Ich Treatment

[vb514]

Hello all!

I have a pair of German Blue Rams that began showing the tell-tale signs of ich last weekend. They both had a few white spots and were scraping against the aquarium decor. None of the other fish in the tank had any outward signs at the time. I noticed the spots on Saturday. I lowered the water level to increase surface agitation, then began raising the temperature, eventually getting it to the 86-88 degree range. I also began treatment with Kordon Ich Attack (herbal formula) on Sunday.

In the time that has passed since then, the Rams have developed substantially more spots and I am now noticing the first few spots on some of the other fish, though all fish are still acting normally. I am not using any salt because I have loaches in the tank. I have successfully treated two outbreaks of ich in this same tank years ago using the same method, and I believe I caught this round much earlier than I did the other two, so I am hoping that all the fish pull through. I want to make sure I am doing the best that I can for them though, so I have a few questions:

1) Is it normal that other fish developed spots a couple days after I began treatment? As in, shouldn't the Ich Attack have killed the parasites during the theront stage, before they got to additional fish?

2) The Kordon treatment says that water changes prior to treatment are not necessary, but I have been doing a 30% water change before each treatment, daily. Is this a bad idea for any reason?

3) Is there anything else I could be doing to help my fish?

TANK INFO:
46 Gallon bowfront
Ammonia and Nitrite at 0; Nitrate < 5
No live plants
2 yoyo loaches
6 rummy nose tetras
1 red tail shark
1 bristlenose pleco
4 Platys
2 German Blue Rams

 

[Colin_T]

Herbal remedies, even those sold by pet shops, have no place in aquariums. Quite often these remedies do not list their active ingredients, and might cause issues to some fish.

The easiest way to treat white spot is to raise the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for 2 weeks. Then reduce the temperature to whatever it normally is.

30% water changes don't do anything to help reduce the number of disease organisms or chemicals in the water. You are better off doing a 75-90% water change and complete gravel clean before retreating the tank. The bigger water change and gravel cleaning will remove a lot of the white spot parasites and reduce the number that can infect the fish.

After the disease has been treated, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week, and then do it once a week after that.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

The following link has information about white spot and how to treat it.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-is-ich.7092/

 

[vb514]

@Colin_T

Thanks Colin. I have a question though. While I understand the temperature change, the water change, and the gravel cleaning, are you saying that I don't need any sort of chemical treatment? I defer to your knowledge, but that advice seems to contradict most of what I've read - even the link you included recommends treatment (in addition to your other suggestions). Can you clarify?

As a side note, this is the second posted question of mine that you've taken the time to write a detailed response on. I sincerely appreciate it!!

 

[Colin_T]

You can either use chemicals to treat white spot, or you can use heat treatment.

Chemicals kill the parasite by poisoning them. The chemicals also poison the fish to a small degree. When using chemicals (medications) to treat the fish, you hopefully add enough medication to kill the parasites without killing the fish.

Heat treatment simply uses high temperatures (30C or 86F) to kill the parasites. The white spot parasite cannot survive in 30C water and they die. You don't need to add chemicals and the fish don't get poisoned. However, the warm water holds less oxygen so you increase the aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise the oxygen levels for the fish.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I agree 100% with Colin. I used to treat with Kordon Rapid Cure but after trying the heat method, I never used medications again. Heat only at 86F will kill the ich parasite. Two weeks at 86F with kill the entire ich cycle. I do use aquarium salt too but understand the need not to with loaches. The heat will do the job. Good luck!