Ich Outbreak! EMERGENCY!!!

[BettaThanYou]

So now with the 20g with ich I have lost like 5 fish. I've been giving them medicine! What else can I do?! Help!!! I'm done with the dose of medicine now but seriously idk what to do. ? HELP!!!!!!!!


~ BettaThanYou

 

[Skai]

I had an ich outbreak earlier this year and lost everyone but one fish. How many of yours are left and are you still seeing the ich spots? Cranking up the temperature in the tank is often helpful but you'll have to add a bubbler or something to keep the water oxygenated. Did you make sure to take any charcoal out of the filter before dosing?

 

[BettaThanYou]

I did take out the charcoal and am getting an adjustable heater today. Ich sucks.


~ BettaThanYou

 

[BettaThanYou]

I think I have I don't know... 14 left?


~ BettaThanYou

 

[BettaThanYou]

My filter is very powerful. It creates a lot of current


~ BettaThanYou

 

[Skai]

I did take out the charcoal and am getting an adjustable heater today. Ich sucks.


~ BettaThanYou

It really does. Probably my absolute worst nightmare since it killed off a thriving tank for me. How many fish are left in your tank by the way? If you have any decorations and plants and such you could try taking as much out as you can so that there's not as many places for the Ich to tuck itself away in. I.e. make the tank as much like a QT/Sick tank as possible.

 

[Skai]

Ah, I didn't see you answered my question up higher. What I did to try and save my poor fishies was get a plastic tote bin from walmart and set up a makeshift sick tank. It had more water in it and nothing but the filter and heater so there was not contaminated substrate to deal with. It ended up being too late but you could still try it. Also if you do that you can go into your show tank and clean out your substrate really good. Either way I'd do that (clean the substrate) since Ich can come back easily if you don't kill it all off.

 

[nkoyko]

What types of fish are left? What kind of substrate and plants/decorations are in the tank? What medication did you use? Have you done any water changes?

I ask all of this because it makes it easier to suggest helpful treatment options. Skai did a good job answering but there are some things that need to be looked at as well.

Ich lives a part of it life cycle in the water and if not removed can "re-infect" the tank. You remove the ich by water changes and vacuuming your substrate. Ich is a parasite and what you're seeing on the fish is the encysted stage (also the only stage that is visible to the human eye) and medication does nothing to the encysted stage because the medication can't penetrate that stage. The medication can kill of the free swimming ich in the water. So you may have another outbreak if the encysted stage came off after the medication.

I beat ich not that long ago as well. My tank was smaller but I removed everything from it and did water changes like crazy with small amounts of aquarium salt added with increased heat. From what a lot of the more advanced aquarium owners on here will tell you is that medication may or may not work but heat will work as long as you don't have a heat resistant ich strain.

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[brennae]

Trying heat at 86 degrees is really important. Also not sure if this came up but you don't want any carbon or anything in your filter while you are giving meds. With increased heat you need increased airation and so an extra air stone would help with that.

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[BettaThanYou]

What types of fish are left? What kind of substrate and plants/decorations are in the tank? What medication did you use? Have you done any water changes?

I ask all of this because it makes it easier to suggest helpful treatment options. Skai did a good job answering but there are some things that need to be looked at as well.

Ich lives a part of it life cycle in the water and if not removed can "re-infect" the tank. You remove the ich by water changes and vacuuming your substrate. Ich is a parasite and what you're seeing on the fish is the encysted stage (also the only stage that is visible to the human eye) and medication does nothing to the encysted stage because the medication can't penetrate that stage. The medication can kill of the free swimming ich in the water. So you may have another outbreak if the encysted stage came off after the medication.

I beat ich not that long ago as well. My tank was smaller but I removed everything from it and did water changes like crazy with small amounts of aquarium salt added with increased heat. From what a lot of the more advanced aquarium owners on here will tell you is that medication may or may not work but heat will work as long as you don't have a heat resistant ich strain.

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I think there's a few platies left. (Tank is at my dads and I'm at my moms right now) have gravel, fake plants and a few decorations and I used Jungle ich clear. I will get an adjustable heater today hopefully.


~ BettaThanYou

 

[nkoyko]

I would vacuum the gravel religiously because the ich can hide down in the gravel. I wouldn't think the decorations would harbor the ich nor would the plastic plants too much. Heat will be your best friend to killing off the remaining ich and do water changes often. All of my info by the way is from my experience and from the advice that I got from the members here.

I got rid of everything in my tank and used a small amount of aquarium salt and heat and the ich in my tank was gone pretty quickly. I did buy the medication when I discovered my fish had ich but held off and went the heat/salt route and figured I'd use the medication as a last ditch effort. If you go poking around and search for ich there are millions of ways to treat and the members on here have the best advice for it IMO.

I wish you luck with your fish and when you do get your heater make sure to watch for signs of stress if they can't handle the higher temps.

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[BettaThanYou]

I would vacuum the gravel religiously because the ich can hide down in the gravel. I wouldn't think the decorations would harbor the ich nor would the plastic plants too much. Heat will be your best friend to killing off the remaining ich and do water changes often. All of my info by the way is from my experience and from the advice that I got from the members here.

I got rid of everything in my tank and used a small amount of aquarium salt and heat and the ich in my tank was gone pretty quickly. I did buy the medication when I discovered my fish had ich but held off and went the heat/salt route and figured I'd use the medication as a last ditch effort. If you go poking around and search for ich there are millions of ways to treat and the members on here have the best advice for it IMO.

I wish you luck with your fish and when you do get your heater make sure to watch for signs of stress if they can't handle the higher temps.

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I will definitely vacuum as much as possible. I think I will also get AQ salt, melt it down in water and add that. Thanks for your help! I really hope I save at least 1 fish. ?


~ BettaThanYou

 

[BettaThanYou]

My dad is the one informing me of the deaths. I lost a lot of fish today.


~ BettaThanYou

 

[brennae]

Salt and heat may just do the trick
Nor sure if this was mentioned but only increase the temp by about 2 degrees every hour or more. I wait at least two hours between each time I increase the temp.

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