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Yay. Ich. Best method?

28K views 71 replies 12 participants last post by  DJRansome 
#1 ·
Seems as my lovely catfish appears to be developing ich. So far, it hasnt spread to my cichlids with the exception of one minute "flake" on a cobue.

My pH is 7.4. Water temp 80. I turned up the thermostat a bit (still waiting on the increase in water temp). I plan to dose 1 tablespoon aquarium salt for every 5 gallons of water. I just wanted to confirm this is correct.

Also... is the bigger success treating ich with salt/increase temp or an actual ich medicine from the store? *** had crappy luck saving fish in the past. I think this was caught fairly early (the only one with tell tale signs so far is the catfish). Id rather up my chances of success this time by doing it the most successful way.

Temp increase + salt or
Ich medicine.

How do the experts treat ich?
 
#27 ·
The method I described usually works overnight, sometimes by the next day if it is a bad case. I've had it happen a couple times with new fish from the chain stores. The heat method is okay, but my opinion is the longer they have it and it carries on, the more damage it does. Sounds like your catfish is ill and needs to be quarintined (ignore spelling). Ick normally only attaches to unhealthy fish. I don't normally use chemicals either, but this one is crucial when it comes to saving fish.
 
#28 ·
RifterFish said:
The method I described usually works overnight, sometimes by the next day if it is a bad case. I've had it happen a couple times with new fish from the chain stores. The heat method is okay, but my opinion is the longer they have it and it carries on, the more damage it does. Sounds like your catfish is ill and needs to be quarintined (ignore spelling). Ick normally only attaches to unhealthy fish. I don't normally use chemicals either, but this one is crucial when it comes to saving fish.
No...once it starts to spread at all it is in the tank...they reproduce in the substrate. Isolating fish seldom works. In this case it has spread to other fish already.

I have never seen any meds that can kill ICH overnight. Meds are not effective until after ICH has fallen off fish and is in free swimming stage.
 
#29 ·
Isolating the sick fish is needed to keep the other ones healthy. If the other fish are rid of the ick and are healthy, while one still has it, it is time to remove the fish from the tank. It is most likely terminally ill and it is only a matter of time before it dies. The product has worked for me every time I have used it, and yes overnight on two occasions, and 2 -days on another. The third occasion I had received two poor quality fish from an online pet store. They were skeletal and covered in ick. They came with two healthy ones. I treated the whole tank and the two healthy ones shed the ick quickly, but then got it back about two weeks later. I kept treating until finally I just had to take the two sick ones out all together. They died soon after and the two others survived to become thriving fish. As I said, the med works if you follow the directions I gave and not the ones on the label. Have you ever tried this method? Do not be so quick to dismiss it. I did not discount the heat and salt method. I simply offered an alternative to a long, drawn out process that prolongs the treatment. I learned by the mistakes I made when I first began. Trial and error as they say.
 
#30 ·
I got hit with a bout of ich a month ago from some Wal-mart red eye tetras (...learned my lesson...). I raised the temp up to 85F and was treating with Aquarisol with only mild results. I switched to Mardel Coppersafe, and bang, it was gone in like 2 days. I would try that. I've used it in the past for other things, and its a pretty strong product. Most LFS should carry it, but I don't think the big guys do (PetSmart, Petco).
 
#31 ·
I actually think I'm at the end of my ich battle. This morning the spots were significantly decreased in the catfish. I found it very early tho. From what I read, catfish/loaches seem to get it quicker than regular fish and I saw the spots develop on the catfish. Never did they "act" sick, they all still ate, etc. Had I not known what ich was, I may have delayed the "treatment" until the fish were distressed. I save the meds for when I dont catch it as early as I did.

I didnt quarantine it because my quarantine tank currently has some Rustys in that I just received who werent exposed to ich. I couldnt delay getting the Rustys, and didnt want to put them in the tank with ich. I have used the meds before, and would never dismiss the thought of using them. I just wanted to see how successful this method is prior to adding chemicals to the tank.
 
