Resistant ich wont go away

[Jbromley]

Hi all, i have a 240 litre tropical aquarium, i have had the aquarium 4 months and it was cycled using fishless cycle and i have added fish slowly since with no spikes in peramiters.

I unfortunatly added fish without qt and now have an outbrake of ich. Ammonia 0 nitrite 0 and nitrate 0.5. I have raised temps to 86 and gravel vaced each day for a week and it got worse and i lost a few fish. Then i done 2 courses of a product called esha exit and esha2000 with no changes, i then done 2 treatments of protozin with no difference. I am now using a product my lfs gave me which is basically formalin and malachite green, i still have temps up and am still doing gravel vac every other day and adding meds back in.
Any advise on how to get rid of this horrible infection?

 

[Silencedogood]

What is the ph of the water?
A lot of times ick outbreaks are due to the water being too acidic.
What type of fish do you have?
Can we see pics of the fish to make sure it is ick?

I treat ick with salt and heat treatments.

 

[Byron]

You may unfortunately lose more fish, depending what species they are; the product your store recommended (containing formalin and malachite green) can be deadly to sensitive fish like all characins (tetras, hatchets, pencils), cories, and some others.

Moving forward...

Ich can become very stubborn, I speak from experience. Fortunately I was able to consult Dr. Neale Monks, so I will relay his advice which certainly did it for me. And I had sensitive fish--wild caught cories and characins. Let us know your fish, but I will describe the safest procedure in most cases.

Raise the temp to 86F as you appear to have done. Do a major water change. Add aquarium salt (can be pure sea salt as used in cooking, but not marine salt mixes, rift lake salts, or any table salt mixes). Two grams per liter; one level teaspoon is 6 grams of dry salt. Dissolve the salt completely and pour the salt water into the tank. I find it easiest to dissolve say 2 or 3 teaspoons at a time, in a jar with a tight fitting lid; shake it until the salt crystals disappear. Hot water (tap water) is better at this, and safe. Add the salt only for the calculated water volume (take into consideration water displaced by substrate, decor, etc, so a 240 liter tank will not have 240 liters but perhaps 225 or something). Hold the temp for one week, two weeks to be safe (I did 2). Do the normal water change after the first week, and add new salt for the volume of water changed only. After the second week, do the normal water change and lower the heater so the tank will cool down to the normal temp naturally.

Make sure the surface disturbance is significant, to help the oxygen/CO2 exchange. Most fish can tolerate both the heat and salt much better than they can any of the chemical concoctions we are encouraged to buy. If you decide to do the salt, make sure you remove as much of the medication as possible, with a massive water change. A second might be advisable. Same holds for any change of treatment medications, as they can react if mixed.

 

[Silencedogood]

I agree with Byron. I have had cases of ick that were VERY stubborn but the salt and heat treatment always worked.

 

[BeckyCats]

What about if you have plants? Doesn't the salt and heat kill the plants? What about shrimp or snails? There is very conflicting advice on this subject when looking online, which is why I ask.

 

[Silencedogood]

What about if you have plants? Doesn't the salt and heat kill the plants? What about shrimp or snails? There is very conflicting advice on this subject when looking online, which is why I ask.

I don't believe heat affects live plants or snails that much. OP already seems to be doing heat treatment and other meds. If you do have plants, the sensitive ones won't handle the salt to well so it's better to put them in a separate tank or a bucket of water with an airstone.

 

[Byron]

Agree. I had no plant problems with the heat/salt combo, my plants being swords (tougher than stem plants admittedly), moss, ferns, and floating plants including Water Sprite which is rather delicate but I cannot remember any plant worries. The worst for plants was when I used Furanizole for a bacterial (likely columnaris) problem; this decimated most of the, but those that survived began to re-grow.

 

[BeckyCats]

What about shrimp and snails? How do they do with salt and high temps? Any experience with that?

 

[Byron]

What about shrimp and snails? How do they do with salt and high temps? Any experience with that?

I have never had shrimp. My snails (the pond and Malaysian) certainly had no issues.

 

[Metalhead88]

I had one very stubborn case where heat did not help. In that case, I used rid ich and ich was off the fish in 24 hours.

I've had much luck with heat alone besides that one case.

Medications may times do more harm than good, but sometimes it works like a charm.

Are we certain that it is ich we are dealing with?