Can ich spread?

[Luv4bettas]

Can ich spread in a community tank?

 

[Patty1980]

Yes, quickly.

 

[aqua_holic]

If one fish has it then the whole tank should be treated as all the fish have been exposed. Other fish may or may not show spots like the ones that are clearly infested. Not showing spots doesn't mean that the fish is not carrying the parasite.

 

[ppo8820]

YESSSS, that is what Ich does. When you see it on the fish, it means it has latched on and the fish's body has produced cells to cover the ich. You cant even treat it at this phase. After a few days, those white spots will fall off the fish and land in the gravel, where it will BURST into a bunch of tiny free swimming ich, which is the only time you can kill them.

I just had a huge run in with ich and lost 2 young platys. Let me make it easy for you as I tried all methods. Heat your tank up to 86 degrees slowly (1 degree an hour). Ich cannot reproduce at that temp and wont live well in it. Then wait 10 days and make sure its 10 days. The high temp will be fine for most fish, including snails as I found. Its less stressful than meds and you can skip the salt if you arent comfortable adding any.

Add an airstone for extra air as hot water doesnt hold oxygen well. That or you can drop the water level so the HOB filter splashes when it returns the water to tank.

Thats it, in a few days the ich will fall off, then during the stages its swimming (which you cant see) they will die. 10 days, nothing shorter, even if you see nothing on your fish. Its the only way and its the safest for your fish. Google it if you doubt me, I had my doubts too but it works.

 

[ppo8820]

If you do add salt, it can help the fish to heal and protect them. You should use aquarium salt at about 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons, but add it slowly and disolve it first to avoid it burning the fish. Do NOT use it if you have snails, cat fish, or other scaleless fish as it will kill them. Heat alone will work, but some like the benefit of salt. Heat is all you need. 86 degrees, 10 days, and it may appear to get worse before it gets better as the high temp speeds up the parasites life cycle.

You will also want to do daily 50% water changes making sure to vacuum the gravel, which will help pull the ich out a that are settled down there. Make sure the water you add back is 86 degrees and free of chlorine. Good luck.

 

[aqua_holic]

The heat treatment works with or without water changes and vacuums, in my experience.

 

[dalto]

The heat treatment works with or without water changes and vacuums, in my experience.

+1

If you are treating with heat there should be no need for water changes.

 

[blubarb]

I'm new here, I came seeking advice on ich as well. I believe I have an ich problem, and I really want to save my 10+/- year old blood parrot, he was essentially the sole survivor of an ich infestation we had last year and he is acting crazier than usual now.

Aside from his bizarre aggression toward tank decor, other signs are tiny white bubbles on the fins of my pink tailed chalceus and now my silver dollars are looking a bit bubbly too. Blood parrot's color has been off as well, and the whole tank is very quiet lately.

I took over the 75 gallon tank from my boyfriend, who had several large african cichlids, a lace cat, and a clown knife in there with my big blood parrot and the chalceus.

He does not believe in tank maintenance. Doesn't check water quality, add salt or change his filter cartridges regularly, doesn't do anything but replace evaporated water and add the occasional fish, plant, or decor. Somehow this works for him, probably because he does things like giving his filthy 75 gal tank to his gf and moving his fish to the 55 gal tank I'd been changing the water and filters in and had managed to bring the poor quaility of the water up in.

I added four small blood parrots and moved a cory cat and a raphael striped cat from another tank in. The bf had bought some hybrid striped cat but it was attacked in his tank so it ended up in mine too. It died a while later, presumably from being injured in the other tank.

A few weeks later, I added a dwarf giraffe cat and the bf surprised me with four more, very unwanted and unneeded small blood parrots. I also added a couple of amazon sword plants each time. He also got another striped cat that is being babysat in my peaceful tank til it's big enough to handle his mean african cichlids.

By this time, my water quality was ok except for the nitrates. I was doing 10% to 15% water changes every couple of days, adding stress coat. Nothing seemed to have made any real difference. Nitrates are still high.

The ignorant bf swears the frequent water changes caused the ich, I think it came in on a new fish or plant. Either way, I have a heater but it doesn't regulate well, and i have some QuIck Cure on hand. I also have 20 gals of water sitting waiting to be added. What's my best course of action?

 

[aqua_holic]

Can you post some pictures?

 

[blubarb]

I did the best I could, the silver dollars are hard to catch still, and my glass could be cleaner. Big Orange is not acting crazy and has his color at the moment, but he's not well either.

 

[aqua_holic]

That's definitely ich. I've had great success with quick cure, which is what I used to use before learning of heat. It can stain some decor and silicon though, so that's something to consider. I've heard of people using a dip but I don't know anything about that.

