Another battle with ick...

[Lonewolfblue]

Well, looks like I've got ick again. This time, my new huge bala shark. Also, my rainbow shark has been flashing this morning. So up goes the temp to 87-89 degrees.

 

[rich311k]

That stinks. Good luck. All of new rummies came down with it.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Good luck.

 

[Menagerie]

Did you QT the huge "new" bala shark?

 

[Zagz]

Oh darn that sucks! Good luck with the treatment.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Nope, too big to QT. Wouldn't fit in the small 20G.

Well, he didn't make it. Came home from work and he was floating. So I got him out immediately. Still bringing the temp up to over 86 degrees. Temp was up to 83 from 79 when I came home from work for lunch and he was fine. Planned on bumping the temp up again in the morning. So I now have 2 green tiger barbs with ick, and the albino rainbow shark and 1 skunk loach flashing. I may do it early and bump the heater up another notch or 2 before I go to bed. My other bala seems as healthy as ever, swimming all over the place. Very active, and no sign of ick on him for now. So hopefully no more losses.

 

[rich311k]

Sorry to hear that Wolf. Good Luck with the rest.

 

[Zagz]

Oh Wolf so sorry to hear that.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Oh, what did I get myself into. I got home from work, and my 2nd bala was still swimming around, but looked like he had a film around him, and his eye that was lost due to popeye a while back ago, was all puss and bloody. His other eye was huge too, and exploded. Looked like he was in pain, and not doing good, so I put him to sleep. All other fish and sharks are doing well, just 4 fish with ick. Temp is now at 87 degrees. Just wondering if there is anything else I should do to the tank besides raised temp, and PWC's. Should I just keep up with what I'm doing, or is there anything else I should do?

Temp - 87
ammonia 0ppm
nitrite 0ppm
nitrate 25ppm doing pwc tonight.
ph 7.2

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Doing another 50% PWC tonight. All's looking good with the rest of the fish. All other sharks looking great, and eels doing well.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Did some major cleaning today, and found various fish dead. First, in the 55G, where the ick is, found 1 dead tiger barb in the sewer pipes. Temp is still at 87-89 degrees. Also had a heater failure, the 2nd heater in my 55G popped, and I saw it was badly cracked, so I took it out. Not to worry though, my 300W heater (My main heater) will handle the job no problem. It's new also, unsure how old the other was, as I got it used.

26G - Did major cleaning, and ripped out all the java moss, and found my fire red dwarf gourami decaying in the moss. Kind of hard to tell if all your fish are alive when so thickly planted, lol. Also lost a couple cherry barbs as well. Need to keep an eye on my julii cory cats, to see if I'm missing one or not. They hide when I get close and can't get a good count. Also thought my smaller CAE was a gonner, but when I cleared things out, there he was. Just hiding, lol. Got rid of my hornwort as well. Just grew too fast, lol. Also need to clean up my clover too. Kind of messy. So my driftwood looks bare with a little java moss attached all over it. So it will start all over again, and grow even thicker.

75G - Did a light cleaning and PWC. Did filter maintenance also. No dead fish in the 75G. All's looking great. Probably my best maintained tank, as it takes most of my time. Tomorrow, will pull the plants and will do bleach treatment, if I get the time. Got a big day ahead of me if I do it.

EDIT -

All julii cory cats accounted for.

 

[An t-iasg]

That's good news about the julii cats! Good luck with the ich tank. What do you think caused the deaths in the 26 gallon? Hope this week will be better for you, fish-wise!

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Not really sure what caused it. All seems normal, parameters are perfect. Was just so heavily planted, pulled about 3 pounds of java moss out. Now kind of looks bare, lol

 

[catfishattack]

I know you are suppose to raise temperature to speed up the ick life cycle, but isn't 87F to 89F a bit too high? I was told not to raise beyond 82F.

Ick is mainly caused by stress, wouldn't raise temperature too high also stress fish?

 

[rich311k]

You need to go over 86f. At that temp the free swimming ich can not survive and will die. Stress will weaken a fishes system and make them more vulnerable to it. At 82f you are just creating a happy enviroment for the ich. Most tropical fish are fine AT 88=89F for a while.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

The temp needs to be above 86 degrees. My last case of ick was bad and had to raise it above 90 degrees. But looks like this time it's going away. No more sign of ick on the fish. Now the waiting period of 2 weeks. Looks like I caught it early on the other fish, went away fast.

 

[Zagz]

So sorry for all the losses. Glad though to hear things are turning around. Hopefully the 26 gal incidents were just anomalities and that is over now.

 

[Andyvette]

The temp needs to be above 86 degrees. My last case of ick was bad and had to raise it above 90 degrees. But looks like this time it's going away. No more sign of ick on the fish. Now the waiting period of 2 weeks. Looks like I caught it early on the other fish, went away fast.

How is everything now LWB?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Ick is gone, just waiting the 2 weeks now. Got 1 more week to go. It's getting hot here, so I have to keep a close eye on the temps. I checked tonight, and was up to 92 degrees. I think the glass tops were trapping in heat from the day before and today it went up a little more. But all fish are doing fine. I pulled the glass tops off to hopefully keep it a little cooler, and hope to have no jumpers as well. I turned the heater down a notch as well, as I saw it kick on even when the temp was that high. With the 2 Emperor 400's on the tank, there's plenty of aeration as well, and lots of circulation.