Ich showed up the day before vacation!

[RightTurnClyde]

Argh!! I leave for a 6 day vacation tomorrow morning and today I noticed one of my Cardinal Tetras appears to have contracted Ich. He has two spots on his tail fin and one on his dorsal fin. No change in behavior that I can tell yet.

Any advice on what I can do in the short term? Should I leave the lights off the whole time I'm gone? Should I raise the temp a bit? It's at 77-78 right now. I just hope I don't come back to everyone covered in spots. I did a 30% water change today and added a little aquarium salt as I usually do, but not nearly the suggested amount to treat Ich. It's a 29 Gallon.

I don't understand how this happened. It's been almost 3 weeks since I've added new fish or plants to this tank.

 

[dcutl002]

Bring the temperature up to 86 degrees and leave it there for two weeks. Aerate. When you come back from vacation, Periodically vacuum gravel and change about 10-15 % of the water.

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Thanks. Unfortunately I don't have time to gradually bring the temp up that high. But I've raised it a bit. I'll just have to hope for the best and deal with it when I return. I'm leaving the lights off. The room gets a fair amount of indirect sunlight during the day, so hopefully my low light plants will be ok. I have a sand substrate so I can't exactly vacuum it directly, but I can stir it up and vacuum very close.

 

[dcutl002]

Sand substrate? That's good. The swimmers like to multiply in the gaps between gravel.

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Ah! Good to know. I'm loving my decision to switch to sand even more now.

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Although wait a minute. Aren't these parasites microscopic? Wouldn't the space between a couple grains of sand be just as "roomy" as down in the gravel?

 

[dcutl002]

Although wait a minute. Aren't these parasites microscopic? Wouldn't the space between a couple grains of sand be just as "roomy" as down in the gravel?

Hmm. Good question. I'll have to research that one. I have always heard it was better to have sand than gravel when it comes to ich. But, I do know 86*F for an extended period will kill them.

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Ok. Good to know. It would be great if heat alone could be used so I don't have I worry about salting my plants. I'm a little nervous about what I'm going to see in my tank when I get home.

Is there any brief treatment that can be done to a fish or plant when you first get it, so that disease does not enter your tank? Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of a quarantine tank. I've heard of a quick dip in hydrogen peroxide for plants. How about athletes foot spray for a fish? (Kidding).

 

[dcutl002]

I don 't know about the fish. I use a quarantine tank and a diatom filter . A diatom filter will shred the Ich swimmers and kill them. If interested, look into a Vortex diatom filter. It is good for ich, green water, plus it polishes the water.

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Wow. A little on the expensive side, but I had no idea that diatom filters existed. Maybe if Ich becomes a recurring problem for me, I'll invest. But I'm hoping to be fully stocked soon and not be adding any more "foreigners".

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Finally got back from vacation tonight. No deaths. All the fish are behaving normally more or less. I saw a few try to rub on the sand a bit. But I definitely have Ich in the tank. I see a few more spots popping up on other fish and patient zero is covered in spots and his color is not so good. Got the temp up to 80 before bed. I'll try to slowly notch it up to 86 tomorrow.

 

[dcutl002]

It will take a few days, but it will work. Put an air stone in the tank too.


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[RightTurnClyde]

I don't have an air pump. But I'm running my AC 50 on full flow so it's creating a lot of agitation and little bubbles.

 

[dcutl002]

That should be sufficient.


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[RightTurnClyde]

What's the thought on keeping the lights off? Does that actually help? Do the Ich swimmers like light?

 

[dcutl002]

Hmm. Not sure.


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[RightTurnClyde]

Hmm... I have my heater turned all the way up now, but it's only getting up to between 84 and 85. Will that be sufficient?

I did a water change/sand vacuum yesterday, but not as big as I was planning. I don't know if I cracked my siphon or what, but it stopped working after the first bucket. Can't get it started again. I was needing a bigger one anyway.

 

[dcutl002]

You may want to add a little salt in combo with you 84.5 degrees F. Understanding and Treating Ich or White Spot

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Nevermind. Once my house warmed up a bit, it made it to 86. Hopefully it doesn't drop too much over night. Luckily for the fish, this is going to be a very warm week here so my house won't get very cold at night.

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Argh... I have an Aqueon Pro Heater (150 W) and it takes a while to dial it in correctly. I turned it down a bit before I went to bed last night, because it seemed like the temp kept rising. This morning I woke up and it had dipped a little below 86 again. I'm assuming that's not good. So tonight I'm letting it stay a little above 86. Hopefully it will maintain it overnight.

Still seeing quite a dusting of spots on the Cardinals. I'm hoping to see improvement in the coming days. They are starting to get skittish and are flashing occasionally. But otherwise, everyone seems to be handling the heat OK.