Ich ?

[Spooky76]

1. Water parameters. (ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, PH, temp', Hardness etc) - Ammonia 0 Nitrate / Nitrite etc <20 PH 7, Temp 80
2. A full description of the fishes symptoms. White spots on loaches
3. How often you do water changes and how much. I do 20% every week usually
4. Any chemicals and treatments you add to the water.Dont normally add anything other than treatment for water changes but have been using Ws3
5. What tank mates are in the tank.Catfish, loaches, tetras. guppys, silver sharks
6. Tank size.4ft x 18 x 15
7. Finally Have you recently added any new fish?Yes some rummy noses and serpae but they looked ok



Hi guys, before I get shot I realise this has been asked hundreds of times, but I am still unsure of treatment.
I can see white spots all over my clown loaches. I have a 4ft x 18 x 15 well planted tank. With a fluval 3 filter and an external eheim filter.

I have read so much on treating ich, im completely confused. Please can someone help me ?

I have king british Ws3 (green colour) for treating them. It says to add about 21 drops for my tank size. But then says use less with silver sharks in....but most articles I read say its no good using lesser doses

Really I am asking.
1. Do I take all my plants out ?
2. Do I give max dose (every 2 days)
3. Do I do water changes in between ?

I have loaches, catfish, silver sharks, tetras and guppys mainly.

Sorry if im asking same old questions, but I have had the fish 4 months now and have got quite attached to them, hate seeing my little loaches like this

Thanks in advance.
Stu

EDIT: I have just found a rummy nose dead and a female guppy Rummy nose did have a mark on its head though. The guppy has been eaten but by what I dont know.

Also I have an emergency tank, all ready to go, but I cant catch the fish with my net, after 20 mins I gave up and tried again later, but I cant catch them. I could take all 18 plants out, but doesnt that stress them all and make a huge mess ? Please help !

 

[Don Trinko]

Use 2 nets to catch troublesome fish. (two big nets!)
Malachite green is the active ingrediant in many ick meds. The directions on mine say "treat 3 days". I treat 5 to 9 days. (recomended by local ) Ick is a pain. Putting sick fish in Hospital tank will sometimes help prevent other fish from getting it. I use MalaCHILE GREEN IN SICK TANK AND "COPPER SAFE" in tank where sick fish came from.
Diatom filters suposedly will take it out of your water but it somehow always returns when conditions are right. Good Luck Don T.

 

[cheekydevil]

Dont quote me but; i am sure i have read some were that the malchite green is not safe to use on scaleless fish, but im not sure. My clown loaches have currently got white spot - yet again. I'm using protozin which seems to be working fine up to now. Before using any treatment i would read up about the malchite green chemical. Plus if you look at the treatment boxes it will tell you whether it is safe to use with all types of fish or not.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

use half doses of ich meds with scaleless fish, it would definately be best to take any scaleless fish out then you can treat them at half strength and the rest of the tank at full strength.

to catch tricky fish take all the decor out from the tank and drain the water to 2/3", then there is nowhere for them to hide and you can catch them easily, use two nets, just hold one at one end of the tank, use the other net to chase them into it.

 

[Spooky76]

Hi,

It says its safe to use on scaleless fish, but only use half dose if loaches and sharks are in there, which there are. Its just I read on another forum that using half wont do it

Seems like its quite tricky this ich. I have had it once before, and dosed and changed water etc, but they died.

The ich doesnt seem to be going even after 2 doses and 4 days, Temp is now 82 which im worried about.

Can I ask one thing ? Should I still be doing water changes ?

Thanks alot
Stu

 

[roseykat5]

yes continue with water changes as its to get rid of babies or eggs that are floating free swimming ...takes about 2 weeks or so to get rid of all if u do reg water changes and treatment it willwork as i have treated and works great

 

[Spooky76]

Sorry for late reply. Had a bad 2 days with fish. I have been dosing half dose, with daily 25% water changes. But do I dose after the water change ? And do I dose for the amount I took out ?

Lost 15 fish now Really sad about it.
Lost a clown loach, all my rummy nose tetras, 8 guppys including my baby and 5 cardinal neons I tested my water again at 11.30 Thursday night and the Nitrate level was sky high.

MY PH is somewhere between 7.0 and 8.0, I am trying to get it down with the water changes and somw API pH down, but it works in 0.2 in 24hrs. I did a 30% change at 12.00 Thursday till 2.00am !! lol. Nitrate was at 50mg/l now it looks around 0-12.5. Amonia is 0 N02 Nitrite is < 0.3mg/l

I know I have done something to cause it, but I dont know what. I feel like theres so much wrong in the tank that I dont know what to treat first.

 

[Eviltoon]

Sorry for late reply. Had a bad 2 days with fish. I have been dosing half dose, with daily 25% water changes. But do I dose after the water change ? And do I dose for the amount I took out ?

Lost 15 fish now Really sad about it.

I just had a really bad month battling Ick. Here my sad tale...

Lost about 10 fish in the first few days that I noticed it. Then immediately put the fish in a first aid tank while I cleaned the original tank. Had tablets of Ick Clear (active ingredient victoria green, acriflavine) going for both tanks, over about a 14 day period. Major water changes in first aid tank while I gave a total cleaning to my original tank. What I did was pur boiling water over gravel, plasitic plants and rocks in clean bucket then let sit with lid on top for 3 hours, ran a high level salt solution through the filter for about 3 days. Washed the inside of the tank and let it sit empty for 3 days then started to mature the original tank. 7 days later I then added the fish from the first aid tank back to the main one...only 4 blackskits and two plockies remained by that time, but there was no sign of Ick. Back in the tank and only 4 days later the Ick was back and worse than ever. Back in the first aid tank 3 black skirts and 2 plockies died and they looked really awful this time!...I mean right out of a horror movie) Now I only have one blackskirt left and naturally he's swimming around in the first aid tank looking pretty perky. That's it. Practically total destruction of my tank.

And now I am scared to ever put a fish back into my aquarium. What's left to do???

After soaking anything not breakable in boiling water for hours, and using a high level salt soulution running through the filter for days...what the heck is left to do? How long, I wonder, can Ick stay hibernating (if it even does that). What I'm wonder now, is will it start all over once I add water agian. I don't know...one thing for sure I will replace the filter and change the gravel.

Anyway Ick is not always easy to clear from a tank...looks like we both had bad experiecnes