I bought a small spotted pictus catfish for my 20 gallon tropical tank about 2 days ago from my lfs. Now he has dozens of white pimples all over him....which I know to be ICK. I have already started treatment by adding chemical to the water....I don't want anything in the tank to die, but I won't be crushed if they all do. =( My issue is this....the pictus was in the tank with my chinese hi fin banded shark for 12 hours until I took the shark out and moved him to a seperate tank. Now I am concerned that the tank I moved him to might possibly become infected. I know the pictus didn't have the spots last night when we fed the whole tank and we were watching him intently. However, my girlfriend noticed this morning while watching the pictus that it had the white bumps. I am trying to figure out what steps I might be able to take to avoid an outbreak of ick in the tank I moved the shark to....which has MANY fish I adore and would be super pissed off if I lost. I am also concerned about treating that tank because I have a weather loach and a peacock eel, which are both scaleless and don't respond well to salt or chemicals. ANY advice on this situation would be GREATLY appreciated!
ICK Attack!!! I need help!!
- Thread starter Nexusrider12
- Start date
Use Quick Cure.
It can be used on tetras, and scaleless fish as well as loaches very well.
Just read the directions for the tetras on the back... it's a lesser dosage.
I had to use it on a group of clown loaches with ich, and everyone pulled through just fine.
It can be used on tetras, and scaleless fish as well as loaches very well.
Just read the directions for the tetras on the back... it's a lesser dosage.
I had to use it on a group of clown loaches with ich, and everyone pulled through just fine.
I recently had an ick outbreak in my tank. I was using the salt + heat method which worked really well. I also have 3 pictus (we lost one but he was the frailest of the 3 and out of about 15 fish we only lost him).
Bump the temperature to 84+ degrees and add 1 tsp of aquarium salt per gallon. Also read the 'Freshwater Disease' sticky that is up here on the site. You seem to have a small tank so there would be no harm in treating BOTH tanks just in case.
I had a particularly bad case so it took about 4 days for the spots to disappear from most of the fish and about 7 for our hardest hit rainbowfish to finally lose her spots. I am still treating with heat, water change and then a salt treatment every other day until about 14 days is up. But I think, for me at least, that I am in the clear now.
Bump the temperature to 84+ degrees and add 1 tsp of aquarium salt per gallon. Also read the 'Freshwater Disease' sticky that is up here on the site. You seem to have a small tank so there would be no harm in treating BOTH tanks just in case.
I had a particularly bad case so it took about 4 days for the spots to disappear from most of the fish and about 7 for our hardest hit rainbowfish to finally lose her spots. I am still treating with heat, water change and then a salt treatment every other day until about 14 days is up. But I think, for me at least, that I am in the clear now.
Cool. Thanks for in input. I have started treating my 30 gallon tank now. I will treat it for 2 days and if I don't see any sign of ick, I will discontinue treatment of that tank. Do you think 2 days is long enough or should I be looking more towards 3-4 days? Oh, I have also cranked up the heat in both tanks to 80+ degrees.
You should treat the tank for a while. It may take up to 6 days for the spots to disappear.. BUT if you see the spots disappear, you should treat the tank for another 2-3 days because the disease is free floating in the water (even though you can't see it) and you want to make sure it's dead.
So treat the tank, pay attention to when the spots disappear and once they are gone continue to treat it for 3-4 days. Keep in mind that the first few days the spots may appear to get worse. Just be patient.
You really should read the sticky thread about Freshwater Diseases if you haven't alreayd.
So treat the tank, pay attention to when the spots disappear and once they are gone continue to treat it for 3-4 days. Keep in mind that the first few days the spots may appear to get worse. Just be patient.
You really should read the sticky thread about Freshwater Diseases if you haven't alreayd.
iloveyouDIE;4011895; said:
Yeah, I already read the article. It has some very helpful info in there. However, it doesn't say anything about what to do if you suspect your tank might possibly be infected. My 20 gallon I know to be infected...the pictus has white spots all over him, but my 30 may only possibly be infected. I moved my chinese hi fin banded shark from the 20 to the 30 after it had spent 12+ hours in the tank with the pictus. So I am giving the 30 some treatment. What I want to know is, should I treat the 30 gallon, that has no white bumps on any fish, for 2 days like I am planning on doing or more like 3-4 days?