How do i get rid of this ich infestation !!

[candymancan]

So my mom purchased like 3-4 platy's at petco one day and they were fine then she got a few more at petsmart a few days later... She has a 40-50 gal tank and it only has like 15 fish in it.. ll PLaty's 4 neons which have been in there for a couple years and 2 big gourami's and 2 small sucker catfish.

I noticed the new platy's from petsmart after a few days started getting ich on them pretty badly... Riddled in it.. I went to petsmart and sure enough ALL there tanks now have ich... What scares me is I got a few neons and glowlight tetra's from them as well... She has 3-4 platy's die so far

Anyway I have raised the temps to around 86f its been like that for 3 days now.. I also got some Kordon Rich Ich + and I have been using 4 teespoon in the tank every 24 hours and I have been vacuuming the rocks and taking 30-40% of the water out each day (she has super high nitrates that's another reason why im doing big water changes) Im using prime to dechlorinate the water too. It doesn't seem like the ich is going away tho... In fact its looking worse.. Instead of just a few platy's having it now all the fish have it.. the neons and everything..

I decided to try this salt method im reading about.. I put like 4-5 teaspoon of dissolved salt in the aquarium today after the water change and I guess Ill keep doing water changes every day and see how it works...

Am I doing this wrong ? I was told ich goes away after 2-3 days and then you keep up treatment for another 3 days to make sure its gone... Mine is getting worse on the 3rd day its basicly exploded in this tank..


Now as for my tank I have a 27G Hexagon... I have 28 fish in the tank and the glowlights which I got from petsmart as well before we knew about the ich seem to be doing fine.. I do notice 1 glowlight has 1-2 small white dots on it but I think they went away... However I noticed one of my celebus rainbow fish has 1 dot on it now..

Could this be ich ? Should I start raising my temps without salt and chemicals and see what happens or should I just wait it out ?

Also one of my celebus rainbow's has like a broken jaw.. He was ok the first 1-2 days now he is just idle near the bottom wont eat or swim around.. This was an expensive fish.. Should I wait it out or scoop him up and get my money back ? I don't want to wait too long before it dies $10 goes down the drain

 

[bshenanagins]

How long have they had it? Ich does not go away that fast. When my tank got it I didn't see progress until about a week went by. Follow the directions on the Rid Ich + bottle it works great just follow the directions and do the full dose. Keep temps up and make sure you have surface agitation. The higher the temperature the less oxygen in the water. You can take it to 88 if you want.

 

[candymancan]

It was at 89 apparently because my mom's old water heater when set at say 76 itll be like 82.. so when I had it at 82 it was almost 90 so I turned it down a tad to 86...

They the platy's have had the ich for 4 days now the neons just started showing dots today.. I started treatment 3 days ago.. As for surface agitation.. The filters are out of the tank but the filter is still running its one of those older duel biobag type filters.. She also has a really strong powerhead connected to the those poles and white plates that go under the rocks.. And I purchased a UV sterilizer.. but im thinking of maybe returning it and getting my $50 back.. I don't think we need that and it was really expensive.. or should I keep the sterilizer ?

 

[bshenanagins]

It was at 89 apparently because my mom's old water heater when set at say 76 itll be like 82.. so when I had it at 82 it was almost 90 so I turned it down a tad to 86...

They the platy's have had the ich for 4 days now the neons just started showing dots today.. I started treatment 3 days ago.. As for surface agitation.. The filters are out of the tank but the filter is still running its one of those older duel biobag type filters.. She also has a really strong powerhead connected to the those poles and white plates that go under the rocks.. And I purchased a UV sterilizer.. but im thinking of maybe returning it and getting my $50 back.. I don't think we need that and it was really expensive.. or should I keep the sterilizer ?

It's of no use once Ich has already infested the tank, it's a preventative. You can keep it but WC's should be enough. I usually run one when I introduce new fish incase they are carrying anything. And what do you mean the filter is out of the tank but still running? And are you referring to an under gravel filter? Those aren't the best. You should really invest in a good canister or a couple of HOB filters. If your only 3 days in dont fret just keep up with the treatment and keep the temp up, hang in there

 

[candymancan]

Yea both of my tanks are older tanks and use undergravel filters.. What I mean by the pump is running is that I took the biobags out and left the filter running to keep water flowing. This specific tank with the ich is 20+ years old original heater, pump and everything lamp is original too, of course it has a new bulb and stuff tho but yea.

