Ick/ich

[spiketooth]

once again i have to deal with ich/ick. before the med i used destroyed all my plants and snails so i not going to use meds again. There is only one fish that has sign of it, two little white spots on his fin (congo tetra) , still eating and being active. seems to not bother him. is there a treatment or something i can do that will not kill my snails or plants. thank you. here is a list of what i have. its half planted with Rotala Indica. Thank you
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/members/74098-albums11637-picture52204.png

 

[shellieca]

Sorry, you're having ich issues. Turn your heat up to 86-87F slowly over the next 24 hrs, leave it there for at least week after the last spot is seen. I would do a 50% water change every 2-3 days with a good vacuuming. Some people add aq salt but with your snails you probably don't want to do that. In rare cases the heat will not work but usually its all you need.

 

[spiketooth]

If i cant put anythng in the tank, there no point in turning up the heat becuase that the only speed up there life cycle. Max temp i could turn my tank up to is 27c. It is at 26 now. Is there food i can give them that will help there immune system?

 

[spiketooth]

Guess i will watch the spots once i see that there is a spot gone do that 50% water change and keep doing that until all spots are gone and hope for the best

 

[spiketooth]

Thought came in mind, can i pop or remove the spot well on the fin( not in the tank but on a table and wet clot)?

 

[shellieca]

Yes heat will speed up the life cycle which means they die faster. The water changes with a good vacuuming removes them while they're free swimming or dead which means you are getting rid of the ich. If your heater doesn't allow you to get the temp up to 86F you should either get a new heater or add a 2nd one. Heat is how I got rid of ich, it works. Removing the two or so spots from the fish won't rid it from your tank. Somebody else may have a different opinion.

 

[spiketooth]

I know this is going to sound arrogant but we only assumed that the hole tank is infected. If there is a chance that the only ick is on this fish then i could remove it and still do a 50% water change every couple of days to be safe. Saving the fish and the rest in the tank. What i mean my max temp is what my fish can tolerate is 27 i can bring it up to 32c.

 

[spiketooth]

I am going to lower my temp to 24c, slowing down the life cycle allowing more time in the tomont stage so gravel vaccum and cleaning the decors and walls to suck them out. Make sure the water is perfect and make sure they a fed a well blanace diet. Going to get a uv-b light. Reason for the no med becuase the only thing they have available here will kill my plants shrimp snails and corys maybe oto's. Most site dont ship to AP APO address.

 

[Sillyfishies]

Thought came in mind, can i pop or remove the spot well on the fin( not in the tank but on a table and wet clot)?

The spot is the exit wound of the ich. If there's dots that means the ich got in ur tank.

 

[spiketooth]

They have not exit yet, there small white pimple on his fin between the dorsal and tail fin

 

[Sillyfishies]

They have not exit yet, there small white pimple on his fin between the dorsal and tail fin

Yes, that's the exit wound. When ich is still in the fish you can't physically see it.

 

[shellieca]

I know this is going to sound arrogant but we only assumed that the hole tank is infected. If there is a chance that the only ick is on this fish then i could remove it and still do a 50% water change every couple of days to be safe. Saving the fish and the rest in the tank. What i mean my max temp is what my fish can tolerate is 27 i can bring it up to 32c.

If one fish has Ich then your tank has Ich & I would treat the tank. You can QT & treat the one fish if you want but chances are you're going to see Ich again in the tank at least that's the way I understand Ich.

 

[shellieca]

Are you sure its Ich? Can you post a picture?

 

[spiketooth]

When i get off if work i will try but those guys move quick. I have delt with ich before and it looks the same. I ended up returning all the the fish to the lfs becuase i had used med and did all the standard ich treatment and they still were dropping like flys. So i am going to try my own way unless someone can tell me a way without using med or salt.

 

[shellieca]

Heat & water changes but you said you don't want to turn up the heat, you said your fish can't handle heat. Heat did the trick for me. Good luck.

 

[kimmcannally]

Here is what I'm currently doing - I found this on a google search and I'm on day 6 now. Fish (and snails) all seem quite happy.
It does use salt but my MTS don't seem to have a problem with it and I've got all the salt in already.

I used airline tubing and a gang valve to slowly add the salt water to the tank, so there wasn't a sudden change in salinity - took hours each time.

(the following is all from the post I found online - I'm currently doing this process with a Honey Gourami, Cardinal Tetras, Ghost Shrimp, a Betta, and Yoyo Loaches)


I have a community tank which includes cories, SAE's, Gold Nugget Plecos, Yoyo loaches and most importantly, for the purposes of this article, Queen Arabesque Plecos (as these are very, very sensitive fish).
I have determined this protocol to be successful without the use of medications.

I normally maintain the water temperature at approximately 78F (25.5C).

Salt is defined as aquarium salt and NOT table salt although many folks indicate that table salt is acceptable!

Upon observing a white spot on a fish or a fish brazing themself on various tank appurtenances:

Day 1
Increase the water temperature to 80F (26.6C)
Perform a 20% WC.
Add 1 Tablespoon of salt per 20 US Gallons of water (76L, 16.6 UKG)
(55 gallon = 2 1/2 Tbsp) (10 gallon = 1/2 Tbsp) Don't forget to Prime!

Day 2
Increase the water temperature to 82F (27.7C)
Add 1 Tablespoon of salt per 40 US Gallons of water.
(55 gallon = 1 Tbsp+ 3/4 tsp) (10 gallon = 3/4 tsp) Don't forget to Prime!

Day 3
Increase the water temperature to 84F (28.8C)
Add 1 Tablespoon of salt per 40 US Gallons of water.
(55 gallon = 1 Tbsp+ 3/4 tsp) (10 gallon = 3/4 tsp) Don't forget to Prime!

Day 4
Increase the water temperature to 85F (29.4C)
Add 1 Tablespoon of salt per 40 US Gallons of water.
(55 gallon = 1 Tbsp+ 3/4 tsp) (10 gallon = 3/4 tsp) Don't forget to Prime!

Days 5, 6, 7 and 8
Do nothing

Day 9
Perform a 20% WC.
Decrease the water temperature to 84F (28.8C)

Day 10
Perform a 20% WC.
Decrease the water temperature to 82F (27.7C)

Day 11
Perform a 20% WC.
Decrease the water temperature to 80F (26.6C)

Day 12
Perform a 20% WC.
Decrease the water temperature to 78F (25.5C).

Day 13
Return to the typical maintenance protocol.

 

[spiketooth]

My otos will die

 

[shellieca]

Is it the heat or lack of oxygen from the higher temp that your fish have trouble with? When you raise the temp you also have to add more oxygen with a bubbler or something to that effect. Just a thought. I understand the salt problem but I don't understand the heat problem, sorry not trying to be annoying.

 

[spiketooth]

Otos max temperature is 26c. That process want me to bring it up to 29. Ontop i got corys as well, there temp is 26. That would for sure cause them stress and kill them. Salt can not be used for fish that does not have any scales

 

[spiketooth]

The heat increase the cycle for ich. The purpose of doing that becuase people add ich med or salt to kill them in the freeswim stage. Sence i dont have that option. My best bet would be to try to get them in the tomont stage with the cleaning and gravel vaccum. Thats why i am going to lower the temp, to slow down the life cycle to allow more time to clean well there in the tomont.