Ich!! Help

[KyloRen]

Loaches typically respond badly to many meds and to salt. But I have never had issues with botia loaches and heat.

And I should add that you might want to invest in a quarantine; I know from experience treating a big tank for anything is no fun

I have a spare 10 gallon i'm using to quarantine the plants that were in my 55 the temp is at 84 degrees will the loaches be fine in there? While I dose the 55 with salt because I've already started the salt treatment. It doesn't have a filter

 

[sinibotia]

No, I wouldn't put them in an uncycled 10 gallon. Loaches are very sensitive to ammonia. They have no scales so it burns their skin directly. I would do a water change to remove salt and switch to a heat treatment.

 

[sam180]

Loaches typically respond badly to many meds and to salt. But I have never had issues with botia loaches and heat.

And I should add that you might want to invest in a quarantine; I know from experience treating a big tank for anything is no fun

I'm not worried about the loaches handling the heat, I know they like it warmer anyway. What I am worried about are my 2 huge angels and several Rainbows, the latter of which have now contracted ich as well. The temp is now up to 84.9° and I'll be raising it further tomorrow. Still not using any meds or salt.

As for a qt tank, how do you go about keeping one? Just keep it empty until you get a new fish? How do you keep it cycled?

 

[sinibotia]

You can either keep it empty or keep some hardy fish like guppies. I've done both. If you just want to keep it empty until you add new fish. run a sponge filter on your main tank that you can swap into the QT when you add new fish.

 

[machotaco]

So you were able to beat ich without meds or salt, just by raising the temp only?

Yes, it's really quite effective and saves the cost of meds. Also 4 weekly 50% water changes helped.




Sent from Luca via magic

 

[machotaco]

Just noticed you have rainbows, and do not worry as mine were fine for two weeks in the 90's so the temp shouldn't bother them, just make sure the water is well aerated as hotter water holds less oxygen.


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[sam180]

Just noticed you have rainbows, and do not worry as mine were fine for two weeks in the 90's so the temp shouldn't bother them, just make sure the water is well aerated as hotter water holds less oxygen.


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My current stock is:

Australian Rainbow x5 (1, maybe 2 now have ich as well..)
Madagascan Rainbow x2 (both now have it)
Marbled Angelfish x2
Guppy x 25 (not really by choice, they were rescued from a severely overstocked tank)
Botia Kubotai Loach x8
Kuhli Loach x5
Neon Tetra x8
Common Pleco x1
Clown Pleco x1
Clown Loach x4 (the ich cluprits...)
Cory Cats x8
Peacock Eel x1

So far my fish have not really shown signs of stress from the increased temp, other than maybe the Peacock Eel who looks a bit sluggish compared to his usual lively self. As far as aeration goes, I have four 6 inch airstones evenly spaced along the length of the tank as well as two Fluval Fx6 canisters with the outputs aimed upward to the water surface. That should be plenty of surface agitation, I would think. Gonna get the temp above 86° tomorrow and cross my fingers...

 

[Autumnsky]

Angels like it warm, sounds like you have good aeration.

Trouble happens when you ramp up heat too quickly, also don't have enough air exchange.

As for the Rainbows, they will not like it hot for too long but the amount of time to treat should be fine. I reduce the heat about a couple degrees a day when treatment is complete.

OP- If I understood, if there are fish in with the plants then they can continue the Ich life cycle.

Don't use meds if you can kill it with heat.

 

[sam180]

Angels like it warm, sounds like you have good aeration.

Trouble happens when you ramp up heat too quickly, also don't have enough air exchange.

As for the Rainbows, they will not like it hot for too long but the amount of time to treat should be fine. I reduce the heat about a couple degrees a day when treatment is complete.

If I understood, if there are fish in with the plants then they can continue the Ich lfe cycle.

Don't use meds if you can kill it with heat.

That's my plan, just hoping that it works. If I don't see an improvement in 3-4 days I may have to resort to meds...

 

[sam180]

Well...tank is now at 86.7°. My poor peacock eel still looks sluggish, the others are looking okay so far. Really hope they can all withstand these temps for a week..

 

[sam180]

Day 2 of heat treatment. Tank is fluctuating from 86.0° to 86.9° and the fish are showing improvement. Noticeably fewer ich spots on them and most of the fish look fairly lively.

OP - how is your tank doing?