Ich Treatment Advice

[phishyphil]

Okay so my tank has had an outburst if ICH and I have read you must treat the whole tank! Questions though

1) I read that once you see the white spots, it is already to late. Is this true? if so, do I need to euthanize these affected fish?

2) Treating the whole tank, is that a must with ICH? I would say 30% fish are showing white spots.. another 20% showing signs they may have it (flsashing etc) so is it best on the safe side to treat tank as a whole?

3) As it is a 75G tank, should I drain off 3/4 of the water, top it up to 50% tank volume and treat this instead? therefore cutting down on meds usage?

4) What is the best ICH treatment to go for? Its parasite based I beleive so Melafix/ pimafix will be usless as these are anti-funghal, anti-bacterial?

This is what I intend to do.

1) Raise Tank Temp to 30 degrees C
2) Increase Aeration in tank
3) Sart Ich treatment
4) SALT??? is this safe with this stocking?

Fish stocking is Sailfin plec, 4 x Angel Fish, 5 x Columbian Red Fin Tetra, 3 x YoYo loaches.

WATER STATS ARE

Ammo - 0
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0
ph - 7.2

 

[Skysters]

i have used protizin , with my clown loaches , so u would need to treat the whole tank as per instruction on bottle , ..but cos u have yoyo loaches im assuming same rules would apply as clown loaches , only using half the recomended dose ,

remove carbon from filter ,

Dont add any salt , not sure if ur Yoyo loaches can tollerate salt , someone else can confirm , but yesh slowely increase temp , not all at once till u reach 30
increase areation

start ich treatment asap !

someone else can put u right if im wrong about half dose , but im sure yoyos are like clowns they dont do too well with certain treatments

hope u get it sorted !

good luck

 

[phishyphil]

i have used protizin , with my clown loaches , so u would need to treat the whole tank as per instruction on bottle , ..but cos u have yoyo loaches im assuming same rules would apply as clown loaches , only using half the recomended dose ,

remove carbon from filter ,

Dont add any salt , not sure if ur Yoyo loaches can tollerate salt , someone else can confirm , but yesh slowely increase temp , not all at once till u reach 30
increase areation

start ich treatment asap !

someone else can put u right if im wrong about half dose , but im sure yoyos are like clowns they dont do too well with certain treatments

hope u get it sorted !

good luck

I think CLown loaches are the same to be honest. Half dosage due to them being scaleless fish (same as loaches, elphant noses etc)

So salt would be out then .

Ill have a look around for protizin

 

[Skysters]

most ur LFS will sell it , and yes Do not use Salt good luck .. i think label on protizin says ..dose day 1.......2..........3 . then day 6 @half dose

you may need to repeat a second week like i had too .. because of the half dose

 

[phishyphil]

Thanks mate will do

 

[Skysters]

plz do come back to this thread and let us know how your getting on hopefully ur fish will be ok

 

[phishyphil]

Thaks will do. Got a feeling the B.Blue tetras will not make it, One thing I have learnt over the years is it seems like tetras do not recover well from illnesses.

Will report back !

 

[phishyphil]

Any one have any input on point 1) in regards to euthanizing fish?

 

[Skysters]

i lost most of my B tetras , 5 made it , so try and heal first no harm in trying

 

[Essjay]

You don't have to euthanase the fish. The parasite only stays on them a few days.

Whitespot has a three stage lifecycle. The first is on the fish where it feeds by eating the fish's tissues. It is covered by a coating we can see as the spot. Because of this coating, the med can't get at it and can't kill it. Once the parasite has fed enough, it drops off the fish and sits on the bottom of the tank in a sort of cyst which protects it from the med. It multiplies within the coating. The third stage is where the 'cyst' splits open and the new tiny parasites go looking for a fish to infect. The third stage, the free swimming stage, is the only stage it can be killed.
There could be some parasites in all three stages in your tank; this is why the whole tank must be treated. Just because you can see spots on the fish, it doesn't mean there are no stage 2 or 3 parasites in the water.
Because there must be some med in the water when every last one gets to the free swimming stage, you must follow the instructions to the letter. If you stop treating too soon, you could quite well have some reach stage 3 after the med has gone/become ineffective. Heating the water slowly to near 30 deg C speeds the lifecycle up so they all get to stage 3 quicker.


Whitespot is easily cured. It usually only kills fish if it gets into the gills.

 

[phishyphil]

Ahh thankyou so much everyone. Will start doisng Protozin tonight, managed to get some from the LFS on my break

 

[SandraNewbie]

Just getting over an ICH outbreak in a cory/pentazona/D.Gourami tank.

Yes, treat the whole tank, two of the three life stages of the parasite are free swimming or live on decorations/gravel. You must treat the whole tank.

Reducing the water level a little to help your pump disrupt the surface more is a good idea, massively reducing water level makes it harder to keep water chemistry stable and would not be recommended.

Half dose for sensitive fish, I believe yoyo's count as sensitive.

No need to euthanise fish, Ich nodules (Trophonts) are individual cilliates, feeding off your fish, and are protected from the medication by the fishes scales/slime coat. They detach as tomonts, these cysts find somewhere to lie low and between 6 hours and a couple of days they breed eventually releasing hundreds of theronts.

it's the theronts that you need to kill, and you cant see the theronts or tomonts, so you bhave to keep treating for about a week after you last see a white spot.

Some of your fish, weakened by the ich, may succumb tot he medication, it's key to remove these fish and then let your net dry completely as quickly as possible to avoid secondary infestations

 

[phishyphil]

Okay, Will do mate. I will reduce the water volume from 330 litres to around 200 litres. Water chemistry will not be affected as I will just adjust the feeding patterns etc to avoid excess waste, which will lead to a build up of nitrates etc.

Water chemistry will remain the same as the filter will still be more than capable of handling the nitrfying process of a 200litre water volume.

Do I need to add Carbon AFTER the Ich has cleared to remove any excess meds left over?

 

[Essjay]

Once you are sure the treament has killed every last one, do a big water change and add some carbon. Take it out after a few days and throw it away.

 

[phishyphil]

Many thank people !