a question about ich

[cshdvmart]

I had 3 beautiful clown loaches that were doing very well, together with 3 tetras and a molly...water quality good...I brought in a 4th clown loach without quarantine...silly me... and now all of the clown loaches are dead from ich. I tried zealously to treat them, but to no avail...the 4th tyhoid mary loach died early on, and my other three died today. I think I may have actually killed them with the ich treatment, but they were not improving anyway.
Now I want to get some more clown loaches, but I am worried that the ich is in my tank and will just get on any new loaches that I bring in. Is there anything I can do to make it safe to bring new clown loaches into the tank?
The tetras and the molly are fine, they don't have any ich and haven't through this whole thing.

 

[Tanked]

what did you use for ich treatment?
Some treatments are not safe for scaleless fish such as loaches and tetras.

I recomend RidIch+ by kordon for any tank with scaleless fish. I have had great results with it in the past (thanks les and allie)

 

[playfulalliecat]

Rid Ich is safer than most ich meds for scaleless fish but you should still watch them closely for any signs of distress within the first few hours after adding the treatment.

As for the tank you need to continue treating even though you can't see the ich, its still in the tank waiting for a host. I would recommend treating for at least a week after seeing the last signs. Then put carbon in the filter to remove all medications and do a water change before adding any new loaches. Clowns in particular are very susceptible to diseases and just the stress from moving can be enough to cause them to get sick. Also as we found out, any sharp objects in the tank, even something you don't think is sharp can be detrimental to clowns. We lost all 3 of ours Sunday to a decoration in the tank that they were hiding inside of.