Stubborn ICH!

Jhncf

Plecostomus
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Jan 23, 2014
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About 3 weeks ago I noticed ich on my fish and the next day I started treating with Interpet Anti White Spot, that had no effect so I tried esha exit and that cleared up a few of the fish. Even after treating with the esha for about a week the spots still wouldn't shift from the Oscar and Firemouth! I decided to change my approach and after a 50% water change I added salt up to 2 tsp per gallon over the course of 2 days and upped the temp to 30 degrees celcius. Now 2 days later only the Oscar has spots but he is covered! I'm also having trouble keeping the temp at 30. It struggles to get above 29 even with a 300 watt and a 200 watt heater in a 90 gal (my house is cold). I put a blanket on top of the tank and the temp raised to 31.5 which I think would be too high for the fish, even though the were still acting normal.. Will 31.5 be too high for a JD, a Firemouth, an Oscar, an Acara and a Senegal Bichir for a week or two?
 

duanes

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Ich is not cured overnight, or even in a week.
While the spots are on the fish, they are almost totally immune to treatment.
They are a protozoa that must go thru its entire life cycle to be eradicated, and that cycle has only 2 stages (out of 4) where the ich is vulnerable.
Medication/salt is poison to the emerging ich protozoa hatching from off the fish, and from the substrate, it crushes their cell walls.
Heat speeds up the life cycle so those vulnerable times become more frequent.
 

Jhncf

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Jan 23, 2014
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Scotland
Right this has been weeks i've been treating this ich now.. I've been keeping the temperature at 31/32 degrees and had 2 tsp of salt per gal in the tank, all visible spots had gotten worse and then cleared up. I still kept the temp up and did a water change and re added the salt and today i've noticed a spot on my gold severums fin! My acara is rubbing itself on the sand aswell.. Why is it coming back?! Any help would be appreciated because this is driving me mad!
 

Chidori Noodlez

Feeder Fish
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Apr 13, 2013
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There's a sticky in the disease and health forum about ick...
I can say I've had my JD temp up to 90 accidentally during winter spring change had a hot day and they were fine. But I have airstones that probably helped as you know oxygen is lower in warmer water...

Now also dealt with ick before and had the tank at 86 for 10 days. I used Kordon rid - ick + and around the 4th day white spots were gone but still ran a full treatment 10 days


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 

duanes

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Ich can survive salinity under 3ppt (parts per thousand), but 3ppt is the magic number, I always shoot for a bit higher.
Sometimes 2 tsp per gal does not bring the salinity up to this level.
If you can get hold of a salinity meter, you can check for sure.
And if you do a water change, salt needs to be added to reflect the change.
I find vacuuming the substrate also helps, because there are dormant ich cysts that sit in the substrate waiting for a fish to pass by. They react to fish urine, and quickly hatch and attach to a passing fish.
 
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