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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?
 
#52 ·
I dont remove all of my rocks when I vaccuum. I try to get as much as I can, but cant get EVERY nook and cranny.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a free floating one? What's it look like?

Glad to hear everything is going good!
 
#53 ·
lilcountrygal said:
I'm not sure I've ever seen a free floating one? What's it look like?
Well, what I saw was EXTREMELY small. If it wasn't right up to the glass directly in front of me as I was checking my fish I would have never seen it. A TINY white worm jerking from straight to "U" shaped, Less than a 1/16" long and about the diameter of a hair if not even smaller. For a moment it went straight and stayed that way. I thought it died in front of my eyes, but then began jerking into a "U" again before the current carried it out of my sight.

I won't even be able to get half of my subsrtate vaccuumed, my rock pile is rather large in my 6' tank... :roll:

 
#55 ·
At 86 they cant reproduce anyway, Hoosier. So, even if its hanging out in the tank, it wont live long. If you can turn your temp up more, that would be good. As long as it isnt spreading. Id just vacuum the substrate best you can.

Heat/salt worked wonders for me. I see no more on any fish (including the catfish).

I googled ich. I'm not sure you can actually see ich without a microscope (other than the white dots). I could be WAY wrong on that tho. Are you sure you didnt just see a piece of debris/dust floating by? Are you sure it was alive?
 
#57 ·
newbiecichlid99 said:
i am not sure of much at this point i am relatively new to these fish since july !!! have done tons of reading and 1 my good friends owns his own pet store and he has been my best info so far and says salt don;t work on parasite so
well, I'm living proof it does :thumb: I definitely had ich on my fish. I definitely didnt add medicine. I definitely DID add salt/heat. There is definitely no more visible ich on my fish :lol:

Seriously tho... I think I caught mine very early. I'm not quite sure I would have had such a positive outcome had the fish been showing some type of distress.
 
#58 ·
newbiecichlid99 said:
i am not sure of much at this point i am relatively new to these fish since july !!! have done tons of reading and 1 my good friends owns his own pet store and he has been my best info so far and says salt don;t work on parasite so
It is the heat that is the most effective. Temp at 89.7 kills in free swimming stage...some say salt helps more with breathing than anything else so not totally sure on that. Temps at 86 will keep them from reproducing.

Meds are for sure another way to go but be careful as some will kill off all nitrifying bacteria and some meds can kill certain species of fish. Meds are only effective after ICH has fallen off of fish and in free swimming stage. The good thing about high heat...it speeds up lifecycle and heat over 86 stops from reproducing while 90 kills them only after they have fallen off fish.

I have used heat and salt...worked
I have used coppersafe...worked as well
 
#59 ·
lilcountrygal said:
newbiecichlid99 said:
i am not sure of much at this point i am relatively new to these fish since july !!! have done tons of reading and 1 my good friends owns his own pet store and he has been my best info so far and says salt don;t work on parasite so
well, I'm living proof it does :thumb: I definitely had ich on my fish. I definitely didnt add medicine. I definitely DID add salt/heat. There is definitely no more visible ich on my fish :lol:

Seriously tho... I think I caught mine very early. I'm not quite sure I would have had such a positive outcome had the fish been showing some type of distress.
Keep doing your treatments though...

I am glad your ICH has started to retreat...that is awesome! :thumb:
 
#60 ·
13razorbackfan said:
lilcountrygal said:
newbiecichlid99 said:
i am not sure of much at this point i am relatively new to these fish since july !!! have done tons of reading and 1 my good friends owns his own pet store and he has been my best info so far and says salt don;t work on parasite so
well, I'm living proof it does :thumb: I definitely had ich on my fish. I definitely didnt add medicine. I definitely DID add salt/heat. There is definitely no more visible ich on my fish :lol:

Seriously tho... I think I caught mine very early. I'm not quite sure I would have had such a positive outcome had the fish been showing some type of distress.
Keep doing your treatments though...

I am glad your ICH has started to retreat...that is awesome! :thumb:
Its done more than retreat, razor. I think its completely gone. I know to keep the treatments going for another 7 days or so.

the only thing I see now is one spot on each of the cobues, and I cant be completely sure that its even ich. Both fish have it in the exact same spot on their anal fins. Just one "spot". The more I look, the more I think it isnt ich on them. Ill treat for 7 days... if its still there after 7 days, I'll go back to normal temp and change the saltwater for fresh. I'll keep an eye on those spots and if they start to spread, I'll start again.
 
#62 ·
That is great news lilcountrygal! Hope I have the same kind of luck.
Thanks for all your help 13razorbackfan it is appreciated.
 
#63 ·
Razor... does this look like ich to you? Its not on the anal fin, I'm horrible at fin names. Could these be egg spots developing (even tho they're white?).





both of these have the exact same spot, the exact same place.
 
#66 ·
WHEW. thank you. they looked bigger (like a small line) as compared to a dot. I was hoping egg spots started white, thanks.

The only bad news... they'll probably both be males.
 
#68 ·
Hoosier Tank said:
That is great news lilcountrygal! Hope I have the same kind of luck.
Thanks for all your help 13razorbackfan it is appreciated.
You are very welcome!

Also...yeah those are eggspots lilcountrygal....they look healthy. Keep doing the treatments for sure so they don't come back.
 
#69 ·
ICH seems to be gone so thanks for all your help. Although I lost some fish, that 14 day guarantee helped me get my money back minus $6 for one that decided to wait 15 days. But all my other fish lived and seemed to take the treatment well. I will be doing some tank maintenance this weekend to hopefully get it looking purdy and adding in my 4 Ruby Red juvies that have been in quarantine since this debacle started.
 
#70 ·
So... I guess my first post on this forum will be reviving a 6 year old thread... Go me... Ha. :eek: :lol:

Anyway, I came across this doing a google search because yesterday I noticed ich on 1 of my mbuna cichlids. :x I have debated in my own mind the course of action I want to take: meds or heat treatment. I have decided on heat treatment for the moment, as I am convinced I caught this pretty early. I have already done a water change (vacuuming the gravel also of course) and turned my 2 Fluval E300W heaters up (slowly!) to 87F. I also put in a couple of Aqueon Pro 200W heaters I had laying around and maxed them out (88F) (this is a 125 gallon aquarium.) I have 2 canister filters (Penn Plax, one being a 1500 Cascade, the other a 1000 Cascade) and currently have 4 airstones going, so water movement (oxygen) should not be an issue. My glass mercury thermometer says 86F at the moment, and the cichlids are being very active as I type this, so that is a good sign.

Anyway, thanks for all of the great advice here!
 
#71 ·
13razorbackfan said:
I would raise temp to 87-89....at 86 ICH stops reproducing after they fall off the fish at around 89.7 it kills the ICH outright but only after it falls off the fish. ....... make sure it is at least 86 because at 86 the ICH can not reproduce and will eventually die after 4-5 days.
Resurrecting an old thread here. Is it true that ich can't reproduce in temperatures above 86F and will eventually die? I never heard that before, but 13razorbackfan was very confident in his claims about temperature.
 
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