# My first battle with Ich... Diary Post.



## Jordin (Sep 14, 2011)

Hi,

I am having to deal with my first encounter with Ich right now and thought I would make a post to get some feedback, track my progress and hopefully help other people out in the future.

Here is my setup:

Tank:
- 65 Gallon Aquarium running for over a year.
- Heavily Planted
- Pressurized Co2
- Rena XP3 Cannister and Aquaclear 70
- Circulation Pump (Marineland Maxi-jet 400)

I do not use activated carbon and maintain weekly / bi weekly water changes of 40 - 50%

Fish / Inverts:
- 1 Black Ghost Knife Fish, around 8 Inches
- 3 Yoyo Loaches
- 1 Red Tail Shark
- 1 Bosemani Rainbow
- 3 Dwarf Rainbowfish
- 1 Swordtail
- 5 Angelfish
- 3 Plecos, all new and around 3 inches tops. Rubberlip, Clown and Bushy Nose
- School of rummynose and cardinal tetra (10 left, had a few more last week).
- 1 Vampire Shrimp
- 4 Mystery Snails

I began to notice the problem shortly after a water change last week. The three plecos were all added approx 2 weeks ago.

Originally, after the water change, my rena xp3 produced lots and lots of tiny bubbles which covered my plants and decorations. The tiny bubbles also seemed to be stuck on a little tetra aswell. So I thought... Yesterday, I noticed that the little tetra seemed to have more bubbles on him and two rummynose died...

Well today, I realised they were not bubbles, it seems to be ich. Little white dots on the fish. Most of the tetra have some ich on them. The rainbow fish also has a lot of it on him and I saw a tiny bit on the swordtail.... Probably why the tetra died. The rest of the fish all seem fine for now. None of them are acting strange although the rainbow is now swimming into the current of the circulation pump all day long and he never did before.

I did some quick research online and decided I wanted to medicate. I went to the store and picked up two products. API Super Ick Cure Liquid and the Tetra Ich Guard Tablets.

The directions all say to use half the dose with scaless fish. Since I have loaches and a knife fish, I want to take care not to hurt them and the knife fish is my favorite.

The directions on the API say to use 5ml per 5 gallons. I dosed just under half. 30ml for 65 gallons. The Tetra tablets said to use 1 tablet per 10 gallons which would mean 6 and a half tablets. Since I am also using the API, I only added 2.

I will be dosing approx half the dose of API as per instructions due to scaless fish and I will be using both products. I will use 2 Tetra tabs daily. I have heard that Ich can be resiliant to different types of treatments so I feel this is a good balance. 

I have also raised the water temp to just over 80.

If anyone has some advice, I am always happy to hear it. I will keep this updated with my progress and may decide on a different course of action if I can not resolve this in the next 2 weeks. I don't mind losing a couple tetra but I really don't want to lose any of my bigger fish. So far, I have lost 3 tetra. I hope no more!

Thanks,


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

a little aquarium salt can help also.

I do have one concern about your approach, using two medications at once might be a very bad thing. Different chemicals can react with others. Using two at once could do anything from killing all your fish, cancelling out each other having no effect, to working great and getting the job done well.


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## Jordin (Sep 14, 2011)

I should also add that I am considering purchasing a reasonably priced UV sterilizer to help with this issue, to prevent this from being a problem again and protect against other harmful micro organisms in the future. I also understand this helps with algae!

After reading up on this type of product as well as many reviews there seems to be a lot of benefit with little to no drawback aside from a small expense and setup. I'm happy to invest in any equipment that will ensure the health of my fish and water quality. I've sunk enough into this hobby already!

How does the saying go? in for a penny, in for a pound....


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

when I first started with aquariums I had ick 2 or 3 times and since I have come to understand things much better and have upgraded to better filters and so on, I have had no cases at all of ick, this has been well over a year with no problems.

I started out using a topfin HOB which are total crap, now I use aquaclear, canister filters and sponge filters. Your filters are great, I assume you keep an eye on nitrates and stuff? How old is the tank?


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## bob123 (Dec 31, 2009)

I would raise the temperature to at least 86 for 4-5 days, after that drop the temperature slowly to around 78-79 and maintain at that. As far as using two different types of medication at once is not a good idea as you are dosing at full strength when you use half strength of each type, use one or the other.
Also may I ask where you purchased the plecos that were added last to your tank. Good luck and keep us informed.


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## Y2KGT (Jul 20, 2009)

I agree with NOT using two different medications at the same time. I would suggest you stop using the Tetra and stick to the API Super Ick Cure Liquid. Also agree with raising the temperature to speed up the Ich cycle and therefore saving you time and a lot of money.

