Epson Salts also work. 1 tblsp per 10 gal. It helps to put natural slime back on the fish. Its a good preventive medicine.
Signs of ICH???
- Thread starter paOol
- Start date
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got the same problem here for 2 days already... been treating it for 3x... ick has lessen but not totally gone... 
i use Ick Clear (Tank Buddies) by Jungle Fish Care (www.junglelabs.com). i need to change the 25% of water each day for a new treatment to avoid overdose. says on the label that it doesn't need to increase temp, but i still did. i might go to the LFS tomorrow and get rid-ick+ by Kordon it might be a better brand and better result. 
last time i had ick i just needed to do it 1x and its gone now... i don't know.
my set up is...
60 Gal
- 2 Albino Corydoras
- 2 Corydoras sterbai
- 2 Loricariidae Pecklotia L-008 Pleco
- 1 Sturisoma nigrirostrum
- 3 Upsidedown Catfish
- 10 L66 King Tiger Pleco
- 3 Chinese Algea Eater
i think it's the temp that made them ick... what i do now is slowly... as in very slowly drip the new water back.
and turn on the heater.
hope everything goes well for both of us.
i use Ick Clear (Tank Buddies) by Jungle Fish Care (www.junglelabs.com). i need to change the 25% of water each day for a new treatment to avoid overdose. says on the label that it doesn't need to increase temp, but i still did. i might go to the LFS tomorrow and get rid-ick+ by Kordon it might be a better brand and better result. last time i had ick i just needed to do it 1x and its gone now... i don't know. my set up is...
60 Gal
- 2 Albino Corydoras
- 2 Corydoras sterbai
- 2 Loricariidae Pecklotia L-008 Pleco
- 1 Sturisoma nigrirostrum
- 3 Upsidedown Catfish
- 10 L66 King Tiger Pleco
- 3 Chinese Algea Eater
i think it's the temp that made them ick... what i do now is slowly... as in very slowly drip the new water back.
and turn on the heater.hope everything goes well for both of us.
First off, let me just point out that fish dont "get/make" ich from stress. what happens is that when they are stressed, woudned, or malnurished, their natural immune system fails, and they are no longer able to fight infections properly. Ich is a free swimming organism that can be introduced into your tank from a variety of sources. It hooks onto your fish on the body, fins, and in extreme cases, even around or on the eyes. Because it is free swimming, and reproduces rapidly, it can form swarms in your tank, virtually invisible to the naked eye. I agree wholly with guppy that Ich can hang out in your tank, showing mild cases for quite some time. However, if you notice any spots, no matter where they are on the body of your fish, you should treat immediatly. Ich is one of the most common salt water "bad guys", but doesn't have to be devistating. Do note though, that if left untreated, it can, and most likely will take over all of your fish, ending in a massive funeral for you! There are several ways to treat Ich. Some over the counter remedies are good, and others do nothing but drop your water qualitly, and have pretty colors. Also, temperature, and salinity levels play a role in recovery. You may also want to try a "fresh-water bath". To do this, you will need a seperate container, I used five gallon utility buckets. Make sure you have 2 parts fresh-water, and 1 part salt water. Not all fish can handle this, so do some research on your particular species before this. You should leave your fish in this mixture for no more than 5-7 minutes. Remove them immediatly if they become severly stressed, or breathing becomes excessively erratic. Most fish will lie on their sides, appear sluggish, and sometimes, not even move. This is ok, and normal. What this fresh-water bath does, is force the organisms (ich), to absorb the freshwater through their soft bodies, litterally making them explode, as they cannot survive with those parameters. This may be uncomfortable for your fish, but not detrimental, as long as it is monitored. Also note, that some over the counter remedies for Ich, can contain copper traces, which are fatal to most all inverts, and can cause serious harm to certain species of fish. Research is the key. There is no 100% way to diagnose Ich with a naked eye, as other infections can appear similar, such as velvet disease. If you can, the best suggestion I can offer, is treat early, and if possible, take your fish to your local vet's office, so that a scale scraping can be done. This way they may look at it under a microscope, and provide a positive identity to your culprit. But most remedies can cover ich and velvet.
I would also suggest that in the mean time, you have a "sick-bay" tank for those obviously infected. You should never really treat your whole tank with medicine. It is always better to remove the livestock to another tank, treat them there, and do a water change on your main tank. If it is ich, they need to attach to a host within 48 hours after hatching, or they will die. This could take a week or two for an infested tank to clear. continue to do water changes every few days on your main tank while the livestock is in another. Once your fish have recovered completly, and your tank has had at minimum, a week to cycle, you may slowly re-introduce your fish back into your main tank. This could very well happen many times to you. In one year, I dealt with it 3 times. I found though, that another major contributor of ich introduction into your tank is wild caught fish. As far as health and hardiness go, captive bred are always a better bet. I hope this was of some help, good luck.
