sp frustrated, please help!

[kayvaughan]

Guys I have had 4 healthy tanks for years. I just decided to buy a new tank and start a catfish tank.. I started the tank off with a channel cat who did well so i added 3 small Pbass who also did well. Out of the blue they all got ich. I tried treating them with "quick cure" as soon as i went to drop the medicine in the tank, the top popped off (like a loose slat chaker" and half the medicine fell into the tank. After hours of work trying to save the fish, they all died. The tank was just filtering water with no fish for 2 weeks, when i decided to try again with fish. I now have a 4 line cat and a baby rtc. The did well for the first week and a half i had them and then they seemed to be acting strange.. the 4 line is darting up and down the walls of the tank repetativlely in the same spot for hours.. the rtc looks fine, but he is VERY lazy. more so than normal.. he rarely moves and doesnt seem interested in food.. this is not like him at all.

Question #1 Is this ich again?
#2 Why does it keep coming back?
#3 what should i use to treat them? if not quick cure?

thanks guys. i really would like to save these guys. im so sick of loosing my fish.

 

[Great Basin Benji]

Ich will continue to surface as long as immature stages of the parasite are still in your gravel, filter, substrate, ect... However, the good news is that Ich is quite easy to cure, and you don't need all of those expensive remedies to do it.

The only thing, you'll need to do to rid yourself of this problem, is to slowly bring the Temp. of the tank up to between 82 and 85 degrees. The Ich parasite and its juvenile stages cannot live in temps above 81-82 degrees F. The only other thing you'll need to do on top of that is a roughly 25-50% water change, and upon addition of the new water add (1) level teaspoon per gallon of Aquarium salt to the new water to be added back into the tank. Your fish will thank you for the salt, because it will help them with any health issues to their slime coat, and the Ich don't care for it either.

That's it!!!! 82-85 degrees F and a little aquarium salt. Works every time... You'll want to keep your tank temp up around this setting for at least 7-10 days, and all of the eggs, juveniles, and adult Ich parasites should be completely dead at this point, and chances of reoccurances will be greatly diminished. Best of luck.


Ben.

 

[Fish Room Plus]

The fish are acting funny because there loaded with parasite. i would buy formalin and dose the tank quickly.

 

[Lupin]

Ben, I do not think ich would still reside in there without a host. Note that the OP said she did not have fish in there for two weeks. Assuming the temperature was maintained at 78 degrees and above, chances are good the ich would completely die in less than 3 days as a result of lack of hosts.

In this case, her new fish may simply be carrying ich with them since ich can reside in gill tissues. Ich is not the only parasite that causes fish to scratch. We are also suspecting costia, flukes, external parasites and a few other pathogens that may possibly infect the fish.

Kay, by this time, both the formalin and malachite green which are ingredients of Quick Cure, have already gone as these do degrade in the water over time and can bind on organic matter readily thus making them pointless if not redosed every 24 hours.

What I never see in your post are your water parameters. What are your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, KH and GH? How does the RTC's poop look? What do you feed your fish? How long has this issue been ongoing?

If I were you, check your water parameters before and after you perform a water change. Post both time frame's results. Do a water change by as much as 80% and add a 0.3 solution of salt (3 teaspoons per gallon). Remember to dissolve salt thoroughly and add slowly to the tank since you are dealing with bottom dwellers. Salt grains burn their skin severely.

 

[~ocean]

try coppersafe, works everytime. Warning: Use only if you see white dots - ich or if your fish have velvet!!!