My personal favourite medication for Ich is Mardel QuIck Cure. Only one drop per gallon is a full dose and if you prefer you can dose one drop per 2 gallons twice a day. I dose once in the morning and once in the evening.

Keep in mind that adding a UV Sterilizer is a good idea however if you introduce another fish that's infected with Ich the UV Sterilizer won't help you because only the parasites that travel through the UV will be killed however all the parasites in your tank will continue to multiply.

Good luck.
--
Paul


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

Not sure where you heard that it's a medication. It's more of a toxin than a medication.
Here's a very good link that pretty much sum up what Ick is all about. The pros and cons of each med. Very well written. Even mention the super ick at the very bottom. Good stuff.
http://www.oscarfishlover.com/helpful-articles/whitespot

Addition:
The main ingredients to quick cure is Formalin and Malachite Green. This is what wiki says about Malachite Green: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malachite_green
Here is what humans thinks of Malachite Green, it's ban from use again fish that we eat:
http://www.watershedsentinel.ca/content/malachite-green-lingering-poison-bc’s-native-salmon
quoting from the article:


> It is internationally recognised as a carcinogen, causing liver tumours in rats. Its breakdown product, leucomalachite, is extremely persistent in fi sh fl esh. In 2005, traces of malachite green or its metabolite, leucomalchite green, were detected in farmed salmon and trout in Canada and in imported farmed fi sh, leading the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to a program of testing samples from all imported fi sh products from Asia.


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## zfarsh (Apr 7, 2011)

I think Jaysan in the forums told me when his tank got ich, he simply raised the temperature of the tank for a while, and he got it taken care of that way. You can pm him to see what he did exactly.


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## TankCla (Dec 31, 2010)

Best treatment for freshwater ich: raise temp to 29C for 5 days and add aquarium salt in your water. This will harm your plants, but your fish will be ok.
Do not use any medication against ich. The protozoan dies at temp higher that 29C (84F). That medication is toxic to your knife fish and inverts.
Add an air stone and keep an eye on the fast breathing fish, because they are more likely to die within next 24-48h (sorry about this).


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## zfarsh (Apr 7, 2011)

I think Jaysan did it without even using salt (not 100% sure), as he had a planted tank. So you might be able to get at it without it. Note that Shrimps and Snails donot like meds, and I would remove them from the tank anyways, as they cannot get or transmit ich anyways.

Edit: Just for my own knowledge, what % salt do you recommend with the raised temp?


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## TankCla (Dec 31, 2010)

Salt will not kill your plants, if used accordingly. Salt is used as a natural disinfectant and also will make your fish to produce more mucus, which protects the fish from ich. 
"The salt works to help promote healthy gill function in your fish. By reducing the loss of electrolytes in your aquarium, the salt also helps reduce stress on your aquatic pets..."


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## Jordin (Sep 14, 2011)

pyrrolin said:


> I started out using a topfin HOB which are total crap, now I use aquaclear, canister filters and sponge filters. Your filters are great, I assume you keep an eye on nitrates and stuff? How old is the tank?


Yes, I monitor levels, I do regular water changes, have multiple filters and lots of plants which help the health of the tank a lot. In my post, I noted that the tank has been setup for over a year. I guess it was a long post 



bob123 said:


> As far as using two different types of medication at once is not a good idea as you are dosing at full strength when you use half strength of each type, use one or the other.
> Also may I ask where you purchased the plecos that were added last to your tank. Good luck and keep us informed.


I am dosing them both at less than half strength. The API at slightly under and the Tetra at a lot less than half so it is not full strength. I will be monitoring my fish carefully for any changes. Specifically the loaches and knife fish... They look super happy and active this morning.

The plecos were all purchased at a PetSmart in Hamilton. I normally purchase from Big Als but they did not have the plecos in stock I was looking for that particular day. I do question the level of care and attention at PetSmart..,The staff never seem very knowledgable.. The guy there the other day told me he doesn't like doing the fish because he is afraid of people asking questions because he has no idea about fish..... You would think they would have some kind of introductory training in place.... nope!



Zebrapl3co said:


> Not sure where you heard that it's a medication. It's more of a toxin than a medication.
> Here's a very good link that pretty much sum up what Ick is all about. The pros and cons of each med. Very well written. Even mention the super ick at the very bottom. Good stuff.
> http://www.oscarfishlover.com/helpful-articles/whitespot
> 
> ...


I'm not sure where you heard it wasn't a medication.... Lookup the definition of what medicine and medication are. It is irrelevant if the medicine is toxic or not. Medicine is simply anything that treats or corrects a problem, commonly a disease. It even says medication right on the bottle of the API....

