Argh Ick Grrr!

[Tigerlily]

Well, the new tiger barbs were still in QT and I checked them over well this morning in the light, all was fine. My impatient boyfriend has been dying to put them in the tank (I swear it's like he's 12 years old sometimes) and since it was almost two weeks and they've been healthy the whole time, I decided tonight would be OK.

Well, my office/fish room is not that well lit, so at night I couldn't see them really well. We put them in the main tank. My BF was commenting on how pretty they looked in the tank, and how the green shimmered... then I saw it. One of the new barbs had 3 salt-like white dots on its fins.

AARRRGGHH!

We pulled them out right away and put them back in the QT, which is now in the kitchen, with much better lighting and they are getting the heat treatment. I just turned it up a degree, and by bedtime tomorrow I should have it up to 88.

I am just hoping that they weren't in the main tank long enough to drop any cysts and infect anything. I'll be watching it very closely...

[Allivymar]

*nods and agrees*

Keep that eye on em in the main tank Tigerlily; theres a good possibility some cysts came over with the barbs on the nets. LOL and smack the boyfriend's hands for me.

[Tigerlily]

Yuck. Didn't even think about the nets... Hope I don't have to treat the main tank. I have white clouds in there that I don't think can take the heat. Anyone know about that? I hate using meds.

I asked the boyfriend if he learned a lesson about patience tonight... he said no, but he asked did I learn a lesson about keeping the QT well lit. PITA! (At least all the excitement has kept the burping down to a minimum).

Anyway, at least I got him to read your article... when I first told him that we needed to turn the heat up to 88, he thought I had lost my marbles.

Alli - thanks for the great article and doing that research - the only med I have in the house is melafix, so it's nice to feel like I can start doing something right away by starting to raise the heat.

BTW - I just went upstairs and smacked his hand.

[Allivymar]

Bwaaaaahahahaha! Between the burping reduction and the hand smack you're killin me LOL

[dralarms]

My lfs suggested to get a bucket (I use a "tea jug") and put all my nets in ther with some water and soem ick meds. That way nothing can live in the water. HTH

[Tigerlily]

That's a good idea. I don't have anything at home to disinfect nets. Thanks 2cents!

Now this morning, I couldn't see any ick spots on the new guys. Makes me think that I was going crazy last night... Doesn't matter, they've got 2 weeks in the QT at 88 either way.

[Fruitbat]

Interestingly...a 10% solution of household bleach makes a great disinfectant for nets and other aquarium paraphernalia as long as you remember to rinse the equipment thoroughly in tap water before you use it in your tank. Clorox (mixed 1 part to 9 parts water) works quite nicely.

[Tigerlily]

Thanks fruitbat - sounds like a nice, simple, non-medicated solution. (I like non-medicated) And I guess I could rinse with water treated with dechlorinator to insure the bleach is all gone as well...

Update** The heat is up to 88 as of this morning, and my babies are cookin'

Tiger barbs are speedy little things to begin with, but their little metabolisms are really in high gear now! 8O There is a lot more ich on them, but everyone is eating, no signs of distress and obviously active... so now, I just have to wait. :| Not my favorite thing. I think I am really lucky though to have caught this when there were only a few ich spots.

Everyone in the main tank remains ich-free for now. I did raise their temp to 80, so that if I have to treat it won't take me so long to get to 88.

I'll update when the ich is gone!

[sweetsuvvyb]

Also, if you just allow the nets to dry thoroughly between uses, there are very few aquatic parasites that would survive.

[Tigerlily]

[center:27c76e2203] Update [/center:27c76e2203]

Well, the temp has been up to 88 for just over a week now, and all the icky ich spots are gone. They have one week to go, and should go into the main tank this weekend. So far so good with the main tank. No sign of ich there, so hopefully no spores came over on the net.

Next question! Does the decrease in temperature have to be done as slowly as the increase? What is the recommended rate of temp drop?

Thanks!

[Allivymar]

Yay!! Another successful treatment

I dropped my temps at about the same rate; the thing to watch is the change in temps, not necessarily what direction it goes in.

[Tigerlily]

Thanks for all your help Alli!