#33 ·
RifterFish said:
Well, that is good. I've been thinking about getting some rusty Cichlids. Do they looks as pretty as they do on the websites? Or are they more dull in color?
I absolutely love my Rustys. My favorites, actually. They arent dull in the least. The males have more of a purplish/rust tint to them and the females look more rust. I even have small ones (one and a half inches) and they're colorful. Beautiful fish... I highly recommend them. But, I guess I am a little bias :D
 
#35 ·
strat guy said:
I got hit with a bout of ich a month ago from some Wal-mart red eye tetras (...learned my lesson...). I raised the temp up to 85F and was treating with Aquarisol with only mild results. I switched to Mardel Coppersafe, and bang, it was gone in like 2 days. I would try that. I've used it in the past for other things, and its a pretty strong product. Most LFS should carry it, but I don't think the big guys do (PetSmart, Petco).
I had success with coppersafe as well.
 
#36 ·
I have one fish that visibly has ich and a few that are flashing and some that are staying closer to the top of the tank. I want to try this heat/salt treatment first and go from there. With the salt, do I add it right away or wait til the tank reaches higher temps? I have increased the heater from 78 to 80 as of now so I am waiting for the water to heat up. Thanks for the help. P.S ICH sux!
 
#38 ·
SNDMN8Z said:
I have one fish that visibly has ich and a few that are flashing and some that are staying closer to the top of the tank. I want to try this heat/salt treatment first and go from there. With the salt, do I add it right away or wait til the tank reaches higher temps? I have increased the heater from 78 to 80 as of now so I am waiting for the water to heat up. Thanks for the help. P.S ICH sux!
You can start to add it now....and add 1tbl per 5 gallons. Dissolve in tank water first and add some every few hours until you reach your 1tbl per 5 gallons.

Also...if your fish are at the top of the tank already then I would make sure you have GREAT aeration in your tank because heated water holds less O2. You can drop your water line a couple inches and let the filters drop off and splash into the tank water. That will help. As for everything else be sure to read the thread for other pointers.
 
#40 ·
Thanks for the thread...
I have just restocked my tank with 11 new babies from the fish store for just under two weeks. Day before yesterday I noticed a white spot on both of the 2" Texas... not a bunch of little spots but one larger one on each side of both fish. (Larger than a grain of salt by a long way) so I started the research and close observation.
Yesterday when I got home I noticed one was labored breathing. By the end of the night it was laying on the bottom. I set up my quarentine tank and snatched him out (too late I am sure). Now I see the grains of salt size specs on a couple others. :x
This morning I raised the tank temp from 80 to 84 and will pick up some salt and/or meds on the the way home. Bad part is the tank is a 180g and with the sump I am looking at about 210g so the salt may be the most economical way to go. Just so I got this straight, I should add 40-42 Tablespoons of salt?
 
#41 ·
I added two tablespoons of Aquarium salt to 5 gallons (razor... is that too much? I see you suggested 1... the article, I believe, said 2-3. I went with 2). If I should be removing some water, let me know.

I'll definitely treat for at least another week. The spots are gone from the catfish.

All others battling the ich.... Id raise, as razor suggested to me, the temp up to at least 86. I put in about half a cup of the dissolved salt water every 15-20 minutes over the course of a few hours. When you do water changes, replace the salt that you took out.

And, most of all, dont be discouraged if you dont see improvement. It took many days before I even noticed a decrease in the ich. I held strong because, even tho I didnt see any decrease, it wasnt spreading either. Ich multiplies fast, so if you dont see it spreading significantly, Id say you're on the right track.
 
#42 ·
Good to know....I hope I have the same success. I am still waiting on the water to temp to rise. I will be gettnig the salt on the way home from work to day to add in the tank.

Any suggestions on the 3 Ruby Reds I have being delivered hopefully today. My 75g is the only tank that i have set up at this time. I have a 10g but its out in the garage empty. Should I use a container with the water the fish came in and slowly add water to increase water volume and heat/airrate(sp) that to keep them out of the 75g?

So discouraged at this point but I guess I just have to deal with it and fix my issues!

Thanks.
 
