Was it ich?

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M

Mythic Figment

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 27, 2012
2,117
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Florida
Okay, I had a 75 gallon tank in its final stages of cycling and had it in a bad location, apparently. Dog came charging through the room, hit the stand and knocked it over. 75 gallons of water damage to the carpet, broken glass all over, me pissed....good summary. Moving on. LOL I had some fish in a 20 gallon waiting to move into the 75 who had to stay where they were and I had ordered a couple loaches from my LFS that arrived the day the tank broke. So I have (or now had) 25-30 gallons of fish in a little 20 long that was suppose to be my QT tank when. So I already had 2 - 1.5" Angelicus loaches I rescued from a crappy Petsmart tank. They were the first fish I had. I got 5 neons to add to the tank from the same Petsmart. They were alone for 2 weeks before I found out the loaches were social and needed groups of 5 or more. Well I was 2 weeks away from a fully cycled 75, so I asked my LFS to order me 6 more. It took 2 weeks for them to even find Angelicus loaches to order. So the day they arrive, I go to get them and only 4 were shipped. I accept those 4 and decide to add 5 rummy nose tetras since everyone in the 20 gallon was going into the 75 when I got home. I get home to find the whole mess. Girlfriend old me what happened and now I have 6 - 1.5" Angelicus loaches, a Rubbernose pleco, 5 neons and 5 RNTs for a 20 gallon. I was quite upset. I planned to QT the new fish in the 20 gallon, but obviously that wasn't happening. I acclimated the new fish to the tank while I'm cleaning up.

Within 3 hours, I lose the first RNT. I didn't think anything of it because of the day I had been through. The next day, a neon is dead and I take notice. I start looking all over the tank and notice 3 or 4 of the loaches are flashing against everything they swim passed. I notice 2 white spots on one loach, but none of the others. I immediately head down to Petsmart and pick up some Kordon Rid Ich Plus. I start treatment right away. The next day I check on everyone. No one has spots and the loaches were no longer flashing. I vacuumed the gravel very well during water changes and had the temp up to 85 degrees throughout treatment. I lost 1 neon, 2 RNTs and my pleco to the treatments. I treated for 5 days total (3 days after the last spot was seen) and yesterday was the last day.

I found and have started cycling a 90 gallon tank that I just finished setting up today....in a better, more secure location. My question for all of you (after reading this awesome novel) is, have any of you experienced such a short period of ich? I have never experienced ich before in the 4 years I have kept fish (mostly because I am picky about the fish I buy), but from what I have read, ich usually stays for several days or even weeks. Or was what I had even ich?


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ich will stay if not treated. and if you treated the tank for 5 days with out WC thats why you lost the fish to it. i usually do not use meds in the tank unless necessary. if ich is caught in time you should just raise the temp to 86+. this is done because the ich parasite can not breed in temps above 85. at 85 they can still breed. but if heated correctly the fish should be cured in less than a week. and to answer your question it did sound like you had a case of ich. and ich is caused by stress that lowers the fishes immune system so no mater how good of quality they are they can still get ich. hope this helps
 
Nicely said ^^

Salt helps too, tblspoon/10 gals, for sensitive fish with no scales half dose. Bump up temp to 82-84 and Do a 50% wc in 2 days repeat but only add half of the original dose, salt builds up. After a week or so you should notice positive signs.

Don't overfeed at this point.


Go S. Vettel #1 rb8
 
Dial92 said:
ich will stay if not treated. and if you treated the tank for 5 days with out WC thats why you lost the fish to it. i usually do not use meds in the tank unless necessary. if ich is caught in time you should just raise the temp to 86+. this is done because the ich parasite can not breed in temps above 85. at 85 they can still breed. but if heated correctly the fish should be cured in less than a week. and to answer your question it did sound like you had a case of ich. and ich is caused by stress that lowers the fishes immune system so no mater how good of quality they are they can still get ich. hope this helps
Click to expand...

Nice! The student is now the master!

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Every day i look at my 75 gallon tank for any problems or any fish dead etc... one day i found 1 and only 1 white spot on my kenyi cichlid i didn't want to do a water change because i wanted to avoid stirring the ich up and stressing my fish out. So I cranked up the heat to about 87-88 and the next day it was gone. So then i put it back down to 78-80 and there it is again. So i did about a 35% water change and cranked the heat up to 88-90. And i haven't seen it since. I try to avoid using medicine because the last time i used ich medicine it stuck to the sealing to now i have a clear tank with blue sealing.
 
Thanks Dial. I treated with meds because the Rid Ich Plus says it is okay for loaches. The Angelicus loaches I have are the stars of the tank. Eventually I am shooting for a discus tank and everything I have is discus compatible. I did do daily water changes of about 25% before redosing the tank with meds. I have read that higher concentrations of salt necessary to kill ich is bad for loaches, so I went with meds instead. Temp was right at 85/86 degrees (my thermometer is not so great and need a new one).


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I was super thorough with treatment. 50% water change before the initial treatment and 25% daily change before the 24 hour redose. I was very torn between salt and meds because I paid more than $70 total for all 6 and they are my stars. I have only ever had 1 loach before and it was a kuhli. He lived for 3 years before I moved to Florida and gave him to a fish keeper friend who I knew would take good care of him. And I never had any issues of health before that I needed to worry about loaches and treatment. Can loaches really take salt? I have read that it just stresses them out more.

I just got done doing a 33% water change on the tank and adding fresh filter media to remove excess meds. They seem quite a bit happier already. :)


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