Oh.. not good!! Ich!! *** Update!!

[GouramiFanatic]

Friday afternoon I found one of my Pictus Cats dead in one of the rock structures. I scooped him and made sure that all of my other fish were accounted for. Monday I went in and my other Pictus Cat was nowhere to be found!! I checked in all of the rock structures, plants, and caves. I even checked behind the tank on the floor thinking maybe he somehow jumpe dout, but I had no luck! All I know is that Friday afternoon he was there and Monday morning he was gone. I only have a small Sailfin Pleco and two Dwarf Gouramis in the tank so I'm not sure if it's possible that they all worked together to consume the entire body over the weekend. Is this even possible? Could I have overlooked something?

While I was searching for the missing PC, I noticed that my remaining fish all have Ich now. I'm in the process of treating it with high temperatures. I've gradually been increasing the temperature. Right now I'm at about 82°. The Gouramis seem to be clearing up rather nicely, but the Pleco doesn't seem to be clearing up at all. Is this because he's on the bottom more so than the Gouramis? Is there anything else I should do?

Any help would be appreciated!
- Mandy

 

[Cichlidlovers]

When my tanks have gotten ich I purchased the ich out stuff at the pet store and treated my tanks, I have never lost any fish this way, though one tetras tail was burned off completely, but unbelievably the tail has grown back after 1 and half weeks. I haven't heard of raising temperatures to treat ich so i couldn't tell you what to do in that regard. Perhaps you should quarentine the pleco until it clears up. Good luck

 

[Jchillin]

Sorry to hear about your losses. You doing the right thing by raising the temp to treat the ich. Treating the whole tank is the only way to rid yourself of this free floating nuisance.

Raise the temp slowly to 86d and keep it there for at least two weeks after the last ich spot is gone. It's possible that the pleco is suffering more due to the previous incident with the pictus cats being nearby.

 

[GouramiFanatic]

Thanks for the info guys! When I noticed that Ich spots I knew right away that I didn't want to treat it with meds/chemicals. I'm kind of scared to use chemicals because I'm afraid it'll do more harm than good and kill the fish. So, with that said I decided to try the more natural route of raising the temps.

So far things are going pretty well. The Gouramis look awesome! They're showing no signs of distress and today I couldn't spot any spots on them all. The only problem is that the smaller of the two has broken one of his feelers. Whether or not this was Ich related, I don't know.

The Pleco still has quite a bit of spots on his little body. I'm hopeful that I'll start to see some improvements with him soon. The tank is now at 86° so it's only a matter of time before I should see things getting better.

I read the article about Ich that is posted a sticky thread and saw that pwc can help clear up Ich by removing some of the parasites. So, today I decided to do a pwc. When I was done it hit me... I used the same python that I use every time I do a cleaning. Does this mean I'll need to 'sterilize' it before using it again? In other words can Ich survive on the Python when it's dry and will it be able to infest my tank again after I clear it up? How about the fish net that I used to scoop out the dead Pictus Cat? Should I just buy a new one?

Thanks again,
- Mandy

 

[Jchillin]

Very valid questions. Run hot water through the python for about a half hour. That will rinse/kill any free floating ich in the tubes and vac. Soak the net in hot water...no problem.

 

[GouramiFanatic]

Well, both of my Gouramis and the Pleco have seemed to have lost all of their Ich spots. So, it appears that the heat treatment has been a success so far. I'm going to leave the temperature up for a couple more weeks just to be safe.

- Mandy

 

[Jchillin]

Great news! Glad to hear it's working. Yes, by all means keep the temp up for a couple more weeks.

 

[Bhunsucker]

Very valid questions. Run hot water through the python for about a half hour. That will rinse/kill any free floating ich in the tubes and vac. Soak the net in hot water...no problem.

Great question!! I have not thought about that at all! Thanks!