With your thinking, chemotherapy isn't medicine either. I assure you it is 100% medication.
breastcancer.org/treatment/chemotherapy/medicines

The wiki article references rats given "extreme doses for over 2 years". Rest assured, this experiment will not be happening in my fish tank and comparing the two as if they produce the same effects is ludicrous.

The watershed sentinel article gives credibility to the fact that using M.Green does not even harm fish eggs and is proven to work well for its intended purposes... I doubt a small controlled amount for a limited number of days will bother my fish much. It is easily removed with activated carbon and water changes if I see any signs of distress.

----

For the references to salt.. I may try it if this medication, err... treatment doesn't work. I am hesitant as black ghost knife fish, plecos and tetras aren't exactly salt friendly species and I want to stick with the current treatment and see how it goes. I have elvated the temperature in the tank to speed up the lifecycle of the ich.

Thanks for all the feedback! Great community here!


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## bob123 (Dec 31, 2009)

Just a note on buying fish from LFS you need to quarantine the fish for a week or two so they can be observed for any problems that way you are not infecting a whole fish tank. Also petsmart's filtration system cycles all the water from every tank thru one filter so any diseases are cycled thru all the tanks so buyer beware.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

+1 for QT. A very sensible idea and we should all be doing it. But we don't.. right now my QT is home to my dwarf fan shrimps, and I have to set up another one. But I won't be getting new fish, probably, for awhile so I have some time.

But you're going to use a QT, it needs to be for more than a week. Ich, depending on the stage of the life cycle, might take close to 3 weeks to show up as visible spots on the fish. Those spots are the only part of the parasite's life cycle we can see, so you should leave them in the QT for at least 3 weeks.. a month to be super safe.

Since treatment does not always have a benign result for the afflicted fish, treating every fish you get just in case it has Ich isn't very practical. But a QT tank can save a lot of headaches.. if only because if you have to treat for anything, it's a much smaller volume of water to deal with. You'll need less medication too. And if it's something else, like unwanted hitchhikers, it's much easier to deal with them in a QT. You can prevent them entering the main tank when you transfer the fish and then get rid of whatever it is from the QT.

Plus, you won't end up staining the silicone in your show tank dark green, or in the case of Methylene blue, dark blue. The stain goes right through the whole layer of silicone, even between the panes of glass. The only way to get rid of it once it's discoloured is to reseal the entire tank and you'll still have the stained portion between the panes. Though it's not terribly noticeable after a reseal, for some folks I am sure it would be a nuisance.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

yesterday I came home after a weekend away to discover ick in my community tank. Karma is a bitch



pyrrolin said:


> when I first started with aquariums I had ick 2 or 3 times and since I have come to understand things much better and have upgraded to better filters and so on, I have had no cases at all of ick, this has been well over a year with no problems.
> 
> I started out using a topfin HOB which are total crap, now I use aquaclear, canister filters and sponge filters. Your filters are great, I assume you keep an eye on nitrates and stuff? How old is the tank?


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## zfarsh (Apr 7, 2011)

sorry to hear about the ick. Hope you can get all your fish cured.

I also have and highly recommend a Quarantine tank, and new fish get a stay of ~3 weeks, that way, my whole stock is not affected. A few months ago, a member here lost almost all of his stock (a lot of fish) within a few days, because of new fish from an LFS introduced directly to the main tanks.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

I got lucky and my ick is either almost gone or is totally gone. I'll be doing a wc tomorrow and doing a very close inspection. I also lost no fish it seems. Gotta find some wood fast.

I hope yours goes as well as mine


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## Jordin (Sep 14, 2011)

A bit late, but here is the update on my first battle with ich and the treatment I used.

It worked perfectly.

Within 2 days, the fish all started to lose the white dots and they became very active again, swimming around as they usually do when they are healthy. It was really nice to see. I followed my plan for two weeks with water changes as per directions and the dosing as I had posted.

The ich is totally gone and all of my fish are healthy. I didn't lose a single one after I began treatment and they all responded very quickly.

I would use ich medication again as it worked so well for me and had immediate, positive results for my fish and aquarium.

As this was my first battle, I have not had a chance to try the "raising the water temp and add salt" method but I would not go that route as it will also stress your fish, may not even deal with the ich and salt isn't recommended for many fish species.

After treatment, I did a final 50% water change and added activated carbon to my HOB filter to remove all traces of the medication.

Hope this helps someone. The ich treatments available are proven, work and are safe.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

glad it went well for you.

I have some minor ick, been using meds, but due to family stuff I haven't been able to be consistent to make sure it is all gone.


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