Soo do you think I should keep the uv or return it ? The problem in my moms tank is she rarely does water changes... Like shell only clean it once the walls start to get algea on them and then suck up the rocks and change 25% of the water but that's only once every month or so. I was told the UV filter will help with her algea problem and also help keep the tank clean as a whole for someone who doesn't do water changes that much..

I also purchased 3 plants for my hexagon a sword plant, java fern, and wisteria plant.. Im thinking of splitting them up and putting half in my tank and half in hers (once her ich issue is done)


Now what about my tank ? The glowlight that had 1-2 spots on it looks clean now, but one of my celebus rainbows has 1 spot on it.. so does 1 neon only 1 spot.. Could this be ich ? It looks like the white dot from ich but it isn't exploding in my tank... Should I turn my water temps up to 82 or so or leave it alone and keep an eye on it ?

 

[Darkseid76]

Heat speeds up ich life cycle. What kind of salt are you using? It should be aquarium salt not table salt.

Heat and salt definitely work. Just be patient. Next time quarantine new fish to avoid spreading diseases to your main tank. I made same mistake.

 

[candymancan]

Its just reqular table salt..

 

[bshenanagins]

Yeah you can't use table salt. And no offense, but no water changes is a HUGE mistake. It's a miracle your only just dealing with Ich. WC's not only removes te harmful nitrogen toxins but other things we can't test for, like disease etc. A UV can only help so much, but with no water changes it's not going to do much at all.

 

[candymancan]

No offense to you but I mentioned we got the ich from the petsmart... I went back 2 days after she got the fish and noticed ALL of there "linked" tanks had a big time ich infestation..

Yes she doesn't change her water every week but she does clean the tank every few weeks maybe once a month but if she has had 4-5 neon tetra's for 2 years I highely doubt the tank was diseased or horrible conditions.. The only thing wrong was the nitrates were high.. In fact her gravel barely had anything in it when I vacuumed so its pretty clean for the most part.. but the nitrates were too high..

Anyway Im doing daily water changes no heating the tank, im going back to petsmart to get a refund for one of my rainbow fish that has a broken jaw and same with a white cloud I got for my tank and im gonna get aquarium salt then.. and keep using the meds..

 

[bshenanagins]

No offense to you but I mentioned we got the ich from the petsmart... I went back 2 days after she got the fish and noticed ALL of there "linked" tanks had a big time ich infestation..

Yes she doesn't change her water every week but she does clean the tank every few weeks maybe once a month but if she has had 4-5 neon tetra's for 2 years I highely doubt the tank was diseased or horrible conditions.. The only thing wrong was the nitrates were high.. In fact her gravel barely had anything in it when I vacuumed so its pretty clean for the most part.. but the nitrates were too high..

Anyway Im doing daily water changes no heating the tank, im going back to petsmart to get a refund for one of my rainbow fish that has a broken jaw and same with a white cloud I got for my tank and im gonna get aquarium salt then.. and keep using the meds..

Yes I read that petsmart was the culprit, I just can't fathom no WC for a couple weeks lol. High nitrates are toxic, but I guess if the fish got used to it..anyway, the aquarium salt method can be a hit or miss. I find people like to do it cuz it's natural and avoids meds, but some infestations your more likely to lose more fish than you save. Sorry if you stated this already, but why are you not raising the temp?

 

[candymancan]

I did raise the temps.. Its at 86-88f been like that for 4 days now.. Since my hex tank im noticing a few spots here and there on a couple I decided to raise its temps to 80f.. But it hasn't exploded like the other tank, and the few fish that did have it I noticed its gone now so ima just keep an eye on this tank..

