ick question again.

[thanew]

how contagious is ick... i had a shark with a pretty bad case of it i dumped some salt in there (not dump but you know) and raised the temp none of the other fish have any spots atleast so far so... I have some maracide on tap if any of them do but is it really really contagious that I should be worried that I might lose a large number of my fish?

 

[TankGirl]

It is relatively contagious, but it really depends on the condition of the other fish, and the health of the tank. If you keep the temp raised for a good 2 weeks and continue to add salt with water changes (only for the new water added) then you should have eliminated it from your tank.

 

[aquazen]

Temp increase should take care of it even without the salt. I think you're good to go.

I also have a question that's Ick related...I think. One of my guppy fry (about one month old) seems to have his/her head covered in a thin film of white. The fins look fine. I'm not sure if it is ick. Maybe some kind of fungus? The other fry don't seem to be affected by it. Any ideas would be appreciated. All I've done is increase the temp to ~84-86. I'm not a fan of salt.

 

[TankGirl]

Could be columnaris - is it fuzzy at all? I'd try Melafix, being an extremely benign therapy.

 

[aquazen]

Okay. Melafix. Is it safe to treat the entire tank? Just in case?

 

[TankGirl]

Melafix is extremely safe. It is a very mild antiseptic and will not harm your biofilter. I use it in planted tanks as well and have never had a problem related to its use.

 

[aquazen]

I went out and bought a bottle two days ago. It smells very nice. Almost tempted to buy a scented oil burner and light it up.

It is kinda fuzzy. It's only covering its head. Think it might be that mouth fungus thing that they stated on the label. He's much skinnier than his other brothers. Hope it works.