Ich

[lixx]

I am sure you get a million posts on this, but I was wondering about treatment/seeing results. How can you tell the treatment is working? I am on day 7 of using Coppersafe. I have read it can take 14-30 days to be cured. But I can not see any difference in the fish, maybe even more spots. One thing that has improved is the fish's activity levels. When I first noticed the problem they were hiding and lethargic, but now they are quite active and back to they way they were when I first rec'd them. Any thoughts?

 

[glasstapper]

yes , there is an article in the "artiles " heading at the top of the page to treat ich without meds,, worth a read believe me! coppersafe is dangerous stuff and IMO a last resort

 

[lixx]

Thanks! I'm off to read it!

 

[lixx]

Okay. Now that I've read it, I have a question. I like the temp raising method, however am not sure if all my fish can take 86oF . I have of course looked on the web, but sites all say different things. I have Gouramis, Loaches, Danios & a Pleco. Are any of them not able to take the temp?

 

[glasstapper]

raise it slowly and watch carefully be gentle good luck, maybe pm the author

 

[QTOFFER]

All of your fish should be able to tolerate the temp, if you raise it slowly like glasstapper said. I would raise it by something like 1 degree per hour.
I would omit the salt because of the loaches and pleco.

I've used the high temp method (without salt) to cure ich on two separate occasions and it worked both times!

Just FYI, Coppersafe is extremely toxic to inverts like shrimp and snails. If you ever decide to put inverts in this tank, you may have to deal with the residual copper in the tank first. Live plants would do the trick, but I think you can get special filter pads too.

 

[i3k]

I'm currently treating my tank with salt and I got botia loaches and they are actually doing real good with the salt in the tank. What kind of loaches you got?

 

[lixx]

Just FYI, Coppersafe is extremely toxic to inverts like shrimp and snails. If you ever decide to put inverts in this tank, you may have to deal with the residual copper in the tank first. Live plants would do the trick, but I think you can get special filter pads too.

I am not planing on putting either of those in the tank. Just what's there now. The tank has several live plants though, so they sould take care of it. I actually did notget around to raising the temp. They spots have considerably lessoned and the loaches are doing very well. Hopefully by months end they will be all gone. If it flairs up again I will definatly to the temp over the coppersafe.

What kind of loaches you got?

I have clown loaches. There were 3, but one got caught up in a plastic plant and died Never again will I have those damn things. The other 2 are doing very well. Still working on names for them