ICH!!!!!

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Kainen

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Mar 16, 2012
Messages
17
Location
Edmonton Alberta canada
i had an outbreak of ich in my 70 gallon tank. i treated it with 25% daily water changes/ gravel vaccumming raising the temp to 80 degrees and rid ich plus for 14 days which killed my pictus catfish because i didn't realize the medicine was harsh on them till after they died. the white spots were gone after the first 5 days of treatment and this treatment was stressing the fish which then lead to a fin rot outbreak towards the end of treatment. for which i added 1 tablespoon of aquarium salt per 5 gallons which seems to have worked for this. after the 2 weeks treatment was over i did a 50% water change and replaced the salt that i took out with the change and put carbon back into the filter to remove the rest of the medicine. the very NEXT day after the medicine was removed the white spots are back!!! i replaced the 2 pictus catfish after the treatment was over so maybe this is where the ich came back from? the catfish were white spot free when i got them and still are free of spots its other fish that were already there that have the spots returned so not sure if somehow the rid ich plus failed or the new pictus cats brought it back? anyway i'm leary of trying to re treat this problem with adding more salt for the salt meathod because i read that pictus catfish are sensative to salt and i don't want to try the same medicine again since it killed them last time. and i'm sure my water bill is getting pretty big with these daily water changes i don't know how to test for nitrite and nitrates but the tank has been going for 6 months and reads 0 ammonia and 7.8 PH. i am also leary of using the temp at 90 degrees meathod because i think it will harm the 3 feeder goldfish i have in there i know your not supposed to mix gold fish and tropical fish but when i started not knowing much about fish i started with the feeder goldfish then bought some tropical fish but for months they looked fine and stress free until i brought back an ich fish from the pet store thinking the white spot on his tail was just some damage or something >_< so any adivice on how to takle this problem?
 
A medication with Malachite Green, and formalin will work. Use at half of recommended dosage due to the Pictus. Treat a full 3 weeks to be sure ALL ich is killed. you might have not treated long enough, and the ich cysts that had dropped of the fish and were laying on the bottom hatched and reinfected the fish.
 
Can you remove the goldfish to a large tub or another tank? That way you can treat the tropicals with just heat at 86-88F and treat the goldfish with a 0.3% salt solution.
 
Ok i will try the half dose of medicine. My heater is a little undersided for my tank (200w instead of 300w) so at full heat setting tank goes to 82degrees only. So ill see how well the pictus respond to the half dose of medicine and if they start not doing well ill go get a bigger heater and try mummas meathod :) thanks for the advice ill let you know in a few days how they are doing
 
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