ich problem that wont stop....

[Fishkeeper88]

so i have an ich problem because i bought fish from a store that had ich. i was wondering what i should do as my first ich treatment with API super Ich cure didnt work. the active ingredients are 3.6mg malachite green and 60 mg nitrofurzone per packet. during treatment i removed the carbon filter, added the required amount of chemical waited 48 hours, then i did a second treatment and waited another 48 hours. i then did a 25% water change and added a new filter and threw away my dip net. the fish still have Ich. white salt like granules on fins and body. its so horrible i lost at least 20 fish to this infestation and its getting to the point where i have wasted over $200 on fish dieing. im so sad.

how should i go about treating my remaining fish its been a day since the API treatment?

 

[Fishkeeper88]

the only fish i have left in my 29 gallon are 1 cory catfish, 3 otos, 2 long finned german blue rams. i had two tanks with ich a 36 gallon and 29 gallon. i killed the ich in my 36 gallon and replaced the fish with rainbows, killie fish corys and otos. in the 36 and the 29 gallon aquariums the death toll is 4 hatchet fish, 6 cardinal tetras, 6 black tetras, 15 neons and 1 cory. again i qted the 36 gallon and its fine but the remaining fish in the 29 gallon still have ich they are 2 gbrs, one cory and 3 otos.

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

many people will say go natural, but if it is his bad then go for the chemical solution. i used anti-ich and since i caught it early, a dose a day for a week meant it was gone (and has been since) after four days.
how bad do they look can we have a pic? xx

 

[LyndaB]

Are these tanks cycled?

Did you check for illness in the tanks at the lfs?

Is there a reason you don't quarantine?

How did you acclimate the fish?

Personally, I think there's no reason that ich should ever get this bad. If you monitor your tanks carefully, as you should whether or not you have new fish, you should be able to catch ich at the very beginning.

I don't use meds to treat ich. I raise the heat to 86 slowly, add an airstone to provide additional oxygenation, and gravel vac every 2-3 days.

Usually, if your water params are healthy and you keep your tank clean, you won't get ich.

 

[Fishkeeper88]

I checked them for ich at the store. The only fish that had ich where in a tank on the bottom row. This is why I made that thread about the ich epidemic in my area. When I got the fish I realized when I got home these fish probably have ich. The lfs all around me are treating there aquariums because I've called and told them to. Like three stores I have bought from all came down with ich within a week of eachother.

I have really good water conditions I check every other day.

Here is a picture one of my gbr the others hiding.

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

im sorry u have to face this. can u get to a shop soon that seels an anti-ich product? x

 

[Batt4Christ]

Many lfs use central filtration- that means all tanks utilize the same filter system= one tank contaminated/infected = all tanks infected.

I just don't see any treatment for ich that doesn't include heat. And for 99% of cases, heat alone is enough. But if the infection is so bad and/or situation is desperate, then temp + meds might be appropriate.

Another point- no need to throw away nets and such- just decontaminate with a bleach and hot water solution, let dry before use.

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

excellent contribution^^ x

 

[Fishkeeper88]

So I can retreat with meds and use heat? I was just worried it might hurt the gbrs because I just finished a failed treatment.

 

[MonsterfishGuy]

Are these tanks cycled?

Did you check for illness in the tanks at the lfs?

Is there a reason you don't quarantine?

How did you acclimate the fish?

Personally, I think there's no reason that ich should ever get this bad. If you monitor your tanks carefully, as you should whether or not you have new fish, you should be able to catch ich at the very beginning.

I don't use meds to treat ich. I raise the heat to 86 slowly, add an airstone to provide additional oxygenation, and gravel vac every 2-3 days.

Usually, if your water params are healthy and you keep your tank clean, you won't get ich.

Ick is almost in every tank and on this case your just not lucky as it comes from a store!!

Ick is stress related, bad water condition related but mainly temperature related.

So even you you do everything right if there is a temperature drop or boost for 2 F and more, there is a chance of ick.

If you let you home temp goes down at night that could happen to everyone using bi-metallic heater. (99% of heater on fish market are bi-metallic)

The temperature treatment is good, if it does'nt work here is a little med:

To treat it easy, you can use formaldehyde, 37% at a drug store and use 1 drop per 2 gal day one and 2. Third day change 40-50% of the water amd do a gravel vacuum. Do it again until symptom disappear.

You can do better, by adding the recommend dose of formaldehyde in a test tube, add 1/4 the recommended dose of malachite green and the 1/4 recommended dose of methylene blue in the tube, mix well and put it in the water. Its called FMC and its great against ick.

For sure when using malachite green never let the light open as it stop the effect.

Warning:
1-FMC and formaldehyde are strong, dont put more than i said its enough.

2- dont use with temp of 28C and more.

3- scaleless fish, tetra, catfish : use 2 drop per 5 gal. of formaldehyde. Same blue and green.

4- formaldehyde is hard on plastick so use glass test tube or do it fast(3 min max in the tube).

Formaldehyde, blue and green are cheap and useful together!!

Google FMC you will find how to make it!

Formaldehyde is very volatile.

Good luck

 

[Mumma.of.two]

http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich2.php
Here is some info on ich. It's life cycle, natural treatment options and prevention. Hope it helps. It's hard watching your fish die one after the other. I had a similar experience the first time I encountered it. Loosing 5 rainbows in 5 days and 2 from fungus a week after that.
Good luck!

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

clean the tank
remove most carbon pads from filter, add in non-carbon sponges
raise heat a bit
add med once a day
keep cleaning the tank
this is what saved mine, i didnt do anything more elaborate sorry xx

 

[Fishkeeper88]

Okay over the last two days I slowly razed the temp to 86 degrees. I added an air stone and am going to gravel vac tmrw.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Okay over the last two days I slowly razed the temp to 86 degrees. I added an air stone and am going to gravel vac tmrw.

Sounds good. Most likely the ich will get a bit worse in the next few days then will start to clear. And remember to keep the temp up for the whole 2 weeks even if the fish seem clear.

 

[Gboy66]

Sounds good. Most likely the ich will get a bit worse in the next few days then will start to clear. And remember to keep the temp up for the whole 2 weeks even if the fish seem clear.

Yes it will most likely get worse, then better. Personally, i used the heat for the firat week to clean most of mine, and am now using meds 2 weeks later for another week or so to seal the deal

 

[Fishkeeper88]

Will the heat from the treatment make my water cloudy?

 

[Gboy66]

No the heat wont make the water cloudy. Meds might though

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Will the heat from the treatment make my water cloudy?

Could be a bacteria bloom.
Have you checked your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels at all since you used the meds? Just a thought that they may have affected your BB.

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

First of all why did u buy fish u knew had ich? And u havent lost 200$ worth of fish yet

 

[Fishkeeper88]

my water is fine. the heat caused my drift wood to leach tannins.