Ich Treatment Length

[lizard]

I know I'm supposed to run ich treatment through the tank somewhere between ten and fourteen days. Is that ten to fourteen days TOTAL or ten to fourteen days after you don't see any more ich spots?

Thanks!

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[Moe]

It's 10 to 14 days from the start. You may not see any spots after the first few days but you are supposed to continue the treatment anyway for the full 10 to 14 days. I just looked at your sig. I don't know which fish you are treating, but I'm pretty sure you have to cut the dosage in half for pleco. Also pretty sure that ich meds will kill ghost shrimp. It definitely killed mine. I would move the shrimp if you can. Good luck with the treatment.

 

[Debo]

I have been treating my tank for 6 days and there are still spots on my clown loach. The last time this happened the spots were gone in two days. The temp is up to 84-85 now as well. I am using Jungle Ich Clear and it has always worked fast in the past. What to do?
Deb

 

[lizard]

It's 10 to 14 days from the start. You may not see any spots after the first few days but you are supposed to continue the treatment anyway for the full 10 to 14 days. I just looked at your sig. I don't know which fish you are treating, but I'm pretty sure you have to cut the dosage in half for pleco. Also pretty sure that ich meds will kill ghost shrimp. It definitely killed mine. I would move the shrimp if you can. Good luck with the treatment.

Okay. Then my treatment is about done. But what if there's still a fish in the tank with one ich spot? Do I need to treat longer than the 10 to 14 days? One female in the tank has one ich spot on her tail. I haven't noticed any more spots developing on her or any of the other fish in there.

There are four Platys in the tank that is getting treated for ich. The plec and the ghost shrimp are in another tank. However, when I did ich treatment a few weeks ago, the ghost shrimp were in the tank. They're still doing fine... Interesting. Next time I treat I will try and remove them from the tank. They probably don't need the exposure to the chemicals anyway, eh?

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[Alien Anna]

The fact that you've still got fish with active ich after several days treatment, plus your invertebrates are fine, is a little worrying. It suggests maybe the treatment you used didn't work. What's your temperature?

 

[Sondan]

I don't know if this is an old wives tale or not but I have heard of putting an old penny in your tank. The copper from the penny is supposed to react with the water to create a mild copper sulfate that is deadly to the Ich. If you still see active ich then your treatment did not work so you will have to do it again. The penny though may help with future problems though. (The penny is not science by any means but I have never lost a fish because of it and I never get ich though either.) Do make sure that the pain has been cleaned though...sorry for the common sense here.
Signed,
Sondan

 

[Nallen]

Ich is normally "powdery", but can it also be bigger in size... more like a stain?


I'm treating ich right now, and it seems as the "powdery stuff" is starting to wear off, but a "stain/bigger spot" one one of my mollies won't go away it seems.

 

[lizard]

The fact that you've still got fish with active ich after several days treatment, plus your invertebrates are fine, is a little worrying. It suggests maybe the treatment you used didn't work. What's your temperature?

Guess I ought to clarify the situation, as I didn't add enough details before I had two fish in my five gallon tank. After moving them there, they developed ich. I started ich treatment. After a few days, the ich spots disappeared and I have yet to see any new spots appear. Four or five days after the ich was no longer visible on the fish, I added a new fish. She came with an ich spot (which I did not notice before I bought her). Treatment is still occurring in the five gallon tank. The new fish still has the one ich spot, as of last night (haven't looked closely yet today), but has developed no new spots. None of the other fish have developed new ich spots either. The ghost shrimp are *not* in the tank that is receiving ich treatment. Does that explain my question better? Temp in the tank is 80*. The fish look happy and healthy. They're all eating well.

More later. For now, I must be off to Microbiology lab. Happy, happy, joy, joy. Okay, it's not *that* bad, but I'd rather not have to go to it.

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[Moe]

I'd try doing a water change and continuing the treatment every other day for a few more days. If there is one spot still on a fish it could re-infect the entire tank.

 

[platypus]

I agree with Moe. The 10-14 days thing is more of a guidline than a rule really, the important thing is to keep treating until every single spot has gone, and then continue treating for a few days after that, to make sure the ich is killed when it's in its free swimming stage.

Nallen, I'm not sure I've heard that before about ich looking more like a stain - I think it's normally just sugar grain sized spots. If you have like a white patch on your fish then that might be a fungus. Is it sort of cottony?

 

[Nallen]

Nallen, I'm not sure I've heard that before about ich looking more like a stain - I think it's normally just sugar grain sized spots. If you have like a white patch on your fish then that might be a fungus. Is it sort of cottony?

If it is fungus on of my mollies, will that fungus attack my other fishes too ?