Ich problem / treatment

[zorcher]

Okay, so I'm new to this aquarium stuff, and have a few questions about ich.

I have a 38 gallon tropical community tank, consisting of 2 cory cats, 3 clown loaches, 1 silver dollar, and 1 angel fish. A few days ago I noticed the clown loaches started to get white spots, and after looking at pictures, it appeared to be Ich.

Here is what I did: I introduced some aquarium salts, I slowly turned up the heat from about 79 degrees to about 86 degrees, and I added a product called Tetra Ick Guard.

After 3 days, it appears my loaches, and possibly my cats, are not going to make it. I caught this extremely early, and even now there are very few spots on the fish. Did I do something wrong? It was my understanding that this is a fairly easy problem to correct. My ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are still excellent. My pH doesn't appear to have changed.

Any advice would be welcome.

 

[Bbush]

I am in the same boat. Did you aggregate the surface?

 

[Cactuspixie]

Cories and loaches are sensitive to salt and most meds. It's usually recommended to give a half dose.
You will need to increase surface agitation as the warmer the water is, the less oxygen it is able to hold. Are you doing water changes at least every couple of days? Also be sure to thoroughly siphon the gravel to remove any parasites that have dropped off.
What are your parameters? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph?

 

[zorcher]

Ammonia and Nitrite numbers are at zero, nitrate is at about 20. pH is 8.0, but it has always been there. I did not cut salt and medication in half, and I now realize that was probably my downfall. The cats should make it, but I lost one clown loach.

 

[foshizzle11]

We had the same issue but only our 4 clown loaches have spots. I did a large water change today and added aquarium salts, a little more than we usually do.

All the other fish seem to be fine and the clown loaches are still swimming around and acting normally. I hope we don't have any issues with the other fish, fingers crossed.

I plan on doing water changes everyday for the next week or so until it starts to go away, we will see if we lose any.

I don't want to use ick meds because it killed many of our live plants and turned the silicone blue in the tank. Kind of lame. Not something mentioned when we bought it.

Did you get rid of it?

 

[zorcher]

Okay, so of all my fish only the clown loaches came down with the ich, and only the loaches died. I think they simply couldn't take the shock of the salts and ich guard (or whatever it was called). I guess the lesson is that with loaches, definitely use less than the recommended amount of anything you put in the tank. It appears my tank is now healthy and thriving once again.

 

[bob mccoy]

get PARAGUARD made by seachem. the most awsome ich killer i ever used.

 

[foshizzle11]

And the loaches will be fine? They have such different skin.

I really hope mine live. They don't seem to be getting worse so should be interesting to see what happens.