# Damn Ick



## canadianbudz604 (Oct 29, 2010)

Of course it must be the time of year, but my fish also have the ick. I noticed it on one of my rummy nose, and then a couple more. Now the german rams got it. Im using Prime and water changes to treat it. What I am wondering because the tank is close to my kitchen window, would changes of lighting cause the ick? My water tests are good, (usually are) but damn wife keeps opening the blinds wide open so I wonder if this is stressing the fish out? Thanks for any help


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

Ich outbreaks happen when your fish is stressed and so easily susceptible to ich outbreak. 
What do you think could be stressing the fish? 
Water conditions? 
Too much light? Overfeeding? 
How often do you do water change?
How big are your water change?


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

SERA Ick medication worked very well for me. Usually just one treatment and they are gone when caught earlier. Wish my SW is that easy.


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## canadianbudz604 (Oct 29, 2010)

Water conditions are normally very good, all tests are in perfect range, nice soft water. 5.9ph 0 across. But the lighting issue may be the case. Tank is too close to the kitchen window, have gone through 3 different types of lighting as of late... now using a t8 strip. Overfeeding may also be the problem... i feed twice a day switching between flakes, brine shrimp or bloodworms. Water changes are done every monday 25%. tap water with conditioner and then let it sit for a day... This time around i added a bit of salt (rummy nose and rams dont like salt) And used Prime ick plus.... hopefully it goes away. Now thinking of finding a darker corner for the tank... and feeding once a day.


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

How big is your tank?

Sent from my Samsung Mobile using Tapatalk


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## canadianbudz604 (Oct 29, 2010)

The tank is a strange shaped 20 gallon 24x18x12 along those lines..... 2nd day of treatment female ram lookin horrible  rummynose are cured pleco doesn't have it. Both rams got it female way worse than male.. Piss me off


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## thefishwife (Apr 21, 2010)

I have always used Kordon Ich Attack, its organic so-to-speak, and I chose this one b/c I had plants and shrimp and cories at the time. It worked well for me.

Did you add any new fish to the tank? Sometimes that can stress them.


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## Luke78 (Apr 24, 2010)

Have you inspected your heater lately? What make is it?,new or old? After a year or so heaters do need to be replaced.General wear and tear take effect, and it will soon leave uneven water temperatures which most tropical fish dont like.Placing an aquarium near a window,doorway,or near a heater will cause problems for you as well(again temps fluctuating,people or objects being moved around stress the fish etc) Whats your temperature sitting at now? some of the stock your curing at the moment need high temps to be happy.Forgot to add when doing water changes,try to match the temps of the fresh water your putting in,to the one sitting already in your aquarium.Any water too high or low will cause grief for your fish.



canadianbudz604 said:


> The tank is a strange shaped 20 gallon 24x18x12 along those lines..... 2nd day of treatment female ram lookin horrible  rummynose are cured pleco doesn't have it. Both rams got it female way worse than male.. Piss me off


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## canadianbudz604 (Oct 29, 2010)

*grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*

Well four days into the treatment of course, none of the fish have the ich except the ram. I say ram cause the female died grrrrrr!!!! both thermometers read 80 so dont think its from the temp. I did add a dwarf parrot like 8 days ago so maybe thats what it was?!?! I know the prime ich plus isnt working too well, the temp is up and i have added some salt and nothing is working on the ram. any suggestions? all the other fish are fine and happy... even the ram seems happy, water tests are good, he just still has ich spots on him! Piss me off.


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

ssss, watch language please 

If everyone is happy, why not monitor it for 24 hours see if condition get worse. If no other fish is affected, I would wait it out. It is better to loose the ram than stressing out the whole tank.


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## sunshine_1965 (Aug 16, 2011)

Ick treatments should be dosed for a minimum of 2 weeks. Whoever put that label on that product is full of BS. Ick (the parasite) burrows into a fish, where it is virtually immune to all forms of chemicals that would not kill your fish as well. It is ONLY in the free-swimming stage (occurs after the white cyst grows and eventually pops out) that ick can be killed. Many ick medications recommend treatment times of up to a month, since the meds may not kill all of the parasites during the first cycle, and because the time the ick parasite spends growing in it's host before popping out varies dramatically depending on water temp. The risk you run with only treating for 2 days is that:

1) You may miss the free-floating stage completely
2) A strain of ick that is resistant to your meds may prevail and spread
3) If a single parasite infects another fish (ick has to find a host within 2-3 days or die) then you start the whole painful process over again.

I haven't had ick in a long time, so I can't really recommend any particular brands of medications, but you can try it again at a smaller dosage for a prolonged period of time. Ideally, you would isolate the infested fish. And yes, salt does help, but only in preventing the new parasites from burrowing into another fish.


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## waynet (Apr 22, 2010)

I had ick with my German Gold Ram when I got them. I had a 10 gallon tank. I removed all the plants. Increase the temperature to 85-86F. I don't know if your other fish can stand that temperature. Changed 40% of the water with the same temperature. Added 15 teaspoons of Aquarium salt over 3 days.

My Rams are ok and breeding. First 2 days, the condition looked worst with so many white spot showed up. The next 3-4 days the white spots were all gone.

You should now change 20% of the water with 1-2F temperature lower. Keep temperature about 83F with the remaining salt in the tank. My Rams are always eating and maybe that is why it worked.

Here are my Gold Rams http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/bree...an-gold-ram-pair-spawning-swimming-fry-24012/


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