Ich got my tetras....

[Fromthelbc]

well, i thought my tetras had ich, and one of them died... and now, theres another one swimming around the top gasping for air... i cant treat my water because i had a recent nitrite/nitrate spike, so my only other choice would be to turn up, but that means i'd have to move the guppies into my 10 gallon, should i move them and see if i can get rid of the ich?

 

[mgamer20o0]

if one fish have it they all should. couldnt find a ich thread here but know someone who did one on another site.

FRESHWATER ICH - Aquaria Central

 

[gzeiger]

Of course there's an ich thread here It's the very first sticky at the top of the forum: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f17/if-you-think-your-fish-have-ich-38796.html

Can you elaborate on your statement "i cant treat my water because i had a recent nitrite/nitrate spike" please? That doesn't make sense to me on the face of it.

Moving the fish to a 10 gallon for heat treatment does seem advisable, BUT if you're just doing it for the purpose of separating guppies from tetras I wouldn't do that. I think it's best to treat the fish together, but if medication is used steps must be taken to preserve the biofilter (like moving it to the other tank if it's empty, or a bucket, and feeding it with ammonia or something while you keep ammonia down with frequent large water changes.

 

[mgamer20o0]

dang i was blind lol i knew there was.

 

[Fromthelbc]

im at the end of the cycle, so i cant treat it because i'll have an ammonia spike... and plus, i think theres a couple fish in my other tank that are starting to get the ich... i might as well move them all together and get the treatment going...

 

[gzeiger]

Any medication marketed for ich will kill the biofilter regardless of where you are in the cycle. Your options are as follows:

1) Get a heater with an adjustable thermostat. Raise temperature to 86-87F. Recommended not to exceed 2 degrees change per 12 hours (some fish can tolerate more, depending what you have, but generally even if the fish tolerate high temperatures they do not tolerate rapid changes well). Maintain elevated temperature 2 weeks after disappearance of last white spots, then lower slowly to normal.

Advantage: biofilter survives this treatment, and the treatment will not be adversely affected by neglect. Disadvantage: if the fish are in bad shape, elevated temperatures below 86F accelerate the progression of the disease and you may have some losses.

2) Add salt at a rate of 1 teaspoon per gallon. Apply this dose three times at 12 hours intervals, then wait 3-5 days (based on 80F water temp) before beginning to remove it with partial water changes.

Advantage: it's fast and cheap, and effective. Effectiveness rises with water temperature (speeds up the parasite's life cycle, which makes it more vulnerable). Biofilter survives this treatment. Disadvantage: plants and some scaleless fish like loaches and catfish are not very tolerant of salt. Plants can be removed to a bucket for quarantine if desired and scaleless fish could be removed to the 10 gallon tank.

3) Medicate with any number of products marketed for ich.

Advantage: easy to follow instructions and quick to apply. Disadvantage: all medications for ich WILL kill your filter and restart the cycle. These chemicals are stressful to your fish, being based on either copper ion or low-dose formaldehyde, and they are even more stressful to invertebrates, so don't do this if you have snails or shrimp. Copper (malachite green) formulations are known to adsorb onto the substrate and remain toxic for long periods after removal from the water. Scaleless fish may also be intolerant of medications.

Pick one, if you're not comfortable with my advice alone then Google it a bit, but start one of these treatments within an hour of reading this post.

 

[Fromthelbc]

Any medication marketed for ich will kill the biofilter regardless of where you are in the cycle. Your options are as follows:

1) Get a heater with an adjustable thermostat. Raise temperature to 86-87F. Recommended not to exceed 2 degrees change per 12 hours (some fish can tolerate more, depending what you have, but generally even if the fish tolerate high temperatures they do not tolerate rapid changes well). Maintain elevated temperature 2 weeks after disappearance of last white spots, then lower slowly to normal.

Advantage: biofilter survives this treatment, and the treatment will not be adversely affected by neglect. Disadvantage: if the fish are in bad shape, elevated temperatures below 86F accelerate the progression of the disease and you may have some losses.

2) Add salt at a rate of 1 teaspoon per gallon. Apply this dose three times at 12 hours intervals, then wait 3-5 days (based on 80F water temp) before beginning to remove it with partial water changes.

