Ick Treatment question - Help please

[soulFish]

I'm treating a Clown loach in a 20gal that has Ick. I also have some baby plecos and one Dat. I'm treating them with Maricide. But it's day 3 out of the 5 day treatment and the loach started darting around rapid breathing? Looks like he's going downhill. Should I just stick it out with the maricide? Or should I try the salt water dunking thing that some have mentioned in addition to the medicine?

FYI the temp is up and I've added about double the normal salt for 20 Gal.

 

[Crazy Taco]

clowns always get ich do a water change EVERY day and treat with nox ich and remove all carbon from filter. he might have a chance

 

[OscarHook]

try and isolate, increase temp, double aquarium salt dosage, keep as dark as possible. Should be ick free in about 2 days.

 

[is300zx]

I would not do the dip thing. It'll probably kill your loach and it won't kill the ich either. The only way you can kill ich is when they are free floating and not actually attached to the fish. So when treating for ich you're actually killing the ones you don't see, the ones that are floating in your tank. The reason for the higher temps is to speed up the cycle from the attached stage to the free floating stage. Doing salt and meds at the same is probably also too much for a sensitive fish like a clown loach. Clown loaches don't have scales so they can easily absorbed what ever meds in the water through their skin. And depending on what meds it is it can be detrimental to them.

I don't know what your temps are but rapid breathing can be cause by lack of oxygen. When you raise temps the dissolved oxygen goes down. You should have a lot of aeration in your tank to help oxygenate your water when you raise temps. The rapid breathing can also be caused by the ich parasites attaching to the fish's gills.

If it were me I would discontinue the meds and just use the salt and high temp methods. It's probably much easier on your fish compared to meds. Most effective is to have your temps at above 85F. I keep mines around 86F-87F when treating. This is because at above 85F most strains of ich are also killed by the heat alone. So you're not only speeding up the cycle but also killing them at the same time. Any ich that are not killed by the temp will be killed by the salt. You should also continue treatment even after you don't see any spots on the fish. Again this because there could be free floating ich in your tank which hasn't attached to your fish yet.

 

[soulFish]

Thanks 300, very informative post. I did the last day of treatment tonight and I'll increase airation, just in case. In 2 days .. hopefully he's still alive I'll do a 50% water change then start to bring the temp up from 81 to 85 and keep the salt level where they are. The water change aiding in removing the medicated water. Thanks I hope this little guy lives, I hate this sick fish symdrome I have going at the moment. thank goodness the other tanks seem clear. It seems as thought it got passed from one tank to the other, maybe in feeding, using the net, etc? But the first tank seems to have recovered nicely and thankfully I didn't lose a fish in there, not even the loaches. But seems like this second tank got hit a bit harder, atleasst this one loach did, compaired to the other fish. I'll keep you guys informed, thanks for the help.

 

[soulFish]

well here's and update. The Pleco lived and so did all the other inhabitats , Loached, Bichir, Dat in the 30Gal and knock on wood seems to have cleared up and I have Copepr Safe in there as a precaution.

In the 20Gal, the meds killed my 5 pleco fry and Ick took my Clown.. RIP little guy. I tried everything I knew how. Medicine, Salt, higer Temps, Water Changes, not in that order but you get the idea. Luckely the Dat baby is doing fine, he just looks a bit lonely in there by himself.

Here's a pick of the tanks and the Pleco. How long should the 20 be in quarintine? 4 weeks?