Ich

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Pirwhana

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 25, 2007
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Stillwater, MN
Ok my belly crawler pike has had ich for about a week or so. I raised the temperature in the tank to 84 degrees and I have added 1 tablespoon of aquarium salt per 5 gallons of water to the tank. I have heard this is the way to go for treating ich but I have done this for a week now and it has not gone away. Is that because it only kills the free swimming ich and the ich on the fish needs to exhaust its life cycle? How long does this treatment take to get rid of the ich? Should I up the temp even more? Any advice would be appreciated.
 
I would say just leave it as it is and wait another week.
 
ok thanks I really appreciate it. I have never had an issue with any kind of disease with fish so this is a first for me.
 
We use NoxIch ~ 1 drop per gal. - - works really well (but water is blue for a while) ~ there are other good Ich meds out there. Did Ya Know that Madagascar cichilds have no immune system for Ich? Can die after 2-3 days...
Salt (no Iodine) works great with them!
 
The only thing is with Noxich or anything with Malachite Green, you must be careful with scaleless fish such as catfish because it can kill them. It will start to rot the flesh and fins. If you do use it and you
have catfish, use at most half of the dosage the the bottle says. It will
take a little longer to rid it but it will be less harmful.
 
Unless you have fish that are sensitive to it, I find that Quick Cure by Aquarium Products kicks ass when treating Ich. It is a combo of malachite green and formalin.

When I'm dealing with hundred dollar fish I'm not messing around with high temps and salt. Fish with Ich can go downhill very quickly and since it eats away at their gills, a fish that is treated for 2 weeks with salt and is cured can still be affected in a very negative way. That fish, while cured of Ich, may never again be the same.
 
I to like Aquarium Products, also I like Aquatronics line.
 
hmm I have a bushynose pleco and I am assuming they are sensitive to it. My pike has never acted better. He is out more not hiding as much and is very enthusiastic about his food. He has what looks like grains of sugar or salt on his body - this is ich right? My pleco has been in there as long as my pike and there are no signs of ich on him.
 
Plecos are not a scaleless fish. So they are not sensitive to the Malachite green.
 
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