malawis with ich

[becs66]

Hi,

I noticed on Tuesday that my fish, all malawi cichlids, were acting stangly and scratching on the rocks like crazy, also one fish had salt-like grains on it which looked like ich to me. I have kept fish for several years and this particular tanks has been running for over a year, but have had the good fortune never to have had an ich outbreak before so I just wanted to check that I was doing the right things.

I tested the water which is fine: ammonia/nitrites 0ppm and nitrates 5ppm, and think the problem arose from be acidently knocking the thermostat on my external heater so it increased several degrees over a short space of time. I immediately did a 30% water change then treated with a malachite green based mediaction by King British on Tuesday, I repeated the water change on Thursday and dosed again, I have also increased the temperature to 27/28oC and added an airpump. I was going to repeat water changes and treatment every 48 hours.

Is there anything else I should be doing? I have read mixed reports on the use of salt, is this beneficial to be used with meds? Also how long should I be expecting to wait before I see an improvement, as up to now the problem seems to be getting worse and now several fish are showing symptoms and are rubbing themselves raw on the rocks. Sorry to waffle on but I'm really worried about losing these fish, I'm very fond of them and would be gutted if many of them perished, despite the fact they're worth quite a lot!

Thanks

Becs

 

[WILDER]

Turn temp up to 30.
http/www.badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article2.html

 

[becs66]

Thanks for responding! I'm a bit hesitant to increase the aquarium temperature above 28oC as the with the meds, ich and increased temp already I don't want to stress the fish any more, a couple are looking not to pukka already!

 

[CathyG]

You can increase the temperature slowly, like a degree a day. Increasing the temperature will accelerate the lifecycle of Ich, getting the parasite to the free swimming stage sooner (which is the only time that meds can effectively kill it). Make sure you have plenty of surface agitation (either from your filter or an airstone) to aid gas exchange, as the meds and increased temperature will deplete the oxygen levels in your water. Good luck!

 

[becs66]

How long would you think before I should see an improvement? And the medication that I bought says to treat every other day, but I have read various places that you should treat every day?

 

[becs66]

Anyone?

 

[WILDER]

You can't judge whitespot you no sooner got rid of it and it's back again, always gravel vac before you redose it helps to remove the parasite out of the gravel, good luck, I've only had it once and it took me two coursers of treatment to get rid of it.