Treating ick on new fish

I just bought new fish and realized one of them has ick. But I did not do the quarantine in a seperate container before adding the fish, so the fish that is effected is in the main community. Should I take the fish and put it in a 5 gallon to treat it or would it be best to treat the entire tank? I ask because out of the five fish I’ve treated 4 of them died despite me carefully following the directions. So I understand the treatment alone stresses out fish, but also moving the new fish will stress them out extra. So what should I do? Separate the one showing symptoms or will all of the fish need treatment from being exposed or is it less stressful? I’m attaching the meds I’ll be using.

Usually the recommended ich treatment is to raise the temperature in the tank, as the protozoan lives and in the water and the entire tank is likely compromised at this point, even if other fish don't show signs. From


Since the life cycle is temperature-dependent and the ich can only be killed in the tomite stage, we will want to raise the tank temperature to 78-80 °F over 48 hours to speed the cycle of tomite formation and release. Theoretically, if the cycle takes four days to complete at this temperature, then the treatment should be complete in 4 days. On the other hand, if the temperature is much colder, for example at 60 °F, the treatment would need to last for several weeks or longer.

outofwater said:

Usually the recommended ich treatment is to raise the temperature in the tank, as the protozoan lives and in the water and the entire tank is likely compromised at this point, even if other fish don't show signs. From

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Since the life cycle is temperature-dependent and the ich can only be killed in the tomite stage, we will want to raise the tank temperature to 78-80 °F over 48 hours to speed the cycle of tomite formation and release. Theoretically, if the cycle takes four days to complete at this temperature, then the treatment should be complete in 4 days. On the other hand, if the temperature is much colder, for example at 60 °F, the treatment would need to last for several weeks or longer.

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It’s presently at 78 f. So I should not add the treatment then?

outofwater said:

Usually the recommended ich treatment is to raise the temperature in the tank, as the protozoan lives and in the water and the entire tank is likely compromised at this point, even if other fish don't show signs. From

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Since the life cycle is temperature-dependent and the ich can only be killed in the tomite stage, we will want to raise the tank temperature to 78-80 °F over 48 hours to speed the cycle of tomite formation and release. Theoretically, if the cycle takes four days to complete at this temperature, then the treatment should be complete in 4 days. On the other hand, if the temperature is much colder, for example at 60 °F, the treatment would need to last for several weeks or longer.

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So Ick is not fatal?

BBfishes said:

So Ick is not fatal?

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Ick is fatal. What he is saying is that raising the temp to that temp will speed up the life process not end it. They will still lay eggs and reproduce. So during that time, you add the treatment to rid of the bacteria quicker which also means less exposure of the treatment to the fish

Post a photo of the fish to make sure it is ich.

The temperature needs to be at 86°f/30°c to kill the ich. You need to leave it this high for 2 weeks to cover the free swimming stage when the parasite can be killed. Or at least 1 week after the fish are clear of the spots. If you reduce the temperature too soon after the spots have dropped off they can be reinfected, often quite severely, as the ich cysts are dormant in the substrate. Frequent thorough substrate cleaning reduces the number of parasites.

Don't use the meds.

I

Naughts said:

Post a photo of the fish to make sure it is ich.

The temperature needs to be at 86°f/30°c to kill the ich. You need to leave it this high for 2 weeks to cover the free swimming stage when the parasite can be killed. Or at least 1 week after the fish are clear of the spots. If you reduce the temperature too soon after the spots have dropped off they can be reinfected, often quite severely, as the ich cysts are dormant in the substrate. Frequent thorough substrate cleaning reduces the number of parasites.

Don't use the meds.

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I wanted to say this but didn't want to confuse him further lol

@Naughts covered it pretty well.

You can either use chemicals to treat fish for white spot, or you can use heat. If the fish are tropical, then heat is the safest option. You simply raise the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for a couple of weeks, or at least 1 week after all the white spots have gone.

Before you raise the temperature, do a huge (80-90%) water change and gravel clean the substrate. This removes most of the parasites in the water and gravel.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

You can clean the filter too if it hasn't been done in the last couple of weeks. Wash filter media/ materials in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the lawn.

Increase aeration/ surface turbulence when using heat, medications or salt, because they all reduce the oxygen levels in the water.

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If the fish are cold water, do not use heat because it will kill them. Instead you need to use a medication that contains copper or Malachite Green.

To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these before measuring the height of the water level so you get a more accurate water volume.

You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating with chemicals or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working. You do not need to remove the carbon if you use salt.