Update ICH

[CoPz]

Well, I've had one casualty due to Ich...I've had one casualty due to going to close to my filter which I feel really bad about...is there anything that I can put around the tube that sucks up the water into my filter to prevent that happening again? I have some fish with fin and tail rot...I really think it's because of raising the temperature for Ich so I'm starting to lower it now...I've had it high for about 3 or more days now but the Ich still hasn't disappeared from my shark. Do I just keep medicating and leave the temperature down? Not much else I can do I guess. Is quick cure and merdel medicines good to mix together. I think it's called merdel (the brand name anyway) I've also got melafix going in too because of the fin rot! I hope that this isn't too much...I'm not putting full doses though, I'm halfing them so they all mix together. I don't know what to do...I hope they don't die!! I hope that I kill off the Ich as well or else it's just going to come back.

 

[FishRunner]

hi, i am treating white spot aswell at the mo, i am using a product called WS3 been using it two days and spots are going and not coming back i'm still only quite new at this but i read somewhere that it can apear that the fish is getting better (losing its spots) but it's because they leave the fish and stay in the gravel until they reproduce and then swim back up to find another fish to start over again, maybe someone with more experiance can help you better but my prob is going now coz i caught it in time, on the treatment i have it says add one drop of formula for each 4.5 liters of tank water and to treat every 48 hours until the spots go and then for another 48 hours after, dunno if this will help and good luck

try to keep your temp between 25 and 30 aswell

 

[platypus]

Hi,

As fishrunner says, it's important to carry on medicating for a few days after every single white spot has disappeared, so you can get the parasite when it's in its free-swimming stage.

If you haven't already done so, this is a really great article about ich so check it out

 

[Cian McLiam]

What temp are you at?
Heres a link to an excellent document on Ich

Ich and its treatments

And specifically what it has to say about temperature:


"The amount of time needed for
Ich to complete its life cycle is
temperature dependent. Ich com-
monly infects fish between 68 o
and 77 o F (20 o to 25 o C), but infec-
tions do occur at colder tempera-
tures (as low as 33 o F, 1 o C).
Typically, Ich cannot reproduce
properly at water temperatures
above 85 o F (30 o C), so the para-
site usually does not cause prob-
lems in warm summer months.
However, in a case in central
Florida, Ich was responsible for
killing fish at 92 o F (33 o C). To
complete its life cycle, Ich requires
from less than 4 days (at tempera-
tures higher than 75 o F or 24 o C)
to more than 5 weeks (at tempera-
tures lower than 45 o F or 7 o C).
Researchers have discovered that
the Ich parasite can multiply
directly by dividing underneath
the fishÕs top skin layer, bypassing
the usual three-stage life cycle.
Ich is not treatable when it
becomes established to this degree
and reproduces in this manner,
because it does not need to leave
the host where it would ordinarily
be vulnerable to treatment."

So, raising your temp to say, 84F may only speed up the infection, whereas raising to 86F will kill the disease within 4-5 days in 'most' cases. From my expierience it does so in all cases.

Ken