tank emergency

[rob28]

so i go to petco yesterday to pic up 6 albino tiger barbs for my wife. i get them home and start the process of acclimating the to the water. bout an hour after releasing them to the tank i notice that they are swimming kinda wierd.

i dont think much of it, but still decide to keep an eye on them. so i decide to do a 25% water change, just because.

later on last night, my wife came home from work and noticed lil white specs on a couple of the albino's. i instantly jump up and grab the net and begin fishing them out of the tank. it didnt click until she saw the dots that these fish were showing signs of having ich!!

i immediatley research ich, and i find that there are 3 methods of treatment.
1)medications
2)high water temps
3)salt
Im not sure if any of my other fish are infected but im sure that its safe to assume that my noob move of putting new fish into my tank without quarantining them for abservation, and having ich, has infected my tank.

now im pretty much ruling out medications because the medications will kill my crabs and possibly kill my sharks.
raising the tempurature of the water to 86 degrees seems like risky business, but seems very sound in the fact if properly carried out it can be a highly efective treatment.
using salt seems like a good treatment also but seems very complicated to carry out.
then on top of whatever treatment i choose, i can also do frequent water changes to combat parasites in the gravel and water.

SO HERE IS MY FIRST QUESTION
can i combine temp and salt treatment together with water changes for a few weeks?

now.... today i brought those infected albinos back to petco and informed them about the infestation. the lady, nonchalantley, stated,"yeah a bunch of our tanks have ich"!
i was floored at the fact that i wasnt informed of this before i purchased the fish and at the fact that infected fish were being sold....KNOWINGLY!!!

I did return them for a store credit and she did inform me that they would be getting in a new cshipment of fish in on this thursday.

MY SECOND QUESTION
if they bring new fish in and dump them into infected taks....WONT THEY BECOME INFECTED???

Im scared to buy fish from them now.
my fish are not showing signs of infection but im sure i didnt dodge that bullet.
THIRD QUESTION
how do i know its safe to buy their fish? quarantine method only??

any comments are welcome

 

[neilanh]

There's no need to use the salt. Heat method works on it's own. The salt has it's place in assisting the fish if the ich is in the gills, but otherwise it's not necessary.

To implement the heat method, slowly raise your water temperatures to above 85 degrees. Do this by moving the heater up 1-2 degrees every 8-12 hours. Then, leave it for a while. If you see the ich develop in other fish, wait til it all visibly clears up, then wait an additional 2 weeks before bringing the temperature back down. While the temperature is up, make as much surface turbulance as you can, either by lowering the water level so a HOB can add turbulance, or by adding an airstone. Higher temperature water can't contain as much O2 as lower. This is where the salt is sometimes beneficial, in that it eases breathing in the fish if it's necessary.

It's a tough call as to whether or not you need to treat your tank now that the infected fish are gone. If you read through the ich lifecycle, it doesn't go free swimming until later on. But, you have no way of knowing where it started, really. The safe measure is to go ahead and treat, but it may or may not be necessary.

For your second question, the answer is yes, most likely the new fish will get infected as well IF all of the LFS tanks are plumbed together.

3d question - the only true 100% way to know is to do like you said, and adapt a QT method whenever you purchase new inhabitants.

 

[rob28]

thanks a mil

how will i know if ich has developed in their gills? do the dots show on their gills?

 

[neilanh]

Yes, and you'll see the fish having extremely labored breathing.

 

[rob28]

thanks again

 

[DallasFish]

I hear you. I have loaches that are sensitive to meds as well.

 

[rob28]

so, ive started high temp treatment on my tank. i have also taken 5gal of water out of the tank so the hob filtered water falls further to give more oxygen. i have not seen any signs or symptoms on any of my other fish but id rather be safe than sorry.

i appreciate the help so far, and i will keep regular updates goin.

 

[JohnPaul]

Sounds like you caught it quickly and are implementing the best (IMO) method for treating it. Nicely done.

 

[rob28]

thanks but i cant take the credit.

 

[Johnny Tuttle]

By sad coincidence I noticed ich on my two female platties today. I'm doing the high temperature treatment as well.

Good luck to both of us.

 

[rob28]

By sad coincidence I noticed ich on my two female platties today. I'm doing the high temperature treatment as well.

Good luck to both of us.

crumby news....

So....ive got an update.

my tank finally reached 86 degrees today, and ive been looking over the fish for any signs of infections. so far, there are none but im going ahead with the 2 wks anyhow.
ive got to admit, 86 degrees is very warm and im quite nervous for my fish. Surprisingly though, the fish are extremlel active and seem very happy.
I did ditch the stick on thermometer and grabbed one that actually mounts in the water, just so i can have an accurate reading.

Please, if anyone has any suggestions on what to watch out for during this process, speak up.

thanks all

 

[bluerose]

I don't think the heat will hurt them and that's why it's a suggested treatment- my tank is stubbornly around 82 all the time and my crew (tetras/cories/betta) do fine. Happy fishes.

Glad you're taking precautions- definitely worth it.

 

[Jnam]

Just watch for the usual; laborous breathing, hanging out at abnormal levels, etc. I always use the heat treatment, and as John Puul said thats the best treatment IMO

Just got done treating the 55 for ich a week ago and it worked perfectly. All the inhabitants are healthy and spot free!

 

[rob28]

glad to hear...deffinatley makes me feel better

 

[Jnam]

Just remember the boiling point of water is 212 and durring the dry season in the amazon the ambient temperature is 104 and the average temp of the water is 89+ degrees. So your fish (more than likely unless they are lake fish) are "designed" for that. =)

 

[rob28]

lmao...you would think thats common sence.

i just felt like an idiot...thanks lmao

 

[gzeiger]

We had 89F water in South Carolina for six straight weeks this summer...

 

[rob28]

**update**

so, day two of my treatment is going off with out a hitch. all water perameters are well within range, temp hovers at 86-87 degrees, and fish seem healthy.

i did notice today that one of my miner tetras has a lil white spec on his face near his mouth. i cant tell if it is ich or a bubble though. i will keep my eye on it to see what happens.

 

[Jnam]

one should let you know by increasing the temp you are fast forwarding the ichs life cycle so it may appear that the ich gets worse before it gets better. Any of the fish that are infected that arent showing signs may develop white spots also but they WILL disappear after some time. So dont let that freak you out.​

 

[JohnPaul]

one should let you know by increasing the temp you are fast forwarding the ichs life cycle so it may appear that the ich gets worse before it gets better. Any of the fish that are infected that arent showing signs may develop white spots also but they WILL disappear after some time. So dont let that freak you out.​

Quoted for truth. It will definitely look like things are getting worse before they get better. Just ride it out and don't panic.