Why Me??? I did things right!!

[vaquero]

Why Me??? I did things right!! ICH Problems

My tank has ich (crap)! Noticed it on my Balas this morning. I turned up the heater all the way, I don't know how high it will go, but I will watch it today. I am also going to my LFS and buy some ICH medicine to put in the tank. I need this to go away ASAP! I have too many nice fish and I don't want them to die. I have only seen ich on two balas and two Albino Tiger fish, but I am sure it will spread if I don't treat it with aggressiveness. I am also going to do a 25% water change today and suck out some of the crud/ICH in the gravel. I don't think my Albinos are ready to lay eggs, so out will come the marbles also, I think that their noses are red because of the ich and not for spawning. Any ideas would be greatly accepted. Thank you

 

[tamtam]

I would turn the heater down a bit. While turning the heat up for ich is recommended you don't want it to change too fast. It should be done slowly to be sure that you don't shock your fish which will give you a lot more problems. You want it to get up to about 85 but you want it to go slowly not fast.

 

[vaquero]

Okay didn't think about that. Duh just like people and increase in heat.

 

[vaquero]

Ok I just did a 25% water change and I am going to add aquarium salt to it after it dissolves in the water i have it in. Temp is 81.5 degrees now, so I hope this helps get rid of the ICH. Still going to get some ICH Meds from LFS later today. Together this should cure it soon enough. Question, should I be dissolving the salt in water before adding it to the tank, or should I just sprinkle it in the tank water???

 

[LyndaB]

Your sharks might not do well with the salt. You might want to research that.

Dissolve the salt first, should you decide to use it.

In my eyes, your tank seems overstocked. Yes?

 

[Jesselav1233]

You need your temp to reach 88 degrees to kill ich

 

[bud29]

You need your temp to reach 88 degrees to kill ich

Not necessarily. I believe the ich parasite stops reproducing at temperatures above 85 degrees.

 

[vaquero]

Balas are ok with the salt, I have had no problems with that. Should I go get some ICH meds from my LFS??? I have no idea how high the temp goes on my heater it is at 83.8 now. Should get higher in the next few hours.

 

[Jesselav1233]

Not necessarily. I believe the ich parasite stops reproducing at temperatures above 85 degrees.

I've been told by numerous people on here 88

 

[bud29]

I've been told by numerous people on here 88

I think that you want it as hot as possible to make the ich go away, but if you have fish that can't tolerate water that warm, I believe 85 or 86 is the minimum to make it stop reproducing.

 

[vaquero]

So that will kill and reverse any ich and also get rid of it on the fish so all signs will be gone?? How long before the "salt" sprinkling look on the fish go away??

 

[Jesselav1233]

It can take 2,3,4 weeks but heat does work I've used it before I would never use chemicals again unless it was a last resort

 

[Jesselav1233]

Bring the temp up do heavy water changes and gravel cleaning make sure the temp doesn't drop when u add new water wait till last sign of ich is gone and then wait another week then you can bring the temp back down slowly. Raise it slowly as well

 

[vaquero]

I did check and all my fish can tolerate the higher temp until ICH is gone. My water seems to be getting cloudy as the temp raises, is this normal?

 

[Jesselav1233]

I have no idea mine never got cloudy

 

[Jesselav1233]

Maybe since you just swished your filter some loose gunk is kicking into the water or something hopefully it clears back up

 

[tgodwin90]

I would turn the heater down a bit. While turning the heat up for ich is recommended you don't want it to change too fast. It should be done slowly to be sure that you don't shock your fish which will give you a lot more problems. You want it to get up to about 85 but you want it to go slowly not fast.

Yup. This person has it right. Aqua salt and maybe some melafix to prevent secondary infections. By raising the temp it speeds up the parasite's life cycle. You cannot kill it till it surfaces on the fish's body. Its probably a good idea to remove the dead/dying fish so the parasite doesn't have a chance to move on to another host.

 

[vaquero]

ok im up to 86 how long do i keep it there?

 

[tgodwin90]

5 days.

 

[vaquero]

I have no dead fish one bala shows the most, then another one has a little here and there. Two albino tiger barbs show it in their lips and a bit on their tails. Other than that, that is all i can see on them. I did 25% water change, cleaned gravel, and have raised the temp to 86.5 in 7 hours, about 1 degree per hour.