye aye aye! :censor:

The heat is stressing my corys and pleco. I witnessed the pleco race around the tank this morning and jump out of the water (Thankfully, I have a full hood!).... Im sure hes peeved.

The corys have just been sitting in a corner - very unusual for them. They usually go up and down the glass, schooling together. They are very lackadaisical now.

Ive only been doing heat and salt... I have a 29g tank and have put, in a period of over 4-5 days, 25 teaspoons of aquarium salt that I dissolved in buckets of water.
 
The darting/jumping out is not caused by heat/salt...it's the ICH that's irritating your pleco. Darting can also be a sign of high ammonia levels...have you been checking your water parameters?
 
The darting/jumping out is not caused by heat/salt...it's the ICH that's irritating your pleco. Darting can also be a sign of high ammonia levels...have you been checking your water parameters?

I tested the water earlier today and the ammonia was between 0 and .25... it was barely registering.

Ive been doing 25-40% water changes daily. Im mid-cycle and my nitrites were creeping up from 0, so Im keeping a close eye on that.

Kinda worked out perfect anyways, because with the water changes I get a chance to vacuum the substrate a little (get rid of the ich that have fallen off the fish), and get to add salt to the returning water. :flasingsmile:

So back on topic: Should I use the Quick Cure and abort the temperature/salt treatment? Or would it kill my pleco/ corys?
 
Honestly, i would not do anything diffrent, i would keep the heat up and keep doing the salt. I would stay away from the meds as well. The racing around the tank and jumping the pleco does is normal actually. Plecos will swim around the tank at high speeds and shoot up at the surface of the water and grab a gulp of air. If that pleco was trying to jump you would have known. It would have been loud and he would have just hit the lid, HARD. The cories body is trying to combat the disease, do you run around like you normally do when you are sick? I would just keep up the heat and salt. Just try to stick strong even though you are worried. So i say no on the quick cure.
 
Well...came home from work tonight to find my first fatality..one of my honey gouramis was floating - dead as a doornail :mad: :mad:

I am testing my ammonia and nitrites right now, they've got 1 and 2 minutes left respectively: but as far as I can tell right now, the levels are still the same - ammonia almost 0 and nitrites between 0 and .25.

The tank temp is somewhere between 85 and 86f.

I noticed my corys are ICH free today!! There seems to be either a new ICH on the tail of my neon tetra, or a piece of slime coat/flesh is hanging off him where the ICH was this morning, I cant tell.
 
Like i said, just hang in there and try to keep the temps up and the salt up.
 
Update:

Its been about 4 days since Ive seen the last ICH spot on my fish.

I do 30% ish water changes every other day, today I did a 50% to get my water params in check (at the end wing of my cycle)...fish look good and are behaving much better!!

I stopped re-adding the salt upon refilling the tank starting 3 days ago. My corys and pleco are much happier without the salt. I still have the tank at 86f, and will keep it there until at least Monday.

Thanks for all of the advice and support to everybody who contributed to this post :D I couldnt have done it without my cyber-aquarist-buddies!! :cool: :cool:
 
Glad to hear it's clearing up.

Another piece of advice. If you feel you need to use meds(for future ailments) try doing them at half dose. I've treated tanks with bettas, shrimp, corys, tetras, plecos, pictus catfish, otos etc that way. If the bottle says (example using a 20gallon tank) 2 drops per gallon for 3 days. That would be 40 drops a day over the 3 day span. I use 20 drops over 6 days. A lot less stress on the finned critters.
 
Well I think I might've spoken too soon earlier :butt:

I fed my fish and was watching them admiring them. Noticed my pleco has what I think is a new ICH spot on his body :( and my 1 cory looks like has has an ICH spot on the edge of each of his 2 front fins. I have peppered corys so Im not sure if its his natual colors or not. To be safe I increased the temp to 88f (has been at 86f already since 2-4-10), drained 3 gallons of aquarium water & added 6 teaspoons of salt, and then re-added it.

Just my luck!!
 
Sounds like you were close at defeating it but not done with it. So just start it up again and make sure its gone. Make sure you leave the temps up around 88 to 86 for about 2 weeks after the last white spot is gone so you know its dead.
 
Sounds like you were close at defeating it but not done with it. So just start it up again and make sure its gone. Make sure you leave the temps up around 88 to 86 for about 2 weeks after the last white spot is gone so you know its dead.

2s1nprb.jpg
 
It is amazing the number of opinions out there on something as simple (simple does not mean easy) as a cure for ick.
I personally have always had good success with the heat method, but to each his/her own.
The most important part of any ick treatment seems to be in quick implementation and maintaining treatment until you are sure it is gone.

Try some of these articles and decide what works best for you.

Cause, Treatment, and Prevention of Ich in Freshwater Fish
CIR920/FA006: Ichthyophthirius Multifiliis (White Spot) Infections in Fish
Freshwater Ich
Freshwater Ich? Yuck!

Sounds like you've got the situation in hand tho.
 
It is amazing the number of opinions out there on something as simple (simple does not mean easy) as a cure for ick.
I personally have always had good success with the heat method, but to each his/her own.
The most important part of any ick treatment seems to be in quick implementation and maintaining treatment until you are sure it is gone.

Try some of these articles and decide what works best for you.

Cause, Treatment, and Prevention of Ich in Freshwater Fish
CIR920/FA006: Ichthyophthirius Multifiliis (White Spot) Infections in Fish
Freshwater Ich
Freshwater Ich? Yuck!

Sounds like you've got the situation in hand tho.

Thanks Jim :)

Ive read those articles about a dozen times... you are totally right about the opinions on ICH treatment.

Im going to keep up the heat and have been re-increasing the salt.

:uzi:ICH
 
Back
Top Bottom