mutant ich strain...

[tetrin]

i recently had a bout of ich on the clown loaches...did the 2 week heat and salt treatment...temp was at 87C and salt used was 1 tsp /10g...the fish responded well and all was fine and dandy...
i returned the tank back to its old self...i added the angel i had bought that had been languishing the the qt...

today (about 3 days after things went back to normal) i saw one of the clowns flashing...AGAIN...no spots yet...then the SAE followed suit...its very depressing...i think it's a stronger strain of ich...with the clowns and their susceptibility to ich i guess i was asking for it...

tank params... 0 nH3/ 0 nItrIte/ 20-40 nitrAte/ 7.6 ph

55g inhabitants ... 6 bloodfin tetras / 4 clown loaches / 4 albino cories /
2 pearl gouramis / 1 gold gourami / 1 angel / 1 SAE

equipment - fluval 304, aquaclear 300, ebo jager 250W

so i've decided to go with medicines this time...i want to know what are the best meds to treat ich with...

[rubysoho]

I've heard you need to continue treatment about a week after you see the last signs of ick.

[tetrin]

...did the 2 week heat and salt treatment...

sorry for the misunderstanding...
i did exactly what u r saying...the spots disappeared after about 3 days...i continued the high temps and salt levels 2 weeks after that...

[Menagerie]

I would do the heat and salt treatment again. This isn't a mutant strain, apparently the ich was not all wiped out. Loaches do not do well with many meds. I would (and have in the past) keep the treatment going for a month. Keep in mind that ich can reside in the gills and as a result, you do not "see" the last ich spot.

[lmw80]

also, ich can hide deep in the gravel as well which is why it sometimes comes back to infest the tank a second time.

[tetrin]

thanks Menagerie and lori...i was really feeling bad for them and wanted a quick demise of the ich monster...
i'll go with u guys and continue with the heat for 2 more weeks...

[Menagerie]

To be REALLY safe, run the heat and salt for a month. If your fish are not affected by the heat and there is enough surface aggitation, keep the temp high and you should not have this problem again.

[RogerMcAllen]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't salt a bad deal for scaleless fish such as loaches and cats?

[tetrin]

i know rogermcallen...but i came across a number of references that loaches, specially clowns are kept at low levels of salinity and slightly higher temps to ward off ich...
anyway, i hope a small amount of salt is not going to do a lot of damage to the loaches and cories...it's also supposed to relieve some of the osmotic stress brought on by higher temps... :| ...

and i kind of justified it this way, the salt is the lesser evil compared to meds, which are downright poisons...

[Menagerie]

I have treated loaches and cories with low levels of salt.