Help with "API Liquid Super Ich Cure"

[Kentaaa]

Hello everyone!

Yesterday I noticed my Gold Leopard Gourami acting very strangely. He was darting around the aquarium, "rocking" back and forth", and appeared to be rubbing his fins into the glass. I could not for the life of me figure it out. He did not appear to have anything physically wrong with him (that I could see). Upon further investigation I noticed a few small white specks on the tail fin of my Australian Rainbow. I figured it was probably ich. I then inspected my other fish and noticed ALL of them had some varying degree of these specks. The severity goes from my Angel which has one or two specks only on its right pectoral fin all the way to my Hatchets which have 8-12 specks all over them. The hatchets are the ONLY fish that have the spots on their actual bodies. The other fish only show signs on their fins. I even noticed that the Gourami had two specks on his tail fin so that must be what was causing him to be in distress.

I went to my local PetSmart and purchased "API Super Ich Cure" as well as a digital thermometer. My aquarium was originally at about 72-74 degrees. I placed a heater in and turned it on and I currently am checking the temperature every hour and logging it in a notebook to ensure the temp. does not spike more than a degree or two within one hour. I have read that my rainbows and dojo loach don't appreciate high temperatures, that is why I am raising it so slowly. I am probably going to hold the temperature at 87 degrees. I really do not want to go any higher and risk killing everything. I wish I could've just raised the temperature and added salt to cure the Ich however I have both a Clown Loach and a Cory Cat which cannot handle salt. Therefore I had to medicate.

As per the instructions I am half-dosing due to my scaleless fish. A full dose for my tank size would be 45mL so I calculated a half dose would be at 22.5mL. I decided not to add all 22.5mL at once because I did not want to shock or possibly kill my fish. At first I added 10mL (which was at 5pm). At 7PM I added 5mL more. It is now 8PM and I plan to add the remaining 7.5mL at 9PM.

I am planning to do about a 20% water change tomorrow morning as well as vacuum the gravel. Should I add more medication to replenish what was taken out during the water change? The bottle's instructions say to dose, wait 48 hours, dose again, wait 48 more hours, perform a 20% water change and add carbon. It does not say anything about water changes or vacuuming prior to 96 hours after the first dose. However, I read on a few online forums to vacuum and water change every day. I am so confused, scared, and panicking. I have NEVER had ich before and I am so scared of losing all my fish. Does anyone have any tips or tricks to curing? Or is there anything more or different I should be doing? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

P.S I have included my stock list below for reference:

1x Gold Gourami
2x Rainbows (One Boesemani, One Australian)
1x Striped Angelfish
1x Diamond Tetra
3x Mollies (One Salfin/Lyretail, Two Balloon)
5x Marble Hatchets
3x Glass Cats
1x Dojo Loach
1x Clown Loach
1x Angelicus Loach
1x Sterba's Cory Cat
1x Farlowella

 

[Kentaaa]

Also I would like to add:

In my canister filter I do have a few bags of carbon that I left in. These bags are approx. a month old and I'm sure they are inactive. I did not want to remove them however because I did not want to deplete a large amount of my beneficial bacteria and risk Nitrites/trates spiking during such a stressful time for the fish.

My filter also has a 9w UV light built in. I usually run it about 5-6 hours per day but I have kept it off because I did not want it to affect the medication. Should I turn it back on? I know UV lights can kill parasites but from my reading I figured that Ich cysts live in/on the gravel and decorations and not in the water column. Can someone verify this?

Thanks so much!

 

[Delapool]

Ime as long as ich is caught early the fish have a good chance.


A water change before adding meds (or heat treatment method) is useful to freshen water and reduce organic load which will soak up meds and/or encourage secondary bacterial infections.


I'm not sure that the carbon is inactive. It might depend on which pore spaces in the carbon have been filled but that is just a guess. Would be interested if the med seems to clear suddenly. (Other thought is that if the carbon has removed dissolved organics and dissolved organics will soak up your meds as well, then might be a second problem.)


I'd just leave the UV light off. It could denature the meds and I doubt a filter UV will be effective on parasites imo.

 

[Matt68005]

I am planning to do about a 20% water change tomorrow morning as well as vacuum the gravel. Should I add more medication to replenish what was taken out during the water change? The bottle's instructions say to dose, wait 48 hours, dose again, wait 48 more hours, perform a 20% water change and add carbon. It does not say anything about water changes or vacuuming prior to 96 hours after the first dose. However, I read on a few online forums to vacuum and water change every day. I am so confused, scared, and panicking. I have NEVER had ich before and I am so scared of losing all my fish. Does anyone have any tips or tricks to curing? Or is there anything more or different I should be doing? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

P.S I have included my stock list below for reference:

1x Gold Gourami
2x Rainbows (One Boesemani, One Australian)
1x Striped Angelfish
1x Diamond Tetra
3x Mollies (One Salfin/Lyretail, Two Balloon)
5x Marble Hatchets
3x Glass Cats
1x Dojo Loach
1x Clown Loach
1x Angelicus Loach
1x Sterba's Cory Cat
1x Farlowella

1. Thats the idea, dosent have to be perfect just close, replace what you took out, same with salt
2. Always follow insturctions on medications
3. Your tank seems overstocked
4. Why not simply take out the cories and shrimp or anything else malachite sensitive, until its done?

 

[Matt68005]

Also I would like to add:

In my canister filter I do have a few bags of carbon that I left in. These bags are approx. a month old and I'm sure they are inactive. I did not want to remove them however because I did not want to deplete a large amount of my beneficial bacteria and risk Nitrites/trates spiking during such a stressful time for the fish.

My filter also has a 9w UV light built in. I usually run it about 5-6 hours per day but I have kept it off because I did not want it to affect the medication. Should I turn it back on? I know UV lights can kill parasites but from my reading I figured that Ich cysts live in/on the gravel and decorations and not in the water column. Can someone verify this?

Thanks so much!

No your good, why only 5-6 hours?
Fish dont really sleep except certain kinds, leave it on 12-16hrs is fine.
WIll not affect the medicine, thats only certain kinds, tetracycline, levimasole
Ovbiously it hasnt killed any parasites, its more for bacteria as far as i know (never had one tho)
Dont worry so much, sounds like your doing good