Problems everywhere!

[Shope.hannah]

I read raising the temp and doing water changes. I did a water change. Last time they had it I treated with med and water change and in a day it was gone. The weird thing is it looks like it but the med seems to not be working and it looks like similar to it but different in a way. I just now have got the ammonia taken care of so things were finally getti better

[maestromad]

Try getting some pictures on here and hopefully someone can help

[SKB]

When I had ich I slowly raised the temperature to 86, make sure your fish can handle this (research) and if u see signs of stress u can turn it down a little. I also added some aquarium salt (if u have invertibraes or plants this is a no no). Depending on the size tank, depends on how much salt.

For some people meds have worked but I had several failed attempts. Meds shouldn't be used with salt and heat, it's either heat and meds or heat and salt. All of them together can lead to too much stress and deaths.

Whatever way u decide to treat, treat for a week after u see the last sign of ich, I did 2 weeks after, just for good measure.

[Shope.hannah]

Thanks! I put salt a while ago when we were tying to get ammonia leaves and all that down. So, I decided on meds. They have had it before. The same fish. And med worked great. This time it's like it's a different disease. They're only on the tail. Skirt tetra by the way. And all in a line? Not even sure it's ich. Any thoughts?

[SKB]

Hm... Is it fuzzy or sticking up from the scales? Or maybe just a wound? Pictures would help a lot

[Shope.hannah]

Ok I will try to get a picture now. No sticking up not fuzzy. The reason I'm thinking its not ich because of where it is. It's in a straight line on the tail. This was three hours ago. I just came in and now my black swordtail has three spots on the tail that don't look like ich at all. They're almost spots. So even if it is ich how could it have got on him so fast with the meds?

[Shope.hannah]

This is the swordtail. Notice the big spot

[Shope.hannah]

Doesn't even look like a grain of salt. More like a spot. I have no idea but this has happened in the last three hours. It was spotless before j left.

[Shope.hannah]

Can't see the yellow one as good. You can see it better in the first pic o both fish.

[Shope.hannah]

Help! Anyone have Any ideas?

[VOXGM]

Ditch the salt. Salt does nothing. Only thing that kills ich is chite copper sulfate. That's it. Has to be in the third stage in free swimming form. It's untouchable till then. Feed your fish Garlic and keep the temp at 86 for two weeks. Iv had good luck with maracide. Tried kick ick too(with no luck. Copper is the key. But u can't get copper out of your tank with just carbon. It will soak into gravel. But the salt is a waste period for any reason.

[VOXGM]

You will always have ich in your tank. It can stay dormant. That's how it goes. Keeping ur tank conditions under control and keeping your fishes immune system is the only way to keep them from getting it. If they do and u don't have inverts and anything sensitive then copper is it. Uv serilizer helps when it is free swimming(after it falls off the fish and lays eggs in gravel and eggs hatch) just cuz all if the sudden you fish goes from spots to no spots does not mean it gone. Means its about to go free swimming soon.

[VOXGM]

That looks like ich in the pics.

[Shope.hannah]

Ok thank you for your help. What is the exact name of this copper stuff?

[VOXGM]

You can get it a your lfs it's called copper safe by sentry mardel. Go by the directions please. Need to take all precautions when using copper. Copper will soak into gravel and decor. Takes water changes and carbon to remove it. No need to raise temp level when using copper. But if it at 86 then leave it. 86 will speed up the ick life cycle making its faster to free swimming form. Ick also can't reproduce in 86 or higher temps. Make sure and I mean make sure u rinse you equipment with hot water or you will just infect the tank again. Be sure when u do your water changes to suck the gravel good to catch any eggs. If u use copper then I wouldn't worry about eggs just to be safe tho

[SKB]

Salt does harm ich when it's off of the fish. And it helps keep bacteria away when the ich falls off, it leaves tiny pinholes in the fish. So salt is not useless here. But do what you want. I used salt and heat and have never had a problem since. I was mad when i used meds and found out it stains tanks, not all meds do though. It just depends on what works better for the fish.

I know she's picked meds, but I don't want other people reading this and think salt is useless. I've gotten advise to use salt from some very experienced people when I had an ich problem.
Heat alone can kill them.

And as stated above, cleaning the tank, i forgot to mention, is important too. But u shouldn't clean anything in your tank with water that hasn't been dechlorinated. A partial cleaning (vacuuming) everyday can help.

[Shope.hannah]

Thank you all so much! I will keep posted. On the bright side. I think my cycle is complete!

[SKB]

Originally Posted by Shope.hannah

Thank you all so much! I will keep posted. On the bright side. I think my cycle is complete!

That's great!

[Shope.hannah]

Just got up and checked them. It is everywhere! Even more all over the orange one. Now it looks more like you said earlier. Hanging off the fins. Really doesn't look like ich. It's very white. Not like grains.

[SKB]

Originally Posted by Shope.hannah

Just got up and checked them. It is everywhere! Even more all over the orange one. Now it looks more like you said earlier. Hanging off the fins. Really doesn't look like ich. It's very white. Not like grains.

Pics again will help. The meds may help treat other problems if it is something different. Clean water and params also help any type of infection. But pics will help us identify exactly what is going on