Signs of ICH???

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Yeah guppy, you're right, most Ich treatments can work in either salt or freshwater. But also rkc772, like guppy said there is more than one strain of ich, and though the general meds kill off most of the infections, such as our antibiotics do, some strains arent even phased by it. Also, if you are noticing heavy damage to your fish's fins, you may be dealing with another organism all together, called fin-rot. Though it's possile ich could still be the cause, your fish would have to be heavily infested, for a long period of time for the flesh to peel away, and the fins to rot. This is because, like many other organisms, they feed off the nutrients in the cells of the fleshy parts of the fish. Typically though, most fish would die before it got to the point of rotting flesh. You may want to do some serious research on common fish diseases before you continue. If you are treating them for Ich, and they have fin-rot, gill-rot, or some other problem, you won't be helping the situation. The bad part though, is that it is a high possibility your tank could be infested with both!!! Don't freak out though, everyone deals with these critters sooner or later, and there is a ton of info. available on the net. But like guppy said, don't up and change the meds half way through, they contain different ingredients, and just because one med claims to be safe on all fish, the other may not be. Plus, it is just a general medication for a general disease. Just like some people are allergic to penuts and others aren't, some fish may not be able to handle a "safe" medication, while others are fine with it. Keep your fish in a holding tank, treat them with your chosen meds., and do water changes on your main tank, raise the salinity, and temp, and get your parameters back in check. Like i said before, all meds., good or bad will lower your water quality, so an already sick fish trying to fight for life in bad water is 10x's harder. It really is a double edged sword, you just have to weigh your pro's and con's of the situation.

--Emi
 
for the last 2 days i lost 4 fishes already and going 5-6... :cry: :cry: :cry: they are L66 plecos and very hard to find! :cry: i think i just made a big graveyard on my tank :cry: :cry: :cry: i am planning to get a 180 gal for them but it seems i am becoming a frustarted with the situation :( :( :( i have been taking care of fish since i was 12 and this is the worst loss i am encountering :cry: i'm currently using kordon ich remover but it seems the ick is just getting worst and worst. i'll got to the LFS to get some serious help here. i have been surfing the web and i found a lot but i am totally confused already. maybe i should shoot for salt and temp. i'm trying a trial and error here and this would be the most expensive experience i'm having :( one last question... when the water turns blue... and in less than an hour it turns clear again... does that mean the meds is being neutralized by my filter? i only have mechanical, nitra-zorb and amonia zorb...no carbon at all. :screwy:
 
No, it doesn't necessarily mean that your filter is "removing" the meds. It could just be that the dyes are dissapating. It's not meant to keep your tank blue. The color really has nothing to do with the actuall meds. It's more for you, than for the fish. If you have gotten to the point of mass loss, I would seriously recommend a fresh water bath. I know you didn't want to try that, but the fact of the matter is, you are running out of options before you reach total loss. Meds are fine, but they have their limits, and over medicating because of fear, is not the way to go. I know you are stressed, but put that aside for a minute, and think options here. You did your research, you tried meds, I am sure you have been keeping up with the temp, salinity, and water changes, and you are not seeing any improvement. You need to remove your fish from your main tank ASAP, (if you haven't yet done so). Once you do that, I suggest a 75% water change on your main tank, cleaning of any artificial plants, and a thorough substrate siphoning, and full cleaning of all your tubings. (also change out any filter pads, and empty your protien skimmer, and refill) when you have the fish isolated, try a fresh water bath. Just try it, once a day (maybe every other day), for about 5 minutes at a time. Do each fish one at a time, and change your water after each one. Keep the temp up in your holding tank, as it speeds the life cycle of the Ich, slowly raise the salinity (within a safe range), and continue to do water changes on your holding tank every other day. About 25% each time. Watch your fish closely for any erratic behaviors during the "bath", and watch in the holding tank for any loss of appetite, lying on the bottom, sunken bellies, and sadly death. :( Keep me posted of any progress----or lack there of!!! Best of luck to you. you can call me for more info if you need to. send me a private message. Fill me in soon.

