Deadly Ich?

[GeckoGeek]

Heres the scenario...I bought 6 new Tiger Barbs...two days later white spots started to show up on my Clown Loaches...no problem, I changed the water, medicated, waited a day and repeated and repeated. Now my fish are slowly turning belly up and the white spots are getting worse!
Is this Ich? It sure looks like it but I thought it would clear up pretty easily.
Looks like my sharks and catfish aren't going to make it the night...any help is appreciated...Thanks

Tank: 65G long
Fish:
4 Clown Loaches
1 Red Tailed Black Shark
1 ID Shark
6 Tiger Barbs
2 Upside downs
1 10" Pleco
2 Oto cats
1 Flying Fox
3 Red Empress Cichlids (Very Tame...rarely bite anything!)

Medication: Paragon 2

 

[Sharkey G]

Hi,

Thats a smart set-up you have there, quite similar to mine. Well, as you know, ClownLoaches are very prone to whitespot ( ich ) anyway. This was more than likely caused by the arrival of your new fish into the aquarium, but if not that, poor quality. ( Even the slightest hint of ' bad ' water quality can set loaches off )

Don't fear. My two ClownLoaches at the time were hit by exactly the same thing. Keep using the medication as directed and raise the temprature in the tank by about 4 - 6 degrees ( slowly )

Stick with it and you will pull through it.

Hope this helped.

 

[wetwetwet]

Hi GG

with the temp up to about a max 29-30C (80-85F) - this will speed up the cycle of ich and therefore make the medication more effective

Not familiar with your particular medication but follow the instructions and complete the course and it should be OK


good luck

 

[GeckoGeek]

Well, 4 clown loaches are dead and the sharks are next. I've raised the temperature a little bit and changed the water. I don't think the meds I was using even touched the ICH so I'm going to get something else...maybe Noxic. Let you know how it works out.

 

[ostrow]

I share your sympathies ... see the "I know this is a hard one" thread. Sometimes, no matter what you do nothing helps. Sorry. Hope things stabilize for you soon.

 

[GeckoGeek]

I think I have finally found something that is working! I tried Paragon 2. then Copersafe...didn't work. I got a tip from LFS to try Nox-Ich...a very cheap medicine that he swares by...it actually worked! I'm not sure if the product is readily available because the packaging looked kinda homemade. The active ingredient is M.green (spelling)...not sure if it will harm my plants but atleast my fish will survive!

 

[Lenny]

I always use a mixture of formol, malachite green and methylene blue. It's very cheap and easy to get AND it works great!

 

[silveradam]

Gecko-
I used Nox-Ich in my tank on clown loaches as well. Not only did it clear up the ich easily, it didn't hurt either the plants OR my algae eating shrimp. I hadn't mentioned it on the board because, like you, I didn't know how easy it was to find. I had never heard of it before but won't run out of it now.

 

[Cabrill]

Hmmm, if the M. Green is indeed Malachite Green then I'm worried about your Irridescent Shark. I've read that ID Shark's, and any silver scaled fish(Silver Dollar's, Tinfoil Barbs) have drastic reactions to Malachite Green. I've never witnessed it first hand, just from warnings on bottle's, and "compatibility charts" on the `net.

 

[GeckoGeek]

Well...your right. The ID shark and my Flying Fox reacted pretty badly. Their skin started to peel off so I stop treatments...actually one treatment is all it took. They are okay now...maybe a half dosage would be better for them if any at all.