Ich Treatment Double Check

[Coyne]

Just noticed some Ich on one of my Serpae tetras a couple hours ago and was hoping to double check my treatment.

Just did a 25% PWC yesterday (Friday) and water parameters prior were fine:
Ammo 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates < 20ppm, Water temp 78F. Ive had these fish for roughly 5 weeks.
Tank is moderately planted. Some plants are the only recent additions (2 weeks ago) and I did not think to quarantine them first (I also found some snails today ).

I turned up the heater and am aiming for 86F, but its not an exact science with this heater, and with a 45 gallon tank it may take a bit.

I can not quarantine the infected fish as there are currently new arrivals in my QT.

I added some "natural" treatment that I purchased from Drs. F&S: Herbal Treatment for Aquarium Parasite Diseases: Ecological Laboratories Microbe-Lift Herbtana
I have been using this as a preventative treatment in my QT but never to treat an active infection, so Im not sure how effective it is (guess I'll find out).

I have aquarium salt, but have not added any yet. I'd like to avoid salt if possible as I will eventually be adding some Bumblebee Catfish (SA) and Ive read that scaleless fish are a bit more sensitive to salt.

Anything else I should be doing?

 

[cyberkat]

FYI: The temp should only be raised 1 degree at a time to reach your temp goal with a couple hours in between each raised temp degree. If done too quickly you will loose fish. Not sure if your aware of this or not.
Good luck!! I'm dealing with the Ichy stuff myself.

 

[Coyne]

well, I turned the knob up on my heater a couple hours ago and the temp has not budged... so I dont think raising the temp too quickly will be an issue. Now Im wondering if theres something wrong with the heater.

 

[cyberkat]

It's taking me over 48 hrs to raise the temp on my aquarium and I'm still raising it. I am working over the week end so the ich issue has bad timing!! I always question my heater as to if its keeping the correct temp accurately or not; need the digital kind for I won't question the readings I guess.

 

[Coyne]

Just checked it again and it had dropped a couple degrees. Apparently I turned the knob the wrong way.

Im having trouble locating the fish that was showing signs of ich, but there's lots of places to hide. How long should I wait without seeing him before I start tearing the tank apart? In other words, how bad does the ich typically get before it will kill the fish? He/she seemed to have a fair amount covering it and was swimming oddly yesterday, but I did not notice anything wrong on Thursday or Friday.

 

[cyberkat]

I've only had an aquarium with ich one other time. I know a fish can have ich in its gills or mouth and not have any visable spots or both inside & out. A lot depends on the health of the individual fish & how soon you start treatment. It doesn't sound good that he was swimming oddly and he can't be found now.
One thing I did different this time was that I took out all my plastic plants (only live plants stayed in). This makes it easier to vacume the rocks & see any fish that might be bad off. I figure I'll just re-scape my tank after all of this. So far this has made things easier, don't think the fish are overjoyed though!!

 

[Coyne]

yeah, I still cant find the one that was showing the most symptoms. On a brighter side though, the rest of the fish in the tank have become more lively. They have gone back to playing around in the HOB's outflow current. They used to do this all the time, but had stopped in the past few weeks. I had assumed they were just bored with the game, but now Im thinking that maybe they were just a little stressed from trying to fight off an infection.

 

[cyberkat]

Sometimes a fish will just disapear. One day I was moving something around and when I picked it up I felt something slimy on the back. Came to find out one of the fish had died and I hadn't realized it. Have you ever noticed a piece of uneaten food will have a white looking growth around it? Well after the fish was nibbled on a bit the "sac" grew around the body and the sac attached or grew into the base of a bubbler; the fish seemed to slowly be disolving inside the sac. My fish perked up after the big water change/vacume too.