Clown Loach with Ich

[Boggle]

I have a community tank in which my 2 bala sharks & 4 clown loaches developed Ich almost 2 weeks ago.

I turned the temp up to 82F, have kept the lights off, and have been treating the tank with Aqua Master Rapid White Spot Remedy (37mg/mL formaldehyde & 0.32mg/mL malachite green as active ingredients), from day , and then every 3 days as per instructions.

Everybody's spots have gone, apart from Pinky, the smallest and most pale of the loaches. The last 2 mornings I have found him lying on his side on top of the floating plants, with his nose sticking out of the water. Each time I've thought he was dead and (instant tears, lol) patted his little head, then all of a sudden he seems to wake up and swim away, then 5 minutes later he's in the same position.

He's lost half of the spots, but seems to be really weak.

Help, he's my little baby, and if he dies I will be crushed!

What should I do?

 

[Tempestuousfury]

If it's at the top, it might be gasping for air. 89 is too high, even for treating ich. Higher temp means less O2, so this means that they have a harder time breathing.

Do you have a smaller tank you could transfer your fish to?

 

[Boggle]

Sorry, 89F was a typo, I'm in Australia and go off Celsius. I checked the heater & it's on 82F.

 

[Boggle]

I have a smaller tank, but do you think moving the poor thing would stress him too much?

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Get a plastic cup. That way you wouldn't stress it out while catching it, and you wouldn't stress it like you would if you transfered it with a net.

Also, this way you could save meds and could prevent another bout of infection. (Though you should still add medicine to the first tank for a few days to make sure the ich doesn't come back).

 

[Boggle]

Should I treat him with increased doseges of meds? So far, I've been putting in 1/2 dosages as per instructions, but it doesn't seem to be working on him.

Just don't know what to do once I move him into his own tank...

 

[Tempestuousfury]

If you move him, don't up the medicine because it might prove lethal.

Just want to get this straight:
You've raised temp
Added meds as instructed
Remove chemical filtration (carbon)

 

[Boggle]

Yep, but I never had carbon to begin with (my lfs said not to bother with it).

Temp is at 82F, lights are off, meds as per instructions. All other fish got better, but he is the smallest and the other loaches always pick on him, so he's immune system is probably the weakest. I've put him in his own tank now.

Tested the water, nitrite's are at 0.025, about to do a 25% water change anyway.

Maybe now that no-one can pick on him, he'll get better?

 

[gaya]

I think the temp would need to be higher to really speed up the life cycle, plus ick paracites usually don't have a problem adapting to 82F. If clown loaches can handle it 86F would be better with a air stone going.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

You should definitely put the fish in water that has no ammonia or nitrites. Even a little bit of nitrites is potentially dangerous.

 

[Boggle]

Shall do, I'll turn it up to 84F, then 86F tomorrow. It's a 200L tank, so it will tank a while to heat up. Have also stolen one airstone from the goldfish tank, will do my water change now.

The nitrites only got to 0.025 because I haven't done any water changes while I was putting meds in the water. But now that everyone else is ok, I'll do it.

I gave Pinky some bloodworms, he got sooo excited

Thanks for all your help guys, I hope he'll be ok.