Ick Meds Question

[Drac39]

All right,I`ve been having some bad luck. My Pleco has ick. Dont worry got a med called Cure Ick. How long after I`ve been applying it for two days. His spots are beginning to fade. Phew! I want to add some more fish,so I bought an ick preventer. How long before I can add that in. It is called Rid Ich

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I don't know that wich can be prevented.

You need to treat ich for 21 days as that's the length of the life cycle of the parasite. When the parasite is on the fish, you'll see spots. When the spots begin to disappear that is when the parasite is free swimming and the only time medicaing will work on it.

It's a good idea to raise the tempature of the tank to 82-85F as the parasite doesn't do so well in warmer tempatures and it speeds up the life cycle. However, it's still best to treat for 14 days or so.

I would not add any more fish until the tank is clear of ich as they will get it and make it worse.

HTH

 

[Drac39]

I bought a bottle of some stuff called Rid-Ich. Supposedly it prevents Ich

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I bought a bottle of some stuff called Rid-Ich. Supposedly it prevents Ich

You still need to get rid of it now, before adding fish. Doing what I said above.

I know that some people add ich meds when something might cause stress to the tank to prevent ich. Like when moving house or adding fish. Does it say you need to always keep it in the water?

 

[Drac39]

This is the two things I bought

 

[modernhamlet]

Both of those products get rid of ick once you've seen it on your fish. Don't use medication as a preventative measure, especially that stuff. It's actually bad for the fish. It just happens to be worse for the ich.

My suggestion would be to continue to treat the fish for the COMPLETE DURATION SHOWN ON THE MEDS. This is vital, as the part of the ich life cycle you can see (the white dots) is actually impervious to the meds. Only several days later do the meds get to do their thing on the vulnerable phase of the ich. I repeat, do not stop medicating just because the white spots go away.

Read this if you want to learn more about ich. There is plenty of information out there on the internet as well. Here is just one of many pages that discuss ich prevention and cure.

As far as prevention, there is nothing more important for preventing ich than keeping all your parameters good (ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrate <20) and your water clean. Making sure your fish aren't stressing one another with aggressive behavior is another important factor.

Adding more fish (along with all the diseases they may carry with them) directly into the tank is another great way to cause another outbreak of ich, or something worse. I wouldn't add another fish until:

a) all of the ich is gone and stays gone for 2 weeks
b) all parameters are good
AND
c) an additional 2 weeks pass with no new illness or water problems

You would also be well served to get a small (10g) hospital/quarantine tank to keep newcomers in for several weeks until you know they are healthy. If you can't do that, ask the LFS to hold your fish purchases for a week.

Hope this advice helps... (it would have helped me a few weeks back...)

Good luck!

 

[Cheese Specialist]

My suggestion would be to continue to treat the fish for the COMPLETE DURATION SHOWN ON THE MEDS.

Hmmmm

mine says to treat for 7 days

 

[gixer]

meds for prevention of something

crazy.... meds IMO should be a last resort to a situation. treating a tank just incase is madness