First case of ich

[Cactuspixie]

I just noticed that my new baby severum that I picked up 2 days ago has ich

I have to head out to work shortly so I have just turned the heat up a tad and will look into how to deal with it when I'm home tonight.

Any advice what to do/avoid with that stock will be appreciated.

The tank has:
12 kuhlis
3 BN
2 L002
2 BB gobies
5 spilurum cichlids
2 brasiliensis cichlids
1 baby green severum

Tank size is 6'x2'x2'

Soft, slightly acidic, sand substrate, plenty of driftwood, inert rock. Plants are java fern, java moss, anubias and crypts.

Filtration:
2x 700g/hr
1x 265g/hr

 

[Sidman24]

I had ich once and turned up the heat to around 85-86. I used a medicine called Quick Cure. Seemed to do the job for me. You can also use salt but I'm not familiar with that method.

 

[Cactuspixie]

The sev only had 3 spots, and those were gone yesterday when I did a pwc, (water temp 30C)
This morning he is dead.

 

[Fishfur]

Bummer. Sorry for the loss. But now your tank has been exposed, you need to treat it. That the spots are gone means they dropped off, and each one can produce hundreds of new ich parasites.

Best article I've seen on it is here. Understanding and Treating Ich or White Spot

 

[Cactuspixie]

Bummer. Sorry for the loss. But now your tank has been exposed, you need to treat it. That the spots are gone means they dropped off, and each one can produce hundreds of new ich parasites.

Best article I've seen on it is here. Understanding and Treating Ich or White Spot

Thanks fishfur. I'm continuing with the heat for another week to be sure its gone. None of the other fish have signs of ich thankfully.
I don't know what the sev died of, but it sure wasn't ich. He was swimming and eating just fine when I went to bed.
The other fish were no longer bothering him ( the two ringleaders spent 48hrs in segregation without food, and have calmed down a lot since)
On the weekend I'm going to try to get to the lfs where I bought him and see if they have had problems with his cohort.
He had only been delivered to the lfs the day before I got him, so there had been no time for any sickness to show.
My real concern is that I may have killed him with the heat

 

[Fishfur]

Also no time for him to acclimate to one new tank before having to do it again in yours. I won't buy fish that haven't been in the store for at least a few days time. It's too much to expect them to adapt to so much. Being caught, bagged, packed, shipped, unpacked, into a new tank, different water and food, then caught again, bagged, another new water and food situation. Not to mention the stress of being in a tank where other fish are being caught with the net swishing around.

I prefer to let them have some time to get used to the store, before I ask them to get used to my tanks. If you special order, that's a bit different, but if I did that I'd do my level best to pick them up the day they arrive so they are not placed in a store tank at all.

 

[Cactuspixie]

Trouble is, he had specially ordered them in at my request. The same situation is going to happen with my gold sev that is on order through another lfs.

 

[Taiken5968]

I am sure you already know or have found out how to treat ich, but this article will help a lot. The article gives directions for treating ich with heat only, but it is really detailed about the life cycle of ich. Another thing to keep in mind is that ich can only be killed with meds in its free swimming stage.

http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich2.php

 

[henningc]

Just wanted to say for a cheap medication Quick Cure works well. You can always salt bath a fish to make the ich fall off in a bucket instread of the tank.

 

[Cactuspixie]

I am sure you already know or have found out how to treat ich, but this article will help a lot. The article gives directions for treating ich with heat only, but it is really detailed about the life cycle of ich. Another thing to keep in mind is that ich can only be killed with meds in its free swimming stage.

http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich2.php

Thanks Taiken,
I had read that article, and was intrigued by the claim that water temps of 32C actually kills the ich parasite. I just don't know if I'm game to raise the temp any higher in case I kill more tank inhabitants by doing so
If I need to use meds I'll have to drain the tank halfway- its 170g.

 

[Cactuspixie]

Just wanted to say for a cheap medication Quick Cure works well. You can always salt bath a fish to make the ich fall off in a bucket instread of the tank.

