Dying Fish ICH

[goodgina]

My tropical, including catfish, "suckerfish", shark all have ICH. Have fish for about 2 yrs and hubby bought a lgr. 29-gal tank and about 6 more fish. (about 12 total) I took the filter out and raised the temp to 66*-68* and turned off the UV light. Please help..these were a gift to my son and I don't know what to do.

 

[Lithril]

Whoa, for starters turn UV on it'll kill any Ich floating around, also the filter should NEVER be switched for any reason apart from cleaning, you'll kill all the bacteria in it off and will have to cycle the tank, turn it back on and check all levels, u may need to do a large water change if they're high.

You said you raised the temperature to 66-68 F 68 is about 20C what was it before (are you sure this is correct??) raising the temperature won't do anything to kill ich unless its over 82F (ich dies at this level), if you are going to increase it that much, do it VERY slowly over several days.

Also get some treatment like protozin or maracyn to add to the tank.

 

[Cian McLiam]

I could be wrong, but I have a suspicion that goodgina is mixing up UV and flourescent? Anyway, a UV is a great tool for clearing parasites as Lithril said, but make sure the buld has not passed its useful lifespan, could be from 6 months to a year.
68F is the absolute coldest temp for any tropical sepcies I know of, I would never go below 24C myself and often keep it at 26C to keep the fishes metabolism in good order.
Lithril gives good advice here!

Ken

 

[smb]

I agree and can't do any better but wanted to say, they probably contracted ich because of the low temps.

 

[Henry_VCG_]

Medicine can work wonders, I used rapid white spot treatement on my fish and it was better quick as a flash. I also bumped up the temperature and that probably helped too. It shouldn't be to bad if its treated quickly.