--Emi
There are several ways to treat Ich. Some over the counter remedies are good, and others do nothing but drop your water qualitly, and have pretty colors. Also, temperature, and salinity levels play a role in recovery. You may also want to try a "fresh-water bath". To do this, you will need a seperate container, I used five gallon utility buckets. Make sure you have 2 parts fresh-water, and 1 part salt water. Not all fish can handle this, so do some research on your particular species before this. You should leave your fish in this mixture for no more than 5-7 minutes. Remove them immediatly if they become severly stressed, or breathing becomes excessively erratic. Most fish will lie on their sides, appear sluggish, and sometimes, not even move. This is ok, and normal. What this fresh-water bath does, is force the organisms (ich), to absorb the freshwater through their soft bodies, litterally making them explode, as they cannot survive with those parameters. This may be uncomfortable for your fish, but not detrimental, as long as it is monitored. Also note, that some over the counter remedies for Ich, can contain copper traces, which are fatal to most all inverts, and can cause serious harm to certain species of fish. Research is the key. There is no 100% way to diagnose Ich with a naked eye, as other infections can appear similar, such as velvet disease. If you can, the best suggestion I can offer, is treat early, and if possible, take your fish to your local vet's office, so that a scale scraping can be done. This way they may look at it under a microscope, and provide a positive identity to your culprit. But most remedies can cover ich and velvet. I would also suggest that in the mean time, you have a "sick-bay" tank for those obviously infected. You should never really treat your whole tank with medicine. It is always better to remove the livestock to another tank, treat them there, and do a water change on your main tank. If it is ich, they need to attach to a host within 48 hours after hatching, or they will die. This could take a week or two for an infested tank to clear. continue to do water changes every few days on your main tank while the livestock is in another. Once your fish have recovered completly, and your tank has had at minimum, a week to cycle, you may slowly re-introduce your fish back into your main tank. This could very well happen many times to you. In one year, I dealt with it 3 times. I found though, that another major contributor of ich introduction into your tank is wild caught fish. As far as health and hardiness go, captive bred are always a better bet. I hope this was of some help, good luck.
--Emi
i am currently treating my 60 gal aquarium with ick/ich... i tried using the ick bubble from "jungle"... it has been 3 days already. been changing 25% water before doing a new treatment. improvement has been notice but it seemed it jumped to the other fishes inside the tank. i bought Rid-Ich+ by kordon and treated the tank. this moring i notice my fish aint too happy already. has one who has rotten fins. my temp is around 78 F. i took the carbon out way before treating. this is the 5th day... and i'm scared to treat them again because they are weak and unhappy. can anyone tell me what to do??? don't want to have RIP fish here.... my nitrite went 0 to .25 and my amonia went 0 to .25.... i put some nitra-zorb and amonia-zorb media in the canister filter. and the amonia went to zero but my nitrite is still on (lessen a lot). my fish are in the ICU right now! 
how long should i do this ick removing thing? never had to do this one this long.
my nitrite went 0 to .25 and my amonia went 0 to .25.... i put some nitra-zorb and amonia-zorb media in the canister filter. and the amonia went to zero but my nitrite is still on (lessen a lot). my fish are in the ICU right now! how long should i do this ick removing thing? never had to do this one this long. Hiya waterbaby, great info.
I do feel I need to point out that the freshwater ich (Ichthyophthirius multifilus) is a different critterthan the marine ich (Cyptocaryon irritans). The main difference is that the freshwater one dies in saltwater and the salt water one dies in freshwater.
RKC772, you are stressing to much, and in doing so are over treating your fish. Ich is only treatable as it spreads, It takes several days to kill them all, the parasite often spreads during treatment. 10 days is the minimum time for treatment if you use the salt and heat treatment and I don't think the meds are any better.
Pick a treatment and stick with it. the worst thing you can do is to jump from one treatment to another, the rapid exposure of your fish to the various meds weakens them and doesn't allow the meds to do what you are using them for in the first place.
What you are doing is breeding a resistant strain of ich.
I do feel I need to point out that the freshwater ich (Ichthyophthirius multifilus) is a different critterthan the marine ich (Cyptocaryon irritans). The main difference is that the freshwater one dies in saltwater and the salt water one dies in freshwater.
RKC772, you are stressing to much, and in doing so are over treating your fish. Ich is only treatable as it spreads, It takes several days to kill them all, the parasite often spreads during treatment. 10 days is the minimum time for treatment if you use the salt and heat treatment and I don't think the meds are any better.
Pick a treatment and stick with it. the worst thing you can do is to jump from one treatment to another, the rapid exposure of your fish to the various meds weakens them and doesn't allow the meds to do what you are using them for in the first place.
What you are doing is breeding a resistant strain of ich.
Usually the white spots are all over the body when it's ich, raising the temp and using rock salt works.
i hope i didn't make any resistance to the ich/ick... the LFS told me the kordon was a lot better that's the only reason why i transfered. since i did already, i'll stick to it then. i'll wait for 10 days. thanks "guppy" been a lot of stress lately.. also my fish. hope they'll end up fine. i'll update on it.
"guppy" do you think i should put salt and increase temp and at the same time put meds? just wanna be on the safe side.
"guppy" do you think i should put salt and increase temp and at the same time put meds? just wanna be on the safe side.
I have not used ich meds in years but prefer not to mix treatments, on the other hand Kordon's rid-ick can be used in salt water according to the manufacturer. It is probably safe but I would not do it myself. Just follow the instructions on the bottle and be patient.
