Sick to death of ICK!!

[Tokalosh]

I seem to be getting very disheartened about this recurring Ick in my tank.
To a point I want to pack it in as it is stressing me and my fish out. I don’t know what is causing it to reocure all the time and there has not been a month that has gone by with out it.
I’ve tried all the remedies from the heat treatment to different types of medication, to no avail. The fish and I are so tired of putting medication in the tank. To make things worse my Ram has got hole in the head and my ghost cat has got fin rot. My tank is well planted and the plants are doing fantastic but all this medication can’t be doing the tank any good.

This is not the first time I’ve been down this road but last night I gradually raised the temp from 26 to 30, turned off the CO2 and turned on my air stones. I then added some Anti White Spot (Interpet) as well as some Melafix, what ells can I do. My water parameters are perfect as I do a 30% water change every week.

Any advice would be most welcome.

The Tank (NO MONSTER TANK, just a tank)
Modified TropiQuarium 88
JBL CO2 system
2 X 18 watt Aqua Glow Lamps (wish I had room for more)
130 L
Temp 30
pH 6.4 ppm
KH 3.5 ppm
GH 14 ppm
Nitrate 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
CO2 39.2 mg/l
Bubbles / min 36

The Fish
3 X Gold Rams
4 X Clown Loaches
2 X Panda Cory's
1 X Siamese Flying Fox
10 X Neon Tetras
10 X Cardinal Tetras
6 X White Fin Tetra
6 X Glass (Ghost) Catfish
3 X Kribs (1 x male, 2 x female)

Plants
Dwarf Anubias
Congo Water Fern
Green cabomba
Fountain Plant
Java Moss South-East Asia
Medium Amazon Sword

Filter / Heater / CO2
Eheim 2229 external
Eheim aquaball internal
JBL CO2 Profiset 500
200 watt Visitherm Heater


Thanks
Tokalosh

 

[Tokalosh]

I've just read Guppys sticky...........

Will give it a go, and will report my findings.

Thanks Guppy

Tokalosh

 

[neoprodigy]

yup.. i would try heat and salt first.... like guppy's pin thread... if all fails.. i use RidICH

 

[fishnutham]

lol neo that product looks like a late night infomorcial where do you buy that from not that i need any but its good to have it in the med cabinet

 

[guppy]

BigAlsonline carries it as do most lfs, the newer formulation called RidIch Plus is a slightly different mix that is zinc free and is safer with loaches and scaleless fish.

 

[johno27]

I think that is the + stuff but i could be wrong it works well as a last resort after trying non medicated routes

 

[Miles]

Continue Treatment for 2-4 weeks AFTER there are no visible signs of the Ich parasite. It can become a dormant parasite and lodge itself onto objects/fish in your tank, only to re-occur. The salt + heat treatment is the safest and easiest method of treatment.

You also might want to look fruther into stress issues.. For Example, a breeding pair of kribs can really harass other dwarf cichlids like the Rams. You also might want to take reading of your water parameters 4-5 times a day for a few days. With Co2 injection, your tank can become very unstable and pH swings might be causing these outbreaks.

 

[ultimatejay]

Buy a U.V. sterilizer and be done with it forever!

 

[ewurm]

Don't give up dude. I had a problem for a while. I keep all my tanks now at 78-80 and no problems for over a year. I find that heat and salt are better than meds, but try different stuff and see what happens. Good luck.

 

[Vapor]

What ever you do don't give up . Even if you lose all fish start over. I have also had the thought of quitting but when I look at my tanks I am glad I didn't. Use the temp and salt method. Use 3 to 4 tablespoons of salt for every 5 gallons of water. If you change water add back in the appropriate amount of salt. Minimum ten days of treatment. Good luck and let us know.