Argh! Ich! So frustrating!

[El_diablo]

I hav a black Molly who breaks out in White spots 80% of the time the day after I do a pwc! None of the other fish ever seem to be affected until last week when I lost a different Molly! Now after the last outbreak I treated with interpet anti White spot and every time it's cleared up the black Molly (again the only fish ever to b affected!) but I also increased the temp to 86• as I had read on AA that after 2 weeks it should clear it up, so yesterday I started to reduce the temp 1• every 12 hrs and this morning since the temp has dropped to 84• the black Molly is yet again coming out in White spots! But this time my male swordtail has red gills and what seems to be a swollen bottom lip! He looks like he's feeling a bit sry for himself, he also has a red mark about 3-4 mm long near his anal fin! Wt am I doin wrong and how can I stop it! My parras are 0&0 nitrIte and ammo, 10 nitAte ph is steady at 7 temp is currently 84•

Sorry for the long post but it's pretty frustrating

 

[kdpuffer]

I feel your pain, I've had to battle ick and it's a pain. How long did you dose for? When I had ick in my old 65 I treated with an organic stuff that looked like mud and ran the treatment at least a few days longer than recommended.

 

[Hubert90]

ever tried aquarium salt treatment? im never a fan of medication!

 

[El_diablo]

The directions on the box says to treat the 1st day then again on the 4th day and it's worked fine recently until this time. This time iv tried heat treatment for 2 weeks and as soon as iv reduced the temp the White spots are back!

 

[El_diablo]

I was a little unsure how to go about treating with aquarium salt, but I'm defiantly considering it

 

[rich311k]

You need to do the heat for two weeks after the last spots are gone. Do you match water temperatures when changing the water? When you change the temperatures do not go faster the a degree or two a day.

 

[El_diablo]

I did the heat treatment for 2 weeks reduced the temp by 1• last night and haven't reduced it anymore as of yet, I always match the temp during pwc it never changes by more than 1• after pwc, I'm goin to my lfs now to buy some salt, how do I put the salt in and how much?

 

[jetajockey]

Heat + salt is the most effective way. I shoot for 1tsp/gal but I think that the commonly recommended dosage is 1tbsp/5gal? Idk, a little more research would help on that one.

 

[El_diablo]

Cool cheers guys iv jus got back from lfs gonna do some quick research then get it sorted hopefully thanks for the info

 

[Hubert90]

Cool cheers guys iv jus got back from lfs gonna do some quick research then get it sorted hopefully thanks for the info

Good luck! keep us posted!

 

[kdpuffer]

Just a recommendation, it's what I do. Add something that improves slime coat on fish after your treatment.

 

[El_diablo]

Cool will do, I use this as a dechloranator and it says it adds a slime coat as well so hopefully this will also help

 

[kdpuffer]

That's all I use, just remember you want to use it after treatment. Ick grows in the skin, let the ick drop off the fish and die hopefully, once the treatment is over the extra slime coat will help prevent re infection.

 

[El_diablo]

Well I added salt around 5 hours ago and so far all seems to be well, no adverse affects on my fish, iv lowered the water level by a couple of inches and angled the spray bar down to the water to increase the oxygen in the water. So fingers crossed all will be well

 

[El_diablo]

So I lost my male swordtail today! Pretty gutted! Dosed my tank with a 2nd dosage of salt today and the temp is steady at 86• now, the rest of my fish seem to be reacting pretty well to the salt and heat and my Molly has no White spots anymore although his eye has a bit of a bubble on it, hopefully that will clear up in a day or 2.

 

[Hubert90]

So I lost my male swordtail today! Pretty gutted! Dosed my tank with a 2nd dosage of salt today and the temp is steady at 86• now, the rest of my fish seem to be reacting pretty well to the salt and heat and my Molly has no White spots anymore although his eye has a bit of a bubble on it, hopefully that will clear up in a day or 2.

sorry to hear about ur fish! Im sure ur molly will be fine all the best! And keep us posted ya?

 

[George9]

You could treat with a medication called quick cure ick. It's really cheap and works like a charm. I found it to be easier than raising the temperature and adding salt