# Ich help..



## BubBleBee (May 7, 2010)

I bought some LF GBR's yesterday...today I noticed on two of em that they have white spots on their fins...they are in a established tank which has been up and running as a hospital tank for 8-9 months or so. I have quick cure and aquarium salt on hand but am uncertain which route to take...I have been gradually increasing the temp of the tank as well to aid in this matter. They are in a ten gallon Aqueon (temp) with an Aqueon 10 filter which came with the package. Do I take out the filter cartridge before commencing any treatment??? I am having to deal with this for the first time in my year or so keeping fish, so any suggestions and what worked for all you out there would be greatly appreciated..Thanx in advance...


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

If you use Quick cure or ich meds you have to remove the filter cartridge if it has carbon in it as carbon removes meds. Not sure which is the better course of action to take. If your going to go the raised temp route you'll need to add some salt too. Personally that's what I'd try for a couple days.


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## BubBleBee (May 7, 2010)

How would I found out if the the filter cartridge has carbon in it..:s..may sound foolish but I'm accustomed to canister rather than HOB..I will google the name and cartridge to see if I can figure it out that way...so with me increasing the temp over the course of a few days when do I add the salt...it's a ten gallon so would 1tbsp be sufficient? Then I'm supposed to do a water change??? If so how long after and how often...Man I hate ich...heard from a few peeps it has killed off the tank...thank GOD, I put these bad boys in a quarantine tank prior to them goin in the 46 Bow....Sheeeesh! 
Thanks John!


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## Slopster (Mar 14, 2011)

Go the salt method and slowly raise the temp till it's 80+ and clean the gravel as the ich eggs will drop off and lay in the substrate
I find that the best way to do it, considering chems will not work with carbon filters and other meds may wipe out your good Bacteria, and theres no sense to go through the cycle again..


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## BubBleBee (May 7, 2010)

When you suggest clean the gravel is siphoning it as I was doing water change sufficient? or should I just remove it for now and boil it or something? Sorry for all the questions...don't wanna fak crap up anymore than is...


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## Slopster (Mar 14, 2011)

Siphon today nand then again 3 days from now what else is in the tank??? that the salt will not harm, like clown loaches and salt do not get along ..


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## grizadams_7mm (Aug 29, 2011)

We had this problem a few months ago and we used a little bit of every method, Salt, heat and treatments as well as much shorter lights on period. I wanted to play it safe as well so the siphon and nets always got a heavy soaking in Hot, hot water. Also just use filter floss, no Carbon. Best of luck to ya


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## BubBleBee (May 7, 2010)

Five GBR...gravel and a few plants is all...it's a hospital tank and I don't buy any fish excessively as it's a small tank to begin with to put a big load of fish into for quarantining purposes...the cartridge does in fact have carbon in it...so the salt method is prolly the best way...for now anyways...Can anyone suggest what the best method would be to introduce the salt?? Do I just put it in or mix it with some tank water then add it in?? How often do I add salt every 12 hours or so??


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## BubBleBee (May 7, 2010)

grizadams_7mm said:


> We had this problem a few months ago and we used a little bit of every method, Salt, heat and treatments as well as much shorter lights on period. I wanted to play it safe as well so the siphon and nets always got a heavy soaking in Hot, hot water. Also just use filter floss, no Carbon. Best of luck to ya


Thank you...I will only have the light on for an hour or so for the next 5 days...enuff to be able to see what's goin on and to monitor the growth or treatment of the darn disease... When you were doing the salt how often did you add it and how did you first and continue to introduce it to the tank?


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Plants and salt with the higher temps don't do well together either. Wiped out all my plants in my 50 that way and learned the hard way. If it's a HOB Bobbi, then it most likely has carbon in it just to answer that. Personally I would take the temp to 85, they can handle it. Salt can be added directly , it will dissolve , or you can put in a pop bottle with water and shake the hell out of it lol tho I am sure it willdissolve the same


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## Slopster (Mar 14, 2011)

teaspoon per gallon, remember salt will always stay in your tank, so do not over dose and turn it into a brackish tank overnight, let it be like that for a few days do your siphoning add new water, slowly raise temp maybe add a bit more salt 1/2 teaspoon probably 3-5 days later then repeat steps a week after that. hopefully that works for you.. I did all this on my 40g and it cleared it all up, this was about a yr ago and i still add about 1/4 teaspoon of salt every time i change water and i change out 1/3 evry week or so..

Cheers..


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## BubBleBee (May 7, 2010)

Thanks Slopster.....hope it works for me as it did for you.


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## Gregzz4 (Jun 25, 2010)

If you have access to a UV Sterilizer, it will greatly reduce the possibility of re-infection while the dudes are in your QT. If not, not to worry, it would just help.

