I've just noticed that several fish in my tank have white spots on their bodies. I've never dealt with ich before, but i've read about others dealing with it. I however, have some concerns. I have some Amano shrimp in the tank, and i've heard that any temperature above 82 Degrees will kill them, rendering a heat treatment fatal for my amanos. are there any medicines out there that would not be fatal to interverts? So far the ich has only infected one of my platys and 3 of my Rasboras.
Starting to notice an Ich outbreak?
- Thread starter Ziggs180
- Start date
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LyndaB
Aquarium Advice Addict
I used the heat treatment with amanos. They came through it fine.
Raise the heat slowly to 86
Add an airstone for additional oxygenation
Do gravel vacs every 2-3 days to remove ich spores from substrate
Keep this going for minimum of 2 weeks
Raise the heat slowly to 86
Add an airstone for additional oxygenation
Do gravel vacs every 2-3 days to remove ich spores from substrate
Keep this going for minimum of 2 weeks
adeebm
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Most ich meds contain copper and will kill your amanos. Not sure about their heat tolerance, but you could move them to a QT before trying the heat+salt method. Or, move the infected fish to a QT and treat.
--Adeeb
--Adeeb
Vacuuming the gravel is not an option for me, i have a dirt planted tank and this will cause more problems. I have a quarantine tank, so i might just move all my amanos there if they cant handle the temperature increase. as a precaution i put my heater back into my tank and raised the temperature to 82 degrees. I'm noticing my other platy start to flash against the plants in my tank, so it seems to be spreading.
LyndaB
Aquarium Advice Addict
Basically when one fish shows symptoms, you treat the entire tank for ich. It's that highly contagious.
I'm increasing the temperature in my tank slowly, but my heater seems to be working slow. temperature is at about 81 degrees from the thermometer in my tank. I have aquarium salt available, but i just acquired a bristle nose pleco recently, so I'm not sure how many tablespoons to add. everywhere i look is giving me different numbers. would a combination of heat + salt work much faster?
Chriznat20
Aquarium Advice Freak
I had an ICH outbreak years ago, until I learned better, and the aquarium salt/heat treatment did not affect my common pleco. He didnt seem ecstatic by any means but they are pretty hardy.
Chriznat20
Aquarium Advice Freak
Absolutely. Actually, its highly recommended to do both.
Mumma.of.two
Aquarium Advice Obsessed
Ziggs180 said:
You can still 'hoover' over the top of it. The more PWC and vacuums = more parasites will be removed = more effective treatment.
Woke up this morning, the heater seems to be working very slow and the Temperature has only been increased by 1 degree overnight. the Ick seems to not be spreading, as the only ones infected are my 2 platies and 3 of my Rasboras. However it looks like one of my platies is suffering secondary infections, and is acting very lethargic, and didn't eat this morning. Hope he pulls through.
last night i put about 4 Tablespoons of Sugar into the tank for good measure, Temperature is at about 82 Degrees. If other fish were to be infected, would I have seen it by now?
last night i put about 4 Tablespoons of Sugar into the tank for good measure, Temperature is at about 82 Degrees. If other fish were to be infected, would I have seen it by now?
dragoneye
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
if you put garlic in your fish food it will help their immune system and get them through the ich out break. make sure it is a garlic powder.
Mumma.of.two
Aquarium Advice Obsessed
It usually gets worse before it gets better. New fish will probably become infected and the first one will get worse.
http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich2.php
http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich2.php
Bad news, my sickest platy died. found him at the bottom, thought he was just resting but he was motionless when i started to feed the rest of the fish. Hope i don't lose anymore.
The water is at about 84.5 F, i've adjusted the heater again so it should be at 86 by the evening. i've noticed my Dwarf Gourami and my Guppy have the white dots on their fins, but these are alot smaller than the ones on the remaining platy and my Rasboras. Could this be a good sign? my Rams still look healthy, although i could of sworn i saw a very tiny dot on one of their fins. i'm not sure about my pleco, the guy is keeping to the center of my tank and i cant get a good look at him.
I've noticed on many pictures of fish with Ick, they have white dots covering their body. Mine have no more than about 8 or 10 on the sickest, I hope this is a very good sign that i've attacked the parasite early.
The water is at about 84.5 F, i've adjusted the heater again so it should be at 86 by the evening. i've noticed my Dwarf Gourami and my Guppy have the white dots on their fins, but these are alot smaller than the ones on the remaining platy and my Rasboras. Could this be a good sign? my Rams still look healthy, although i could of sworn i saw a very tiny dot on one of their fins. i'm not sure about my pleco, the guy is keeping to the center of my tank and i cant get a good look at him.
I've noticed on many pictures of fish with Ick, they have white dots covering their body. Mine have no more than about 8 or 10 on the sickest, I hope this is a very good sign that i've attacked the parasite early.
Chriznat20
Aquarium Advice Freak
What you wont see is when ICH gets into the gills, and its there - you just wont/cant see it.
Ive never had an ICH outbreak like the ones you see on the internet where it covers the whole body.. mine only had maybe 5-10 dots per fish, if that.
Its going to get worse before it gets better. It will go in waves because of the ICH life cycle. You might think its getting better right now, but its waaayyyyy too soon for that. The higher the temp, the faster the life cycle of the ICH so its going to get worse for a day or two, THEN it will start to get better. You have barely touched the top of the iceberg, IME & IMO.
Temperature has overshot to about 88 Degrees since yesterday, I lowered it just a tiny bit. I'm noticing some of my fish are moving around a lot more than usual (mostly my Rams and Gourami). They are all still eating, in fact, i've never seen them devour the food like they did this morning. I did a water change yesterday, but it caused a large temperature fluctuation, so i'm not keen on doing it until this is over. (Nitrates wont be a problem since my tank is heavily planted).
Haven't noticed any new white spots, but at these Temperatures how long do i have to leave it for the ick life cycle to complete itself?
Haven't noticed any new white spots, but at these Temperatures how long do i have to leave it for the ick life cycle to complete itself?
Mumma.of.two
Aquarium Advice Obsessed
Glad they are looking better. 2 weeks is usually the recommended time.
ejaramillo01
Aquarium Advice Addict
Ziggs180 said:
Don't get desperate, this treatment is effective as long as you keep it for at least two weeks. There will be a point in the next days that you will see a big improvement, but if you quit thinking that all the fish look good and healthy, the outbreak will comeback, and many times more aggressive,
Keep PWC, salt, and high temp. Also add an air stone to improve available oxygen in the water column.
