Ready to throw up my hands and call it quit!

[ADCISCO]

Have had the thermastat set on 86 for about 4 days now with no results.....got one serpea tetra left and its getting a big spoton its back and it is covered in ick....I lost one of them and it didnt even have a sign of ick. They had just gotten so beautiful and were doing so well.I dont understand what is going on in my tank! Mollies,white clouds, pristilla tetra,paradise seem to be ick free...knock on wood. I am about to go get the pirahna and put him in there and finish them off. Its horrible!!!!!!!! Pinky is about the same and so is the rainbow in the qtank....pinky wont eat......I feel like I am fighting a loosing battle here. I guess there is one thing to look forward to if they all croak is that I can change the gravel bed to a different color them wothout worrying I am going to kill them all. I am very discouraged at this point. I was at the point where everything was great and now......well you know the story.....I could just sit and cry. How long does it take for the heat to kill the ick????? The fish are covered!

[angelstiger]

I am so sorry to hear about your battle with disease. Unfortunately as fish keepers we also need to be fish doctors.

got one serpea tetra left and its getting a big spoton its back and it is covered in ick.

Are you positive this is ich? Usually ich covers the whole body quite quickly. I know raising the temperature works, but before you give up, at least try medication. I know, it kills the biofilter..but in an established tank, the bio bounces back fairly fast. If it is ich, I use Cupramine. It works well and doesn't usually stain the water. Just make sure to measure well and use half dose for FW. Good luck.

[Allivymar]

It takes more then 4 days ADCISCO; if you reread the ich article, you'll see it generally takes around 5 days before a decrease in parasites on the fish is visible, and 2 weeks to be sure they're all gone. Patience honey; its hard I know, but you WILL see results.

[webmoose]

I read an article the other week that said.. It's not a matter of if you might get ick its a matter of when you will have a 'bout with ick.

Sounded a bit extreme. Any comments? I am still new to the hobby and I have not had any ick.. But the thought of it freaks me out sometimes.

ADCISCO I hope everything works out in the end!

[ADCISCO]

Well I know that it is ick for sure.....but as for the cloudy spot on the serpea tetra I am not sure what it is. If I could get her to come out I would take a picute and post it but she is really covered in ick...shes the worst and she does not want to be seen!!! She hides comstantly....I just know she is going to die I looked at theirs at the petshop and they look about as bad as the one I have now with the ick.....I wish that I had taken lots of pictures of them....so gorgeous....there color had really come out and so had their fins and they had grown....oh how they had grown......... I'm sick over this guys

[ADCISCO]

I found one good picture of one of them...I do believe it is the one that is sick now. I'm gonna try and get one of her witht he ick so you can see why I am so upset.

[ADCISCO]

Ok this is a picture that I got about 5 minutes ago...the best I could do because she wont come to the front of the tank. I know that is not real clear but it is the best I can do for now.

[ADCISCO]

more pictures I hope you can see.

[grimlock3000]

The temp needs to be above 86F. Up to that point, higher temps just cause the Ich to reproduce faster

[William]

I kept my tank around 89-90f during my treatment [ and kept it for around 2 and a half weeks to be sure. ]

And you have a lot of surface aggitation right?

If not, it may not be the ich killing your fish..

[ADCISCO]

I have alot of surface aggitation but my heater goes no higher than 86!!!!!!!!! I am telling ya I am ready to go get that pirahna!LOL I am so aggivated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now should I just lower the temp and use ick meds or what????Also using melafix too.....dont know what else to do

[William]

Buy a better heater then.. every heater I own goes atleast to 90, I have one that goes over 100! 8O [found that out the hard way... ]

[grimlock3000]

If the heater peaks at 86, you should just drop the temp slowly and treat with meds. Until you get over the 86F mark, higher temps just make the Ich worse so your tank is likely the perfect place for spreading Ich parasites right now. By lowering the temp, you would slow the Ich down, and give meds some time to work.

What type of heater is it? Maybe this is a good time to pick up a new one.

[William]

High temps do make the ich spread faster, however, higher temps, 88f and above, kill the ich.

Its just like any other virus/bacteria/parasite.

They can thrive in a certain heat condition, go above it and they all croak.


and I'm not to fond of medcines anymore, why risk killing your fish? Cause thats what the ich meds can do, your basicly putting formaldahide in your tank [ cause thats what they use in most ich meds ]

[ADCISCO]

Well I turned down the temp and put meds in. I dont know what else to do because I cant get the temp over 86. Parameters seem fine and as for the qtank ammonia was high and here I have been treating with Furan 2 so I had to do about a 50% water change to get the ammonia out and and I dosed the tank again with furan.....Pinky spot does not seem to be getting any better but not any worse at the moment and for Bo his eye is starting to gradually look some better. I am sick of fish at this point.....its sad everyone in the house is sick and even the fish!

[William]

Adisco, just wait. When things level off, and your not going to have to worry about sickness every week, You'll love it.

Trust me, I was in your exact same spot a few months ago, I was one day away from selling all my equipment and tanks. But, things just started going right.


You're just being tested by the fates, endure it

[yhbae]

87F for 2 full weeks worked great for me with no medication.

ADCISCO, I dunno, but that doesn't look like ich... Anyone?

[ADCISCO]

Oh believe me its ick...that serpea died today...it has something along with the ick...I dont know what but it was something. I am using melafix too just to see what happens. But these fish look like they are pretzels.....salt covered.....bad!!!!!! I have one if he makes it .....I'll pass out! I guess what gets me is some of them have it and some dont. 5 white clouds.5 gold dust mollies. 2 pristella tetra, 2 white tetra...did have it but got rid of it fast....paradise fish is fine....none of these have been sick...its been the barbs and now my hatchet fish has it and my head and tail lites have it.....Rasboras fine! Goldfish fine!5 Danio...fine....its crazy! I would think that they would all have it as bad as the barbs have had it...I wish I would really get a good picture of that one...you wouldnt believe it!

[PhilMar]

I'm with yhbae. I had my bout with Ick at the start of my getting into this hobby, and tried the Medication, and destroyed my bio filter. I finally raised my temp to 87, and after 2 weeks my tank and fish are fine and clear. I lost one fish.

Hang in there

[dralarms]

Some fish show no signs. When it broke out in my 26 gal you could see it on 2 Serpae Tetra's and 1 Black Skirt Tetra, other than that no one else shoed any signs of anything.