How I treat FW ick

[HookedOnFishh]

Form my experience FW is hard to kill. And the risker side ends up on the bad or good side and usually you can see the ick shed off in the fish in an instant it's so cool!


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[acewiza]

So today the tank gets a good cleaning/water change. Afterwards I'll add more salt and keep the temp up for a few more days. Should be back to normal by the end of the week. Then the anxious waiting begins...

 

[HookedOnFishh]

How high is the temp? This method does work pretty well.


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[acewiza]

It's been at 86F for 2 weeks. I'll start slowly dropping the temp tomorrow.

 

[HookedOnFishh]

Great! I love this method and works really well


My Corals do Better Than Fish

 

[acewiza]

I know it's probably too early to celebrate, but the tank's been back to normal for 5 days after a 50% water change. Now running at 78F and 1.005 salinity. I believe based on the protozoa life cycle, we should expect to be declared cured by the beginning of the week.

 

[HookedOnFishh]

Yay!


"My Corals do Better Than Fish."

 

[2xEcho]

I had an infestation of ick in my 75 gal that has rainbow fish (dwarf neon and boseman), kuhli loaches, goldfish, neon and diamond tetras, red tail shark and assassin snails. I bought the neons and loaches at the local big box store and a few days to a week later I started noticing the dreaded white spots... Started to slowly (over 3-4 days) change the temp from 77 to 87 or 88. At the same time I started adding salt a couple times a day, about 1/4 - 1/3 cup at a time, already dissolved. The total amount of aquarium salt was about 1.5 cups for a 75 gal. That's about a tablespoon per gal. I also was dosing with API stress coat+ about once a day or every other day, and melafix as recommended to eliminate any secondary infections.

Before I started treatment I had a couple of fish die, maybe 2 or 3 over a 3 day period. Since starting I have not lost a single fish and they actually seem to be more active and healthier looking. I still have the tank currently at 88 and have not changed the salt concentration... Haven't seen any sign of ick for about 4 days, but am waiting a bit longer to make sure it's eliminated completely.

Just saying what worked for me. Fish are doing well I think because I was slow in changing the temp and adding salt. Giving them time to adjust I am sure saved more than a couple of fish as opposed to the "dump the salt in and change the temp, the weak fish will die and the strong will survive" method. Especially with the more sensitive fish. The tank is also fairly heavily planted and haven't seen any plants hurting. I have vals, bacopia, swords, wisteria, ludwigia, and grass... All are doing ok if not well.

I am looking forward to lowering the temp a bit and decreasing the salt to reduce the stress on the fish, but I'm happy with the outcome of the treatment and would highly recommend it to anyone for getting rid of ick.

 

[acewiza]

I ran my treatment exactly like you say, except I kept the temp up for 17 days. I forget the details of the parasite's life cycle, but it's 3-stage process taking an average of two weeks depending on water temp. If you haven't seen badly afflicted or dead fish it hasn't even reached stage 3.

 

[2xEcho]

I ran my treatment exactly like you say, except I kept the temp up for 17 days. I forget the details of the parasite's life cycle, but it's 3-stage process taking an average of two weeks depending on water temp. If you haven't seen badly afflicted or dead fish it hasn't even reached stage 3.

I had a couple die initially before I saw any overt sign of ick... I'm hoping that I was able to catch it before it got bad. My boseman rainbows at the height of being infected were swimming constantly about 2-3 inches from the filter return (up to 350 gph - quite a strong flow!) for about 3-4 days. I believe the water flow helped to alleviate the irritation from the ick. Since the white spots disappeared they have returned to their normal behaviors

After doing much research, the parasite's life cycle at elevated temps can be reduced to as little as 4-5 days (Understanding and Treating Ich or White Spot). At lower temps found in ponds (45 degrees) the lifecycle can take as long as 5 weeks! The same site also states that salt treatment should be done for a minimum of 10 days. I figure that a full week or so after seeing no signs of infection at 88 degrees with salt still at a 1 tablespoon per gal concentration, should be sufficient to declare my tank free of ick!

 

[acewiza]

New View on Pet Store Water

Since learning about Ick firsthand, I've changed my opinion on putting stuff from the pet store more-or-less straight into the tank. Now the guys are getting live minnows every couple weeks. They love it! From now on I'll just keep a closer eye on things and re-stock with reckless abandon, knowing it's just a matter of turning up the thermostat for a couple weeks if it happens again.