I’m having a panic attack right now, yesterday I spotted white spot disease in my tetras and red honey gourami! At the moment they seem to be coping. Yesterday I ordered a treatment with next day delivery, however I only realised once it had been dispatched that it was for pond water. A Freshwater treatment is coming in a few days, but I’m wondering whether I should wait, or if I should use the pond water medicine? We’ve also ordered some aquarium salt, although the tank has Cory’s and amano shrimp... if any experts could help me to decide whether to use the pond treatment or wait a few days, and whether to use the Aquarium salt? Thank you so much!
Case of ich in tank!
- Thread starter Fishlove2
- Start date
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Skai
Aquarium Advice Freak
First, take a breath and try not to panic. Let's get some basics out of the way. It'll help determine course of action. You want to test your water parameters. Ich tends to be brought on by stress and/or water chemistry problems. When do you usually do a water change and how much water at a time? How big is the tank and how many fish are in it?
We recently got some new tetras, so I’m assuming it’s that [emoji51] I do a 30% water change once a week, and our ammonia and nitrate levels are fine. I have:
x14 tetras
x6 dwarf gouramis
x4 corydoras
x4 khuli loaches
(In an 180lt tank)
Thank you so much!
Oh and I’m also doing a daily dose of 120ml of water conditioner at the moment, which I think is helping, and not feeding them very often.
Skai
Aquarium Advice Freak
Okay. What brand pond treatment did you get? From what I understand pond and freshwater chemicals are usually the same and it's concentrations that are different (from the few things I've compared). Do you have a separate tank that you might be able to use as a hospital tank? I only ask because if the ich hasn't spread to the cories, loaches and shrimp, it might be worth moving them so that you can keep a gentler treatment method if needed.
I have a tank of platies which I could move the non infected ones to, but it would be a huge job. Would you say the medicine could harm the others?
Skai
Aquarium Advice Freak
Well, I wouldn't move them if all you have is another occupied tank. You don't want to risk potentially spreading anything to the not infected tank. The fish I listed are known to be sensitive to certain medications and salt. Since moving them isn't an option you are going to instead have to be careful with any dosing you do. I wouldn't think the others would be hurt by the ingredients in a pond treatment but it would help if you linked to what you bought so I can see if it lists active ingredients and concentrations.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bermuda-Pond-White-Spot-Anti-Parasite-Water-Fish-Treatment-/273864518529
I couldn’t find the actual website, but I hope you can get some ideas from this! You’ve been so helpful, thank you!
It wouldn’t let me attach a link, but I hope you can deduct something from this? You’ve been so helpful, thank you!
Skai
Aquarium Advice Freak
Hmm Bermuda doesn't seem to like saying what is in their products. Can't even find a picture of the back... do you have the bottle nearby so you can see the back? Malachite Green is a common Ich treatment ingredient but scaless fish like catfish and loaches don't tend to react well to it.
Of course I should have looked at the back [emoji23]? Yes it does contain malachite green, no to that then!
definitely doesn’t sound great. I will wait! This is the worst case in the tank, how bad would you say it is? View attachment 1 Thank you!Skai
Aquarium Advice Freak
You could always do a heat treatment.
None of your fish are particularly sensitive to heat from what I've experienced. To do a heat treatment you raise the temp 1c/2f per hour until it's around 30c/86f. That temperature prevents new infection and will even stop the parasite from reproducing.
Go for 10 days to kill it all then scale the temp back down like you went up.
You'll want to keep an eye on how your fish are tolerating the temp increase and be ready to switch tactics if the fish aren't handling it well. Increasing the areation in the tank would be a good idea to help the fish along and do 25% daily water changes.
None of your fish are particularly sensitive to heat from what I've experienced. To do a heat treatment you raise the temp 1c/2f per hour until it's around 30c/86f. That temperature prevents new infection and will even stop the parasite from reproducing.
Go for 10 days to kill it all then scale the temp back down like you went up.
You'll want to keep an eye on how your fish are tolerating the temp increase and be ready to switch tactics if the fish aren't handling it well. Increasing the areation in the tank would be a good idea to help the fish along and do 25% daily water changes.
Skai
Aquarium Advice Freak
That doesn't look all that bad at all, to be honest. I've had much worse
Our tank is at 26 degrees, would you say 28 is okay - I read that gouramis max is 26, although a few days should be okay? Thank you, I will do this!
Skai
Aquarium Advice Freak
Here a great article about heat treating an aquarium: Using Heat to Treat Ich in Freshwater Tropical Fish - Article at The Age of Aquariums - Tropical Fish
Yes, a short term exposure to higher temps should be fine. It would be a problem if you kep your fish that high for months but a bit over a week, especially with time to adjust, should be tolerable.
Yes, a short term exposure to higher temps should be fine. It would be a problem if you kep your fish that high for months but a bit over a week, especially with time to adjust, should be tolerable.
Skai
Aquarium Advice Freak
Not a problem! I've dealt with ich in my own tanks so I'm well aware how stressful it can be (and not just on the fish!) But honestly, your case is mild so you should be perfectly fine so long as you keep that water quality nice. Good luck!
Hi! This is what the worst case looks like now - I can’t tell whether it’s good or bad though? I’ve been doing a daily 25% water change, and we have an aerator too. The water temperature is 28 degrees, and luckily no deaths so far! In the photo does it look like it’s recovering! Thank you [emoji4]