The info below seems to be correct. Read through it a couple of times.
The cycle of Ich can happen constantly, with different cysts erupting all the time, so vacuuming daily is best. The lighting period is more to reduce the stress on your fish. Don't turn your lights completely off, just reduce the time length.

_Quote_ Treatment: Salt (sodium chloride or NaCl) is a much gentler medication than Ich medications commonly sold in pet stores. Some commercial parasite medications can push a sick fish over the edge. Salt will not harm your filter bacteria, it's cheap and will not harm humans coming into contact with it; however, not all fish tolerate salt. We recommend it only for cold water fish like Goldfish and Koi. Tropical fish are best treated with a malachite/formalin combination like Rid Ich or Quick Cure. Salt may also kill some plants, so you will need to remove any live plants into another container and disinfect them (Potassium Permanginate works well for disinfecting plants). The salt must be fully dissolved in tank water before adding it to the tank. Most any salt will work fine. Rock salt or pickling salt work great and are cheap. Avoid using salt that contains yellow prussiate of soda 
It is very easy to treat Ich with salt. You'll need a concentration of 0.3% salt (3 teaspoons per gallon) to eradicate the Ich. To reach 0.3% salt you would add 1 teaspoon of salt per gallon of water to your tank 3 times, each 12 hours apart. Predissolve the salt in tank water and then add slowly to a high water flow area.

It is important to keep track of the salt going into your tank because salt does not evaporate and is not removed with activated carbon. It is removed only with water changes. To keep the salt at the desired level, when you do a partial water change, you must salt the new water to the same concentration as the tank water. For example, if you remove 10 gallons of water you will need to add 30 teaspoons of salt to the change water to keep the tank at 0.3%.

While treating Ich, you will need to vacuum the entire bottom of the tank each day to remove any cysts that have fallen off. This will reduce the amount of tomites swimming in the tank and will help to clear the Ich faster. Heating the tank to 78-80*F will speed up the Ich life cycle and boost the fish's immune system response. At that temperature Ich has a life cycle of 3-5 days. Typically, your fish will look like it is getting better then another wave of spots will appear. Each cycle is usually worse than the one before. But if you keep up the water changes and salt ich will clear within a week. Maintain salt at 0.3% for 7 days after the last cyst drops off the fish. This will ensure that the Ich is indeed gone. If your tank temperature is lower, the life cycle can extend into weeks so you will need to adjust your temperature or your treatment regime accordingly.

Be sure to keep your water quality excellent during this time. Ich will stress your fish so you need to ensure optimum water quality. As trophonts leave the host, they leave behind small exit wounds. That coupled with the stress suffered by the fish can give bacteria and fungi an unfair advantage, so it is important to watch out for any signs of secondary infection shortly after a bad case of ich _End Quote_

After the 7 days has ended ( some even go 14 ), water-change your tank daily at a rate of 10-20% for about 1 week and reduce the temp by no more than 1 degree per day until it's back where you want it. Keep in mind that fish are more affected by dropping temperatures over rising ones, so reduce the temp slowly. You do not want to chill them.
This will be sufficient to ready the fish to go into your DT.

Good luck,
Greg


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## Vman (Jan 20, 2011)

I cured ich in my African tank in about 3 days. I turned up the temp to about F84,starting upping the salt(Epsom salt), and treated the tank with Seachem's (Paraguard). Also covered the tank with towels,as melachite green (main ich killing ingriedient) is light sensitive.After the 3rd day I took of the towels and all ich was gone. I've had to do this twice in almost 2 years.Paraguard is also filter friendly and doesn't kill your beneficial bacteria,available at J&L Aquatics.


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## Gregzz4 (Jun 25, 2010)

Also take note that 1 teaspoon may not be enough and 3 could be too much.
I have never had success treating with only 1tsp, but others may have.
Spend an hour scouring the web for specific salt concentrations for your rams. Maybe you'll find where someone specifically had good or bad results with x amount of salt.


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## BubBleBee (May 7, 2010)

I have a bottle of Paraguard too..thanx to each and everyone who has posted thus far...I'm going for 2tbsp per gallon...hope this works...fingers crossed....


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## BubBleBee (May 7, 2010)

Thanx to each and everyone whom helped with all the useful info to treat the ich...it's now almost gone....one spot on one of the lil guys....another fish keeper friend was over and noticed that they may have fin rot tooo. Should the salt and heat aid in that matter as well?


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## O.C.D Fishies (Apr 21, 2010)

As I said they will be fine as long as you keep your water in prestine condition.


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## Unhallowed (Sep 12, 2011)

I always go the salt route(cheaper and has always worked).
High temp will quicken the life cycle of the ich. Salt will kill it when it's in the free swimming stage(I think). I do daily gravel vaccuming and replace with untreated tap water(as the small amount of chlorine tends helps kill the ich).
Use caution if your fish are sensitive to high temp, salt, and chlorine obviously.
I usually try to keep a small amount of salt in the tank anyways to promote healing.