Thanks Henning,
Unfortunately the ich have already fallen off in the 170g tank. I'm not sure what if any medication I will use. We don't have much variety here in Australia, and the tank has plecos and loaches, which complicates things.
I'm really bummed about losing that sev. He was already my favourite fish!

 

[Fishfur]

Fwiw, I have read at least one article concerning a study treating ich in catfishes using salt. They found that while it appears to be true catfish cannot tolerate salt as an ongoing presence, the fish that did best in the study were those getting a full dose of salt, but only for the duration of treatment.

There is also a heat and salt resistant strain of ich out there. I don't know if you have it in Aus, but it's in some places. Florida, and we've had one case reported here locally, that I know of.

Hope you have the ordinary kind. You are catching it very early before its had much time to reproduce or infect the other fish. With any luck at all, heat may do it. If not, salt is the least dangerous of the meds available to try and since the catfish at this point are not sick they should handle it fairly well for the short term.

If you like I can try to find that study I read.

 

[Taiken5968]

Thanks Taiken, I had read that article, and was intrigued by the claim that water temps of 32C actually kills the ich parasite. I just don't know if I'm game to raise the temp any higher in case I kill more tank inhabitants by doing so If I need to use meds I'll have to drain the tank halfway- its 170g.

I'm glad that helped. I usually use the high heat, to speed up the life cycle, and meds to kill it in its free swimming stage. I don't get it up to the maximum temperature though.

 

[Cactuspixie]

I still have the tank at 30C. But there is no sign of ich on anyone else. I've ruled out heat as the COD, as I went to the lfs where I bought the sev, and they said sevs like warm water. They keep their tanks at 27C and I normally have mine at 26C, but he said 26 is okay too.
None of the other sevs he has have gotten sick or died, so I can only think it was stress??

 

[DolphinMan]

I use copper safe and it works really good, but u need to take the bio bag out first.

 

[Cactuspixie]

I've heard so much bad stuff about copper that I'm afraid to use the bottle of Cupramine I bought a year or so ago.
I'm still procrastinating for now. There are no signs of sickness in the tank (that I can see) so I'm just going to keep the heat up for now while I do more research. The tank occupants are mostly scaleless, so I have to be careful.

 

[Taiken5968]

I've heard so much bad stuff about copper that I'm afraid to use the bottle of Cupramine I bought a year or so ago. I'm still procrastinating for now. There are no signs of sickness in the tank (that I can see) so I'm just going to keep the heat up for now while I do more research. The tank occupants are mostly scaleless, so I have to be careful.

Just keep in mind that you cannot see the free swimming stage or their polyp stage. They can also live on the fish and not be big enough to see.

It is likely that you have gotten to do it though. I hope so.

 

[Cactuspixie]

Just keep in mind that you cannot see the free swimming stage or their polyp stage. They can also live on the fish and not be big enough to see.

It is likely that you have gotten to do it though. I hope so.

I hope so too, but I don't know... I have lots of luck, bust most of it bad
I would have treated the tank already were it not for the dozen kuhli loaches in there. That I never get to SEE now that the cichlids rule the tank. Even my big bristlenose male is terrified of them. I think they mistake his bristles for worms! Poor guy. I can see why so many people keep cichlid only tanks.

 

[Taiken5968]

I hope so too, but I don't know... I have lots of luck, bust most of it bad I would have treated the tank already were it not for the dozen kuhli loaches in there. That I never get to SEE now that the cichlids rule the tank. Even my big bristlenose male is terrified of them. I think they mistake his bristles for worms! Poor guy. I can see why so many people keep cichlid only tanks.

You may want to start a tank with just the loaches. They will likely start breeding if you give them one by their selves.

 

[Cactuspixie]

You may want to start a tank with just the loaches. They will likely start breeding if you give them one by their selves.

OMG I had to take everything out the other day to catch the 2 spilurum. And I still only saw 2 of the 12 loaches. Presumably they burrowed in the sand rather than be nipped at by the cichlids.
That tank was originally a bottom feeder tank.
I may just have to get rid of the cichlids. I really like them, but they are a pain. And I could be getting my gold sev soon (its on order) and I don't want it bullied like the last one was