Ich? How does it look like?

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Neuve

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Aug 24, 2003
Messages
228
Location
Mexico
Umm like yesterday I spoted like a a white tiny spot like glass sugar coating on one of my corys. Today it seems to have grown, i moved him into the QT tank and treated him with some methylene blue. Was I right to treat him with that?

By the way, whats the survival rate youve got on ick-sick fish?

Thanx
Pato
 
Ich looks like grains of salt or sugar. If it IS ich, meth blue will probably not help. Take a look here for some detailed info on what ich is, and how to treat it: http://www.caloriesperhour.com/fish/notes_ich.html

I personally haven't lost a fish to ich yet. However, I haven't used chemicals either. I treated my clown loaches with heat and salt, and my cardinals with heat. The loaches came down with it about a little over a month ago; they have been ich free for a month. The cardinals haven't shown a sign of ich in about 4 days (they were bought a week ago Saturday and started showing signs on Tues). These are in different tanks and have different sources of ich, but in both cases a minimum of 2 weeks of treatment even tho the noticeable spots were gone in 3-5 days.

Depends on the fish, how badly theyre infected, what the tank water parameters are like and how well they handle the meds (if you use them).
 
We brought home a Gourami and after he was quarantined, we put him in the community tank. This stressed one of our Lemon Tetras out and all three tetras developed ick, as did the Gourami and our YoYo Loach... We raised the temp of the water to 82 and added some aquarium salt to the tank. This kept the ich from spreading but it didn't get rid of it. So we had to treat w/ Ick medicine. This was a problem since we weren't supposed to treat our loach w/ it... but we had no choice since he already had ick. The medicine got rid of the ick but we lost two of the lemons the next day and the YoYo Loach a couple of days later.

So basically, if you catch it early, you have a better change of getting rid of it w/o losing fish... Unfortunately, it took a day or two for the ich to show up in our tank so we didn't catch it quite soon enough. :(

We just added another powder blue Gourami to our community tank so I've been watching them - esp. the remaining Lemon Tetra - like a hawk... I don't like that the lemon is by herself but I am not sure I want to add any more of them since they seem quite flighty and prone to stressing out over little things. The Lemon Tetra we have left tends to hang out w/ our zebra danios (who were not affected by the ich, oddly enough), so at least she has some friends.

Sheila
 
I've been reading through the posts about ick here...I think one of my Black Mollies has it. It looks kind of like dandruff on her back and tail. As far as I can see, none of my other fish seem to have it.

So I'd like to try to get rid of the ick without medication, just because my tank is only 2 wks old and still cycling. So if I slowly start raising the temp to get up to over 86 (I think Allivymar said it has to be over 86 for the ick to die off), and adding aquarium salt, the ick should die in a couple of weeks, right?

My questions are these:
1) How quickly do I get the temp up to 87 or 88? My temp now is 76. Should I have it up there within a couple of days or more?
2) How often do I add the salt, and how much?
3) Will this affect my other fish? There are 2 other Black Mollies, 5 Red Platies and 2 Cory Catfish.

THANKS!
 
I did the exact same thing with a QT not too long ago myriam.

First off make sure all your fish can handle temps that high; if they can, start moving temps up....you keep your temps rather low. Hrmmm. I'd move it up a degree and a half every 6 hours. Should take you around 2 days to hit at least 86f; and another 6 hrs to reach 87-88f. I don't want to recommend moving temps up any quicker, but ich multiplies faster at higher temps (until you reach 86f or so) and I also don't want to stress your fish out with more parasites; moving the temp up at that rate sorta puts it in the middle.

I wouldn't use salt; apparently cory cats don't handle it well, especially at the levels needed to kill off ich. I couldn't use salt in the QT tank as there were the cardinals in there and salt isn't recommended for em.

The high temps SHOULD be enough. Do keep in mind, high temps can also be stressful to fish (although my guys have never had a prob with it), and be sure there is enough surface agitation as higher temps means less O2 in the water.

It only took me a day and a half to raise my temps to 88f, but my tank was already at 81f. I noticed the infestation starting to reduce in about 4-5 days; I kept temps at 88f for 2 weeks just to be sure all the ich parasites were dead.
 
Thanks Allivymar, you are my hero :D

I will avoid the salt then. I moved the temp up last night before I went to bed, so it's now up to 78. I adjusted the heater again this morning, so it should be at 80 by this afternoon/evening.

The thing I also noticed is that my water got really cloudy overnight. Is that from the Ammonia Clear tabs I put in yesterday or the high temp? Or is this just a normal part of the cycling (my tank is just over 2 wks old)? I just want to know if this is something I should be concerned about.

Unfortunately one of my platies was doing a perma-nap on the gravel this morning. I kind of figured some fish wouldn't get through this, and I'm hoping the casualty rate will be loooowww. The other fish seem to be pretty active, although I noticed they are all hanging out at the bottom of the filter overflow--is this normal? Are they needing/enjoying the water's agitation there?

I also noticed the mollies seem a lot more relaxed, as their fins are all flowing around instead of tight against their bodies.

So hopefully in another day or so I'll have the temp up to 88, and then I guess from there it's wait and see for a couple of weeks!

Allivymar, I'm sure you'll see me post again soon (heehee, my husband thinks I'm getting obsessed with the fish, since I supposedly bought the aquarium for our little daughters to enjoy).
 
LOL You're welcome myriam :) You flatter me!

Its quite possible the Ammonia Clear tablets are the cause of the cloudy water. I've never used an ammonia reducing agent, but I'd guess the tablet has added something to the water; either a chemical, or something for heterotrophic bacteria to chow on and they bloomed.

You've got a wonderfully realistic attitude towards disease :) I know how hard is it to lose any fish, and hopefully that one platy will be the only one, but its good to see you realise how serious ich can be and are prepared.

You will want to increase surface agitation. My guess is, the reason they are hanging out by the outflow, is they are looking for areas of higher oxygen concentration. As the temps go up, the water holds less O2. Do you have a air stone and air pump on the tank? Or can you increase the filter outflow so there is more movement on the surface of the water?

Yay on the mollys! Sounds like they are MUCH happier :)

Heh and I'll be looking forward to your posts; I know what you mean about the hubby. I went from 1 8g tank to 1 8g, 2 10g, 1 25g, 1 55g and a 2 1/2g at work...all in the past 6 months LOL My hubby also gave me funny looks. But just wait until your hubby starts talking to, feeding and inspecting the fish *grin* mine does. Lately his big excitement is my new dwarf gourami, who will eat from his fingers and let him pet it...oi LOL
 
Wow, Allivymar, your tank setup sounds awesome! Someday...

Well I'm very happy to report that my fish seem to be so happy right now. This forum is a fish-lifesaver! My tank is up to 84, I bought an air pump and 23" airwand last night, and did a 25% water change with my new Python. The water is a million times clearer, the fish are all perky, and even with their tiny ich spots, the Mollies are zooming around and eating like pigs. So by tonight it should be 86-88 in there, and I'll keep it up there for 2 wks like you advised. I'm going to test the water parameters later, too, just to see where everything is.

Feeling good! Thanks for your help.
 
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