Do I treat for ich too quickly ? aka is it really ich ?

[joannde]

I *believe* I'm on my third battle with ich , but sometimes I wonder if I just worry too much.

Each time I saw one fish flashing one time with one little spot. You would think that if I catch it that early that it wouldn't return. Against everyone's advice I'll even admit that I added Aquari-Sol to the QT tank for the 7 days the new fish were in QT before adding them to the tank. It was one week after the guppies were added and one day after the new panda cories were added that I thought I saw ich.

Since I treated the new fish with Aquari-Sol for 7 days before putting them in the main tank the only thought I had was that the one ich spot and the 10 seconds of flashing mean either (a) I didn't really have ick at all or (b) Aquarisol doesn't work or (c) the ich never left the tank and the one panda cory that remainded for a month without friends finally succombed to the stress, which lowered his immune system, which led to the ich, which was real

Each of the 2 times I treated for ich (prior to the current bout) I raised the temp to 88 and left it there for two weeks after the last white spot (in all cases I only saw one spot on one fish and the spot was gone after 3 days of the higher temps). This time I have the temp up to 90 and plan on leaving it up for a month.

I really hate keeping the fish at these high temperatures, but am also afraid of ich.

HELP !!! Your opinions are really appreciated. Do you think its a, b or c above ? why ?

 

[Jchillin]

More than likely you have a case of (C) +/- (B). Ich is always a problem until it is gone for good. As another precaution, try not to restock the tank for another two weeks after the treatment ends. This way you can monitor tank conditions and get all parameters back to normal and the tank should be ich free. IMHO, I don't think the Aquarisol did anything for the fish in QT, but without a separate control specimen, it will be hard to tell.

Bring the temp down to 86-88...90 is a lot.

HTH.

 

[joannde]

Ok - I knocked the temp up to 90 just in case I had that weird florida strain that needs the higher temps to be killed. I'll tune it down again.

I agree that I need to wait longer before adding fish after a treatment - you'd think by now I would have learned to be patient LOL

Since the panda has friends again I'm happy - I think I can be more patient now

The good news is that the four guppies that were added over the past two weeks are doing well (ie: they lived more than 72 hrs) - which is a big relief since I lost the first 3 I put in while I was still suffering the mystery casualties. At least the "deadly whatever" seems to be gone.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

And if you have the urge to get more fish, put them into their own QT tank for 2-3 weeks or longer. That way, like mentioned above, you aren't putting anything in til 2-3 weeks afterwards.

 

[joannde]

I'm going on vacation in mid-August and then have a business trip immediately following, so the temp will go down right before I leave. Which means no new fish until September - I should be safe ! LOL