Ich showed up the day before vacation!

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The digitalis are quick but it will still take a few minutes to adjust. I use a laser thermometer to cross check temp and it matches my digital and suction cup thermometers.
 
Is there any particular brand of digital thermometer that seems more reliable/accurate? I was surfing Amazon and they are cheaper than I thought. But I don't see any brand names I recognize.
 
Coryluv said:
I think they are all about the same. The all have a probe, screen and need a battery (included).

I leave mine on all the time. Had them for a year and haven't replaced the battery yet.

Amazon.com : Marina ThermoSensor In-Out Thermometer : Aquarium Thermometers : Pet Supplies

Btw, you can get replacement batteries really cheap on Amazon. It got 20 for the price I'd pay for one in the drug store. Brand name sealed in package, too.
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I stopped by Petco today and they had that exact Marina thermometer as an opened package, with a reduced price, so I went for it. Seems to work fine. It reads right smack in the middle of my two glass/alchohol thermometers. One is 2 degrees above, the other is 2 degrees below. So I guess I have to assume that the digital is the closest to the truth? Really frustrating when you are trying to achieve a specific temp to get rid of disease. I guess I need to get some ice and make a glass of ice water and see which one reads closest to 32 F.
 
RightTurnClyde said:
I stopped by Petco today and they had that exact Marina thermometer as an opened package, with a reduced price, so I went for it. Seems to work fine. It reads right smack in the middle of my two glass/alchohol thermometers. One is 2 degrees above, the other is 2 degrees below. So I guess I have to assume that the digital is the closest to the truth? Really frustrating when you are trying to achieve a specific temp to get rid of disease. I guess I need to get some ice and make a glass of ice water and see which one reads closest to 32 F.
Click to expand...

It really sucks that none of them are the same. Let us know which one is closest!
 
Man... this is getting frustrating. Most of the fish are looking better, but there are still a few of my cardinals that are showing spots, one in particular looks terrible. Still behaving more or less normal other than flicking their fins a lot. My heater is now turned all the way up. The digital is reading 86.0 as a low in the morning, and then it varies up into 87.8 during the warmest part of the day. The owner at my LFS said the last few batches of Cardinals have been really weak and he hasn't had them survive very long. So I guess I'm doing better than him so far. All my other fish are no longer showing spots or symptoms of any kind.

I'm just really confused. If my temp is really 86+, shouldn't the spots be going away due to the swimmers being unable to reproduce?
 
There are rare reports of temp resistant ich. I think it is more likely that your thermometer was the culprit. In any case, this is the very reason I combined Ich Attack with temp. If it isn't going away try adding Ich Attack to the mix. It is one of the safer meds you can use. I believe that it along with temp will be the knock out punch you need.
 
Coryluv said:
There are rare reports of temp resistant ich. I think it is more likely that your thermometer was the culprit. In any case, this is the very reason I combined Ich Attack with temp. If it isn't going away try adding Ich Attack to the mix. It is one of the safer meds you can use. I believe that it along with temp will be the knock out punch you need.
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Thanks Cory. I have actually been using Ich Attack for the past week as well. However, I haven't been very scientific in measuring the dose. I've just been dumping a cap full in every night at lights out. I need to not be lazy and actually measure out the full 3 Tablespoons or more that I need. Tonight I see a little improvement. It's mostly the two Cardinals that had it the worst that are still showing spots.
 
Ugh... spots just won't go away on two of my Cardinals.

And tonight when I got home... my Molly suddenly has major balance and buoyancy problems. She is tipping over and resting on the bottom a lot. She managed to come up to the top once. She is still wiggling and trying to swim. She's really looking bad though. :( She has always been my tough, battle tested fish that made it through a fish-in cycle and a tank switch. I really didn't expect her to be the first casualty of this Ich treatment.

Any ideas? Seems like an extreme swim bladder issue, but she didn't/couldn't come up to eat some peas I tried to feed. Has the temp just been too high for too long? I'm going on three weeks now. My ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are all perfect. The only thing that seems to have changed is that my KH went down a bit.

:fish1:
 
I'm so sorry this is so persistent. I'm out of ideas. With heat and ich attack, I had one round of spots and they never came back again.

It may be time to use another med. Maybe you do have a resistant strain. If you change meds be sure to do a partial water change and make sure you run carbon in the filter to remove the ich attack. Then remove the carbon. Then you can use a different med.

I'm so sad about your Molly. I have no more advice. This is heartbreaking.
 
These Tetras seem to be more sensitive to the disease. I think I'll try dosing twice per day with the Ich Attack instead of all at once at night. I feel like it's just not effective since it's only herbs and garlic. If I'm still seeing spots in a few days I think I need to give Copper Safe or something like that a try. My plants are starting to melt away in the hot water as well. I'm so conflicted as to whether I should remove my Molly tonight and euthanize, or give her the night. She's looked bad before (but not this bad) and she bounced back the next morning.
 
You may have VELVET vice Ich. Try API General Cure. Velvet is more difficult to kill than Ich.


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Hmm.. Maybe. I'm worried about bacterial infections now since the temps been at 86 for so long now. I think I might have some kind of wasting disease in there too. I've got a very skinny cardinal with a sunken belly. I'll look into the meds. Will API General cure kill my BB? Should I save some of my media in a bowl of treated water so I can put it back in after treatment? I think it would kill me if I had to cycle again.
 
I don't know about General Cure, but even when a med says it is BB safe you still need to monitor closely. Yes that high a temp that long would be stressful to fish that prefer cooler. Are your fish eating?

As to the ich attack it works, but it takes longer. Yes you definitely need to use a full dose.

I forgot but you are running an airstone, yes? You need to when you keep the temp up like that.

Whatever you do, sometimes we can't save our fish. If you lose yours, remember you are doing everything you can and everything you know how to do. I dearly hope they recover and live long lives.
 
Thank you, Coryluv. My Molly was still looking near death this morning, but still moving around a bit.

I went ahead and ordered some API General Cure as it gets good reviews and sounds pretty safe for everything. People claim that it will not harm the BB but I find that hard to believe since one of the ingredients is Metronidazole, an antibiotic/anti parasitic.

While I wait for that to arrive I'm going to SLOWLY lower the temp to around 82-83 and run some carbon to clear the way for the new meds. They should get here Thursday. Sound good?
 
RIP "Bubbles", our silver Molly. My daughter and I gave her a funeral in the yard tonight and buried her. Truly the founding "Mother" of my tank. But hey, the bright side is that we'll eventually be able to get some other interesting fish.

I've started notching down the temp. How long is it recommended to run carbon in your filter to remove meds? 24 Hours?
 
I'm so sorry for your loss. It is so hard to lose one of our fish friends.

I run my carbon for 24 hrs. I don't actually know what the safe minimum time is, but at 24 hrs you will definitely have cleared the meds.
 
Thanks. Perfect. I plan on doing a 30% WC tonight and then putting some carbon in and then running it until Thursday evening when I should have my API General Cure waiting for me to put the first dose in.
 
Keep us posted. Best wishes on ridding your tank of this persistent ich.
 
I think I've got more than just Ich. I think Velvet is a possibility (there is a Cardinal that has a "gold dust" look to him) along with some kind of wasting/spine deforming disease. I think the latter is what killed my Molly. She was looking a little hunchbacked and skinny towards the end but it happened very fast. General Cure sounds like the ticket for me. Not sure why I haven't heard of this treatment before. I'm just praying it's not fish TB that my tank has.
 
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