Advantage: it's fast and cheap, and effective. Effectiveness rises with water temperature (speeds up the parasite's life cycle, which makes it more vulnerable). Biofilter survives this treatment. Disadvantage: plants and some scaleless fish like loaches and catfish are not very tolerant of salt. Plants can be removed to a bucket for quarantine if desired and scaleless fish could be removed to the 10 gallon tank.

3) Medicate with any number of products marketed for ich.

Advantage: easy to follow instructions and quick to apply. Disadvantage: all medications for ich WILL kill your filter and restart the cycle. These chemicals are stressful to your fish, being based on either copper ion or low-dose formaldehyde, and they are even more stressful to invertebrates, so don't do this if you have snails or shrimp. Copper (malachite green) formulations are known to adsorb onto the substrate and remain toxic for long periods after removal from the water. Scaleless fish may also be intolerant of medications.

Pick one, if you're not comfortable with my advice alone then Google it a bit, but start one of these treatments within an hour of reading this post.

now will the salt treatmeant kill my snail too? and would it be good to move all my fish with ich into my 1 gallon for a salt treatment?


also what kind of salt?

 

[gzeiger]

Most snails will tolerate that level of salt, but the snail will be fine if you put it in a temporary container during treatment too.

Any kind of salt is fine. You can get something labeled Aquarium Salt at the pet store, but the additives in normal table salt shouldn't be harmful at this dose. If it concerns you, look for Kosher salt at the grocery store. It should be in the $1 range. All you're doing is dehydrating the parasite, so any soluble ion will kill it, but fish are particularly tolerant of sodium chloride.

Seriously, this parasite will kill your fish. You need to start treatment right away.

Moving fish into a separate tank for treatment is a good idea in principle, but it's likely to raise the ammonia level in a tank that small, which can be worse than the disease. Also, parasites will remain in the water of the other tank for some time (weeks) if untreated, so you'd have to keep the fish out of it until they've all died. Overall not recommended in your case.

If you still haven't done anything, a large water change with a good gravel vacuum prior to the first treatment will reduce the number of free-swimming parasites still looking for hosts.

 

[Fromthelbc]

Most snails will tolerate that level of salt, but the snail will be fine if you put it in a temporary container during treatment too.

Any kind of salt is fine. You can get something labeled Aquarium Salt at the pet store, but the additives in normal table salt shouldn't be harmful at this dose. If it concerns you, look for Kosher salt at the grocery store. It should be in the $1 range. All you're doing is dehydrating the parasite, so any soluble ion will kill it, but fish are particularly tolerant of sodium chloride.

Seriously, this parasite will kill your fish. You need to start treatment right away.

Moving fish into a separate tank for treatment is a good idea in principle, but it's likely to raise the ammonia level in a tank that small, which can be worse than the disease. Also, parasites will remain in the water of the other tank for some time (weeks) if untreated, so you'd have to keep the fish out of it until they've all died. Overall not recommended in your case.

If you still haven't done anything, a large water change with a good gravel vacuum prior to the first treatment will reduce the number of free-swimming parasites still looking for hosts.

all taken care of. the treatment is started, i dont see any ich left... i havent seen any for like the past 2 days, but that doesnt mean its gone...i pulled the heater out and the waters staying at a steady 76, all the plants are out, and its just the tetra, gavel, and filter.

 

[gzeiger]

Sounds good. I would put the heater back in (raise temperature slowly). Accelerating the life cycle of the parasite will assist in its eradication now that you've established that the conditions in the tank are not favorable for its successful reproduction.

I take it you went with the salt? Make sure to lower the salinity slowly when you're done since the fish will need some time to adapt.

 

[Fromthelbc]

im going to treat him, get the salinty low, and move him into the 10 gallon, then get some more tetras for him to hang out with..

 

[Mordred_]

Melafix has been my disease treatment for pretty much everything. Have you tried it? Helps build up the fishes tolerance with a natural medicine.

 

[Fromthelbc]

havent tried much yet, i'll give it a go...

 

[ScottS]

My favorite ich article: Ich