--Emi
 
sad to say i loss some more... my 60 gal fishes are digging up their graves. i bought another type of meds from a LFS which is CopperSafe by mardel. this is the 3rd med i'm using. they told me it is a wide speactrum med. hope it works. from 10 L66 pleco down to 3 :cry: hard to find and expensive. i'll try the water bath. does that mean i transfer all the fish to a holding tank and treat them from their? :screwy: coz i'm currently treating the whole tank. but if it works why not. loss a lot already. need to do a desperate act to save the rest :( i'm really frustrated coz my L66 are full grown and breeding size already. :( so much for the next step of breeding them. :( i'll keep you guys posted.
 
Move the fish to a holding tank - a regular salt water one, not fresh. From there, take each fish out one at a time, into a bucket or other smaller tank that has the salt/fresh mix. Let each fish have the bath for about five minutes one at a time. After each one, dump the mix, and make a new batch for the next fish. It sucks I know, but you dont need further cross contamination, so go the extra mile. You can continue to treat your main tank if you want, after removing the fish, but first do a massive water change of about 75% as i suggested earlier. Clean what rock, fake plants, and tubing you can, remembering also to siphon the substrate, and then re-fill with new water. keep the temp up in your main tank even though you took the fish out. Any ich still in cyst form wont be affected by the meds until they "hatch", so keeping the temp up will speed this process.

--Emi
 
Uhm, water baby, these are fresh water fish.
 
OMG!!!!!!!! I wasn't even paying attention!! I read over it way to quickly, and didn't even register you were talking about your king tiger:screwy: . SSOOOOORRRRYYYY. Swap everything I said! LOL. My apologies! God I feel like an Idiot:eek:

Ok, Temp - Keep it up, no change there, but once you reach your high temp, keep it constant, DON'T let it drop, then raise, then drop, and so on.

Salt -- OK, here's my *** backwards goof up! Don't even bother with the fresh water bath --- hello! LOL, instead, you need a "salt bath". Now I know these fish can be delicate, so make sure you keep a close eye on them. Freshwater strains of Ich mostly cannot tolerate more than 1 ppt solutions of salt, whereas most fish can. Note- it will never be comfortable for your fish, but I don't think it would cause any further damage than they are dealing with now. the use of salts also has some added benefit of alleviating stress and shock. You can follow the rest of the directions for the fresh water bath. (I.E -- set up -- just reverse solution, time, cleaning, etc.) Just make sure you keep an eye on them, and keep the treatment up religiously for at least 10 days.

If you decide you need to revert back to meds, and have tried most all of the common brands, there are 2 more extreme treatments I can suggest, but I would only use this in an absolute last option!!

--Metallic salts - especially copper and silver solutions. usually these chemicals are voodoo to any tank, but when used properly, and controlled in a seperate tank/container, they can be very effective!!

--Formalin and/or Malachite meds. You can use them seperatly, or together (on some) they are extremely effective on large scale, and highly advanced infections. The problem -- they are extremly toxic. For you and the fish. you would need to be exceptionally observant, and prepared to use these. this is one of those (READ/FOLLOW DIRECTIONS EXACTLY) types. No room for mis-caculations.

I am so sorry I didn't even notice my flub! Forgive me?:( I feel like such a nob right now!! A complete idiot -- thankx gup! I can't believe i did that!

--Emi
 
now i got it clearly.... just loss one more L66 king tiger pleco... :cry: seems all the fish are having their last death wish. :cry: my nitrite spiked too high and i don't know why... i removed my nitra-zorb because i thought it was the one killing the meds. now i needed to put it back and have a 50% water change to lower it down. it's too high.. as in way too high. i was wondering why it spiked up since more than 50% of my fish are in heaven already :screwy: does the meds and salt give false reading? :screwy:
 
Some meds effect your biofiltrarion and can kill off part of the filter colony resulting in a spike, especially if you mix meds.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom