Help! We've got Ich!

[skywhitney]

I just noticed today that the guys in my 10 gal have Ich! Other than dosing the tank and adding salt (which i haven't done yet, it makes me kinda nervous) is there anything that i can do to help get rid of it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[librarygirl]

Hi, this article will help: Freshwater Ich? Yuck! You can just use the heat only method if you don't want to or can't use salt.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

IMO the best way to treat ich is to take the natural approach.
Slowly increase the temperature up to 86-88F over a day or so.
Add one tablespoon of aquarium salt per 5gallons of tank water. Dissolve it in a container of tank water and add slowly over a day. (if you have salt sensitive fish like cories, etc only add half dose.)
Do extra PWC and vacs to help remove the ich. Replacing any salt that is removed (eg: if you remove 10gals, you've removed 2 tablespoons and they need to be replaced)
Keep the heat and salt going for no less than 2 weeks even if all the ich appears to be gone.
Slowly decrease the temp and remove the salt during PWC.
http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich2.php

 

[skywhitney]

i don't mind doing salt but i'm not sure how my fish will react...I have Cardinal and Neon Tetra's and 2 Spotted Cory's. anyone know how these guys react to salt? I heard that the Tetra's can be iffy with it??

Also will the salt, meds, or temp hurt my plants?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

i don't mind doing salt but i'm not sure how my fish will react...I have Cardinal and Neon Tetra's and 2 Spotted Cory's. anyone know how these guys react to salt? I heard that the Tetra's can be iffy with it??

Also will the salt, meds, or temp hurt my plants?

The cories and tetras are a bit funny with salt. Add half a dose if your worried. The heat won't harm your plants and a small dose of salt won't either. Meds are more likely to harm things IMO.

 

[skywhitney]

So with the heat, a little salt, and the meds it looks like it is starting to clear up thankfully. How long should I continue to treat after it looks like it's all gone?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

So with the heat, a little salt, and the meds it looks like it is starting to clear up thankfully. How long should I continue to treat after it looks like it's all gone?

At least 5 more days with heat and salt after the course of meds have finished IMO.

 

[skywhitney]

so it seemed like it was clearing up then all of a sudden some of my tetra's are covered in it...grr this is aggravating. I know that it takes time but I just want my poor guys to feel better, i can tell they aren't feeling that good.

All my tetras are doing is pretty much hiding under a piece of DW that's by the heater. It looks like they are gilling really hard too, should i be worried about this? They seem more relaxed and are breathing easier when they are swimming around so that makes me feel better but i'm still a little uneasy.

any advise?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

It will get worse before it gets better. Have you increased your aeration? If they look too stressed do a PWC with temp matched water and remove the Meds ASAP.

 

[skywhitney]

Its weird, when i dosed the tank tonight it seemed like they all came out to swim around in it and mellowed down quite a bit.

I just tested the water and everything came out fine, nitrites were up to .25 from 0 but i took out the carbon yesterday so could that be why?

I'll watch them to see if the stress seems to stay and do the PWC if needbe.

Edit: i have increased the aeration as well. The aistone is in a plastic tube, for looks mainly, but aggitates the surface just as much as it did when it was out. Would this make a difference?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Its weird, when i dosed the tank tonight it seemed like they all came out to swim around in it and mellowed down quite a bit.

I just tested the water and everything came out fine, nitrites were up to .25 from 0 but i took out the carbon yesterday so could that be why?

I'll watch them to see if the stress seems to stay and do the PWC if needbe.

Edit: i have increased the aeration as well. The aistone is in a plastic tube, for looks mainly, but aggitates the surface just as much as it did when it was out. Would this make a difference?

It shouldn't as long as it agitates the surface it will be fine.

 

[skywhitney]

It shouldn't as long as it agitates the surface it will be fine.

Thanks for all the help Mumma. I really appreciate it.

 

[P8ntballer52]

Full dose at night. Half in the morning water change at night the dose again

 

[skywhitney]

Still fighting it...i've lost 3 tetras already and the other ones seem to not be doing so hot. The spots seem like they're starting to lessen finally so hopefully they can all pull through ok.

 

[P8ntballer52]

Not sure if you did. But if you dident you need to remove all carbon from your filter. Or the filter will pick up the medicine before it gets to your fish

 

[skywhitney]

yeah, I removed it as soon as I started dosing the tank. All that's running in there right now is a sponge. Like I said it seems to be getting better but we're leaving for California on Thursday morning so i'm a little worried that it'll still be an active fight to kill it when we leave which will be hard since someone else will have to take it over not really knowing what I've done or not done. I'm about to start my second round of "Quick-Cure" so we'll see if that can help knock this out finally.

 

[ejaramillo01]

yeah, I removed it as soon as I started dosing the tank. All that's running in there right now is a sponge. Like I said it seems to be getting better but we're leaving for California on Thursday morning so i'm a little worried that it'll still be an active fight to kill it when we leave which will be hard since someone else will have to take it over not really knowing what I've done or not done. I'm about to start my second round of "Quick-Cure" so we'll see if that can help knock this out finally.

Good idea... But also you need to start to ask yourself How your tank got the ich?

Did you introduce a new fish recently?
How is your PWC? How often?
Water quality..... Your readings?

 

[skywhitney]

The Ich appeared the day after i introduced 3 Cardinal Tetra's into the tank (2 of which I've already lost, and the last one is heavily infected). I was a little to eager to get these guys into the tank and only kept them in the Q tank for 2 days I've definitely learned my lesson the hard way.

 

[P8ntballer52]

Well you could have received ich for another fish.

However all Fish contain the ich virus. It's like human who gets a cold. The virus is always in us.

Just like a human with a cold. A fish gets ich from many reason. Stress, water temp, getting picked on by other fish, ect.

When a fish gets stressed it lowers the immune system and bam. Ich.

Like a person. To much stress, not enough sleep, ect it lowers the immune system Ab bam gets a cold.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Well you could have received ich for another fish.

However all Fish contain the ich virus. It's like human who gets a cold. The virus is always in us.

Just like a human with a cold. A fish gets ich from many reason. Stress, water temp, getting picked on by other fish, ect.

When a fish gets stressed it lowers the immune system and bam. Ich.

Like a person. To much stress, not enough sleep, ect it lowers the immune system Ab bam gets a cold.

Ich isn't a virus it's a parasite. It can lay in the substrate of your tank until the opportunity arises (sick/stressed fish) and then it strikes. New fish can bring it into a tank or it can already be in there. Usually once you eradicate it it won't come back unless it's reintroduced by a new fish or cross contaminating from an infected tank.