 

[CheriD]

I am dealing with Ick as well and I'm am a newbie at all this. I just set up a 30g with guppies, endlers, plecos, catfish, 1 betta and high five tetras, November 7th. The tetras were just added this weekend and are now riddled with spots. I now also see it on a few plecos and my betta. I have raised temp that I normally keep at 80 and have added salt as this is what I was advised to do from place I buy all my fish from, but I am now reading that salt will kill catfish??? Please tell me this is not true.

 

[ppo8820]

Scaleless fish do not tolerate salt very well and most people with snails, cat fish, etc will skip the salt. Just do a partial water change and it will lower the salt levels. I don't think it will kill the catfish if you just change the water and then continue with heat.

People say not to vacuum, but I did and my ich was gone in a week. That was last month but I kept temp up for 10 days.


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[ppo8820]

Also plecos are considered scaleless as well so get on those water changes to lower the salt levels. It will work out


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[ppo8820]

The heat treatment works with or without water changes and vacuums, in my experience.

True but vacuuming the gravel in sections can help suck out some of the cysts and help speed up the removal of the parasite. It's a personal preference but yes heat alone will do the trick.


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[aqua_holic]

Right, but since the swimmers are all going to die once the cyst bursts, why bother removing the cysts? That's the point dalto and I are making.

I understand that ich was gone for you in a week with heat and vacuums, but know that it's gone in that same week for those of us that don't vacuum, too.



Yes I agree, water changes to remove the salt.

 

[Lung Fish]

Yeah,Ich can spread,i lost my whole community tank (exept for a cory) from it.Oh and,What is the fish in the top pic,with the red tail?

 

[ppo8820]

Right, but since the swimmers are all going to die once the cyst bursts, why bother removing the cysts? That's the point dalto and I are making.

I understand that ich was gone for you in a week with heat and vacuums, but know that it's gone in that same week for those of us that don't vacuum, too.



Yes I agree, water changes to remove the salt.

Thats true I guess. I just did the gravel suctions because I like a nice clean tank and I wanted to do everything I could. My prize angel was in that tank.

 

[blubarb]

Yeah,Ich can spread,i lost my whole community tank (exept for a cory) from it.Oh and,What is the fish in the top pic,with the red tail?

That was a pink tailed chalceus. He didn't make it. Also lost my giraffe cat and the striped hybrid cat and one silver dollar. Don't expect the other silver dollar to make it til morning. Might lose a couple of my baby blood parrots, raphael cat is not looking good either.

My cory cat is busy and hungry and looks good, he survived a round of Ich almost a year ago, as did my big orange blood parrot, who is still under the weather but seems on the upswing.

I had a very dilute amount of salt already in the tank, and still reading beyond toxic nitrates. With fish dying fast, I figured a drastic water change was worth the risk at this point. So I took out as much as I could without leaving the fish exposed, maybe 15-20 gals of old water still in there.
Hard to say, considering displacement by sand and decor. Replaced with water I'd treated prior with conditioner and left for 24 hrs to reach room temp and all so as to minimize the risk of shocking them in their weakened state.

At that point I felt more comfortable adding the QuICK Cure, which seemed to start making the cysts come off the chalceus really quickly. Not fast enough tho. :-(

If I read right, I do the drops for 2 more days and then a water change and another round if needed. Then replace my charcoal filters I removed with new ones to get the meds out.

One good thing, my nitrates are finally down to something potentially survivable now. On the right track, I hope.

Oh, i also added a couple of air lines to help them get more oxygen beyond what the filter provides.

 

[Lung Fish]

That was a pink tailed chalceus. He didn't make it. Also lost my giraffe cat and the striped hybrid cat and one silver dollar. Don't expect the other silver dollar to make it til morning. Might lose a couple of my baby blood parrots, raphael cat is not looking good either.

My cory cat is busy and hungry and looks good, he survived a round of Ich almost a year ago, as did my big orange blood parrot, who is still under the weather but seems on the upswing.

I had a very dilute amount of salt already in the tank, and still reading beyond toxic nitrates. With fish dying fast, I figured a drastic water change was worth the risk at this point. So I took out as much as I could without leaving the fish exposed, maybe 15-20 gals of old water still in there.
Hard to say, considering displacement by sand and decor. Replaced with water I'd treated prior with conditioner and left for 24 hrs to reach room temp and all so as to minimize the risk of shocking them in their weakened state.

At that point I felt more comfortable adding the QuICK Cure, which seemed to start making the cysts come off the chalceus really quickly. Not fast enough tho. :-(

If I read right, I do the drops for 2 more days and then a water change and another round if needed. Then replace my charcoal filters I removed with new ones to get the meds out.

One good thing, my nitrates are finally down to something potentially survivable now. On the right track, I hope.

Oh, i also added a couple of air lines to help them get more oxygen beyond what the filter provides.

Where did you get the pink tailed chalceus?