I woke up this yesterday and i noticed my smaller clown loaches (about an 1") got white spots all over them. Its odd because i have about 8 of them and they all got it, but i also have 4 larger ones bout 3.5inches and those dont have any white spots at all. I immediately did a water change of about 30-40% and added some salt. I also raised the temp to 86ish. I tested the water and ammona and nitrites are at 0. I can't really afford any expensive medicines or store bought treatments, so what would you guys recommend?
ich!!
- Thread starter FreshwaterHawaii
- Start date
If you caught it early enough, heat treatment should b good but if not then you might have to go the "expensive" way. Hardly encountered ick but when I do it's at the early stage in which I don't need meds n just heat is good. There is way to prevent ick but is expensive, get a uv sterilizer.
I think you are on the right track with the heat and salt -- IME, doing a daily vacuum while treating has shortened the cycle considerably. Quick version: when the ich falls off the host (in this case your fish) it sits in the substrate until it bursts, making lots more ich to go find fish to cling onto... by doing vacuums daily, you are removing those from the tank, reducing the amount if ich looking for a host, etc.. Plus, the extremely clean water will help your fish during all of this.
Once I had to treat my clowns with something other than salt/heat because that just was not cutting it.. I used Kordon's Ich Attack -- worked great, not overly expensive and no negative side effects.
Once I had to treat my clowns with something other than salt/heat because that just was not cutting it.. I used Kordon's Ich Attack -- worked great, not overly expensive and no negative side effects.