Big tank I grabbed from you is up and running nicely btw.


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## BubBleBee (May 7, 2010)

Thanx Unhallowed...the ich is now cleared up...goin on five days but will continue to treat for another week just to be on the safe side. Really liking the heat and salt myself. Glad that the tank worked out for ya...maintaining it was just tooo much....I now am enjoying my Bow without the guilt of that huge thing...lol....how's sharky?


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## Unhallowed (Sep 12, 2011)

Sharks doing good, albeit is kinda cranky haha. Was butting heads with the larger gourami over territory but they seem to have it sorted out now.
Your tigers seem to get along fine with the rest of mine, I was a little worried because they were a bit bigger but no issues yet so it should be fine.


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## BubBleBee (May 7, 2010)

Awwwwe....good to hear...perhaps you can post pics of Sharky(not anytime soon) so I can show my son...he is still upset about Sharky and asks bout him everydaaaaaayyy!!


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## BubBleBee (May 7, 2010)

As I sat and watched all the lil fishies in my 46 DT eating this am...noticed on two of the many fish that ick has found it's way into that tank as well.

*Livestock:* BN pleco, GBR, danios, tetra's, pea puffers, endlers and snails.

I have started to slowly raise the temp aiming for 82-83F. Will add API salt as well.

Question being should I also add Para-Guard??? in-junction with the heat and salt?
There's something called Ick Attack by Kordon's which is supposed to be all natural and requires no water changes whilst treating. This sounds too good to be true however it would be in my favor as my DT is heavily planted and gravel vacuuming effectively maybe a problem. Any suggestions and help greatly appreciated once again and hopefully for good.


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## jlam86 (Dec 7, 2010)

I had a major ich outbreak a few weeks ago and I cranked the temperature to 86F. It took about a week and a half but am happy to say I didn't lose any fish and the ich is completely gone. I did a water change a couple of days ago and made sure I vacuumed the sand fairly well and have never seen my fish this happy. I still left my temp at 86 in case but will probably lower it back down a bit while still maintaining a slightly higher than usual temperature.


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## BubBleBee (May 7, 2010)

Did you just do the heat treatment?? My only problem is that my tank is heavily planted and I just did an overhaul or replanting everything 3 days ago....wondering that's what stressed the fish out and caused the outbreak in that tank..! Am so stressed out with Ick at the present....frustrated beyond belief. I worry about raising the temp that high because I don't know if all the fish in that tank could tolerate it....?


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## BaoBeiZhu (Apr 24, 2010)

crank the heat up and add salt, with water change everyday worked for me


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

I'm late to the party on this thread, so if it's already been suggested just ignore my post; UV sterilizers are one of the best tools to use against ich. UV will kill the parasite in it's free-swimming stage and greatly lessen the voracity of the out break and the likelihood of additional outbreaks. One sterilizer, properly cleaned, can be shared between several tanks.


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## BubBleBee (May 7, 2010)

I'm going to search through threads here to see if anybody has one kicking around to sell...or invest in one....wonder if PetSmart carries them....or PetCetera....I have friends that work there and get their discounts...  Thanx Storm.


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## jlam86 (Dec 7, 2010)

I added a bit of aquarium salt in, but hardly any. Mainly the temperature. I was told that fish can live with ich, just not desirable. Ich has to go through it's life cycle, and you can help increase that from 1.5weeks to about 3 days with the heat cranked. I think your other fish will be fine. just do it gradually.

In the past, I used salt in my aquarium and it killed all my plants. I'm not sure if it was just my luck or what it was...took me a while to figure out why that was the case too.

Just turn up the heat and see if it helps in a few days. do they still eat?


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## Ursus sapien (Apr 21, 2010)

BubBleBee said:


> I'm going to search through threads here to see if anybody has one kicking around to sell...or invest in one....wonder if PetSmart carries them....or PetCetera....I have friends that work there and get their discounts...  Thanx Storm.


a 7 or 9 watt will suffice up to 50g


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## BubBleBee (May 7, 2010)

Yes they actively eat and is gone with in minutes of the food hitting the water...I think I have cured the ick in the QT...2 weeks and a day to the day. Did the heat, salt and para guard and so far so good. Now to get it under control in the 46...heat is up to 84-85F tad bit of salt as i don't want to kill my plants(too late as I noticed my spiral vals are turning yellow) and also using Ick Attack...3 days today no noticeable difference. In the process of looking for a UV Sterilizer to aid in ridding the tank of swimming yuckies...


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## jlam86 (Dec 7, 2010)

If they are still eating and fairly stable, leave the high heat and keep a close eye on them. Sometimes, a little goes a long way  good luck!


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