So far tho my moms tank has had 5 fish die.. It pisses me off when you spend like $20 on fish and then they die abd bring a disease over and kill other fish... Im going to the petsmart in another city now, I just got back from there and there tanks despite being linked together like the other one are way cleaner and they have a much better selection... The petsmart where I live is terrible... there tanks have ich and they got a lot of dead fish and they still sell them too.. I wish there was a way to complain or report that store

 

[Sidman24]

I would try a chemical called Quick Cure. It got rid of my horrible ich disease that killed over 5 of my fish! It worked in just 2-3 days!

 

[bshenanagins]

I would try a chemical called Quick Cure. It got rid of my horrible ich disease that killed over 5 of my fish! It worked in just 2-3 days!

That is popular with people and I'm a big fan of Rid Ich +

 

[Darkseid76]

You guys need to read up on ich life cycle. Also ANY lfs/chain store has the potential to have disease carrying fish.

If you take the time to properly QT new fish you can save a lot of time and heartache. By using quarantine you can treat a fish before introducing them to your main tank.

I have a platy in QT now that was dealing with fin rot( from PetSmart ). Now that he has been treated( isolation and good water quality was all it took, no meds ), I will be adding him to my display tank.

 

[bshenanagins]

You guys need to read up on ich life cycle. Also ANY lfs/chain store has the potential to have disease carrying fish.

If you take the time to properly QT new fish you can save a lot of time and heartache. By using quarantine you can treat a fish before introducing them to your main tank.

I have a platy in QT now that was dealing with fin rot( from PetSmart ). Now that he has been treated( isolation and good water quality was all it took, no meds ), I will be adding him to my display tank.

I don't QT, I just don't get fish if I see most tanks have lethargic, sickly, or even dead fish present. I'm aware of the Ich cycle and that fish carry it whether or not they show symptoms when you purchase them. It's a long process, and not to quarrel, but what gives you the idea that I don't understand Ich? Again not arguing, just curious.

 

[Darkseid76]

I don't QT, I just don't get fish if I see most tanks have lethargic, sickly, or even dead fish present. I'm aware of the Ich cycle and that fish carry it whether or not they show symptoms when you purchase them. It's a long process, and not to quarrel, but what gives you the idea that I don't understand Ich? Again not arguing, just curious.

Sorry wasn't aiming my comment at you and I'm not trying to be confrontational.

Just trying to help others avoid common mistakes in our hobby.

Fish in general are stressed and prone to disease from lfs/pet stores. I learned this the hard way unfortunately, I never introduce without QT ever again.

Last time I brought home a betta without doing a proper QT and it ended up costing me my neons and platies and the betta to a quick illness I could never identify. So any time I see a fellow hobbyist struggling I give my advice based on my experience and research.

Again no disrespect intended and I apologize.

 

[KevinMT]

Okay I'll give you my two cents, for give me if I over lap on some things. I have had to deal with ich before and it is not an easy thing. For me I use aquarium salt ( 1 tsp a gallon over a 24-48 hour period, there are 3 tea spoons in a table spoon). I also use the heat treatment along with salt. Turn your heat up to 86, but I'm pretty sure you have done that. I've read an article that was based on studies on ich. According to it, ich can not infect new fish at 85. Ich can not reproduce at 86 degrees, and dies completely at 89.5 degrees. So I would keep the treatment up 10 days after the last ich spot is spotted.

 

[bshenanagins]

Okay I'll give you my two cents, for give me if I over lap on some things. I have had to deal with ich before and it is not an easy thing. For me I use aquarium salt ( 1 tsp a gallon over a 24-48 hour period, there are 3 tea spoons in a table spoon). I also use the heat treatment along with salt. Turn your heat up to 86, but I'm pretty sure you have done that. I've read an article that was based on studies on ich. According to it, ich can not infect new fish at 85. Ich can not reproduce at 86 degrees, and dies completely at 89.5 degrees. So I would keep the treatment up 10 days after the last ich spot is spotted.

That's interesting, could you send a link? I've never actually read any educated articles on Ich. But I have heard conflicting evidence on whether or not Ich is actually killed off by heat or not.

 

[KevinMT]

One I don't think I'm supposed to put links on here and two I don't remember the link, I just took a screen shot of part of the article.

 

[KevinMT]

I just uploaded the screen shot to my profile, it's brief but it's something.