#44 ·
SNDMN8Z said:
Any suggestions on the 3 Ruby Reds I have being delivered hopefully today. My 75g is the only tank that i have set up at this time. I have a 10g but its out in the garage empty. Should I use a container with the water the fish came in and slowly add water to increase water volume and heat/airrate(sp) that to keep them out of the 75g?
This is SO probably the wrong advice, but..... my husband brought me home a yellow lab from Petsmart the same day he brought me Rustys from a fellow poster on the board. I didnt want to put the yellow lab in with the Rustys, so I acclimated the yellow lab to the tank water very slowly (the tank with ich). Its not recommended, but I really had no other choice... gamble with the Rustys or gamble with the yellow lab. The lab is doing awesome, never showed any type of distress at all. But, I DID catch my ich fairly early. I read that ich will attack catfish/loaches first and I caught my ich then, before it even spread to the cichlids other than a few spots here and there.

with the salt/heat method, you're looking at least two weeks of treatment.... you'd have to keep the Ruby Reds out of the main tank for at least that long. If you cant get the 10 gallon up in time, you have to do what you have to do. I hope someone with more experience will post on if the container would work, if I were you, Id wait for a more experience poster to answer that question. I just wanted to give you my experience.
 
#46 ·
lilcountrygal said:
I added two tablespoons of Aquarium salt to 5 gallons (razor... is that too much? I see you suggested 1... the article, I believe, said 2-3. I went with 2). If I should be removing some water, let me know.

I'll definitely treat for at least another week. The spots are gone from the catfish.

All others battling the ich.... Id raise, as razor suggested to me, the temp up to at least 86. I put in about half a cup of the dissolved salt water every 15-20 minutes over the course of a few hours. When you do water changes, replace the salt that you took out.

And, most of all, dont be discouraged if you dont see improvement. It took many days before I even noticed a decrease in the ich. I held strong because, even tho I didnt see any decrease, it wasnt spreading either. Ich multiplies fast, so if you dont see it spreading significantly, Id say you're on the right track.
Glad to hear the ICH has retreated!! Just keep treating for 7 more days and you should be good to go. After the 7 days continue to do 25% water changes and just not replace the salt in the water added. Eventually the salt will all be removed through water changes.
 
#47 ·
I picked up some aquarium salt on the way home and when I arrived checked the tank temp, was up to the 84 degree setpoint. I raised it to 86 and and added 4 1/2 cups of salt (two tablespoons per gallon) to the sump, should be a slow gradual dilution to the tank. After some thought I figure the rock work displaced about the same water that my sump holds so it should still be about 180g
I lost the small Texas in the quarentine tank, as expected... he was not doing well when I put him in but wanted him out of the main tank. The other juvie Texas has the same larger spots than the other infected fish but he is acting pefectly normal.
Lets see how they look after a few days of salt and gravel vacs :roll:
 
#48 ·
Check the library section for the ich article... I read its 2-3 tablespoons per FIVE gallon, not per gallon.

And if you can get your temp up to around 90, it'll go faster. Just make sure you have alot of aeration. I took a little water out of the tank so the filter overflow created more of aeration/surface agitation.
 
#49 ·
Thanks for watching out for me lilcountrygal! Yes I read the article first. My math was correct for 2 tablespoons per 5 gallons. My typing skills are to blame and now it's too late to go back and edit the post. :oops:

180g/5g =36, 36x2T =72T, 72T/16per cup =4.5 cups
 
#50 ·
Hoosier Tank said:
Thanks for watching out for me lilcountrygal! Yes I read the article first. My math was correct for 2 tablespoons per 5 gallons. My typing skills are to blame and now it's too late to go back and edit the post. :oops:

180g/5g =36, 36x2T =72T, 72T/16per cup =4.5 cups
glad it was you're typing skills lol. Good luck. :thumb: Lemme know how you made out.
 
#51 ·
I do have news...
GOOD:
The larger spot on my remaining Texas seems smaller.
The female Salvini still has the 3 grain of salt size spots but they are not increasing.
None of the other fish seem infected so it doesn't seem to be spreading.

BAD:
I saw a free swimming little Bugger. I figure if I was able to see one in this huge tank, they must be all over
I am concerned about how thorough I can gravel vac without removing 200 lbs of rock.

I am impressed at the accuracy of these new Aqueon Pro heaters I have. Their dial setting is spot on tank temp maintained a solid 86. So I raised them to 88, their highest setting this morning.
 
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