Post-ich-treatment on Gulper Catfish issue

[Artemiseus]

SO= significant other

Thanks for the advice. I'll do the salt treatment. What ammount would be recommended for an ich treatment for 75 gal? When would you recommend doing the temp increase? OR should I do the temp increase and then the salt after? Should I do a stress-coat treatment?

 

[Rocksor]

How far along are you in the medicated ich treatment? You should do a nearly 100% water change plus filtration of the water in carbon in the filter for at least 24 hours to remove residual medication before you should attempt heat + salt. Temp increase and addition of salt can happen at the same time. Increase temperature 1 degree every 2-3 hours until you reach 87F . Add 1 tablespoon of salt per gallon per day over a 3 day period, reaching a total of 3 tablespoons per gallon by day 3. Maintain the heat and salt levels until you no longer see ich for a period of 10-14 days after last visible ich.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

SO= significant other

Thanks for the advice. I'll do the salt treatment. What ammount would be recommended for an ich treatment for 75 gal? When would you recommend doing the temp increase? OR should I do the temp increase and then the salt after? Should I do a stress-coat treatment?

What Rocksor said above plus, again, please read the stickie threads in this exact forum on the ich. I'd not worry about the stress coat treatment.

 

[Artemiseus]

I'm concerned that a 100% water change may end up more problematic than helpful. My tap water has ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites already, and big changes like that always mess up the cycle for a week or so... the whole top of the water (2'x4' footprint) is covered in floating water lettuce and theres 3ft long planter filter (DIY setup) along the top of the tank filled with plants, and that's still not enough to handle the tap water. Even if I got API nitrazorb (which I know works), I'm concerned about the stress it would cause. Wouldn't the medication have broken down by now?

Also, it's been more than 48 hours since the 2nd treatment was done. The bottle doesn't mention treating again after the 2nd treatment, so I'm assuming it's supposed to knock out the ich in those 2 treatments? But I dont know how that would tie in with the 10ish day lifecycles.

 

[Artemiseus]

So, also, API doesn't even have a page on the type of "Super Ick Cure" my SO bought. They only have info on the power form and I got the liquid form. However, I did find another website that talks about the liquid form and says to avoid using salt in the aquarium after medicating because the medication in it can react with the salt and create a byproduct that's toxic to fish... lovely... so I'd have to do a 100% water change anyway...

This makes me wonder if I should just move the fish into a large tub with fresh water and a heater, add salt to the tub, and then blast the tank to 90° while its empty, and do a 100% water change and add salt?

We were already planning on converting an old tank into a riparium and moving puppy to that... and re-doing the tank hes in now. But I don't want to infect the new tank too... however, I've also read that ich is actually in almost all aquariums but it only effects the fish if their immune system is compromised by stress, etc... Like demodex in dogs.

 

[Rocksor]

You can add the fish to a tub, but you would have to follow the same protocol of slow temperature increase with slow addition of salt.

Ich will die without a host. So if you leave a tank that was infected with ich with just plants for a few weeks, I highly doubt it will infect any new fish that are not carrying ich.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

IDK why we are talking about a 100% WC. It's never needed and is never even achievable anyway.

Medication can be removed with an activated charcoal / carbon filtering.

If you completed two rounds of treatment by the med label, then I'd wait and see if the ich will go away.

If the fish is stressed in any other way, the ich is unlikely to go away or will come back shortly. Any stress must be eliminated the best you can.

If the entire surface of the tank is covered by floating plants, you may have, and likely have, a low DO dissolved oxygen, which a source of stress.

I'd not consider rehoming the fish unless this is the last fathomable measure of despair, a hail mary.

All the toxins in your tap water (except nitrate, which is not toxic at these concentrations) are easily detoxified with commercial water conditioners, such as SeaChem etc.

Your description of ich always present and breaking out only under stress matches my current understanding.

 

[Rocksor]

It depends on how much carbon is put into the filtration. A whisper slide in carbon will remove less medication than chemi-pure 11.00 oz bottle simply because there is more carbon in chemipure. Also large water change with gravel siphoning will remove any eggs in the substrate.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

I've never had to resort to such drastic measures. IME all reputable over the counter ich meds, such as Rid-Ich, etc. do what they have to, they are very efficient at killing ich - a type of aminophenyl dye like Methylene Blue plus some form of formaldehyde.

The biggest problem is that more often than not, the sources of stress are not identified (as it requires work and thinking and troubleshooting while pouring a med in is simple; speaking from a long personal stupid experience) and the ich comes back or worse and the fish keeper blames the med for being ineffective or killing the fish.

Moreover, usually when the stress is eliminated, a fish is usually able to beat the ich on its own without any help from meds or tricks. That I have been observing for the last 5 years over and over again.

Most fish shipments come into any given LFS with fish having ich or developing it soon thereafter because of the shipment stress. By far and large most usually LFS owners do not treat for the ich but let the fish get comfortable and beat the ich by themselves and it works.