[ironman1769]

Good morning all,
My tank has been running for 2 yrs now. It has a mixed malawi population. My parameters are as follow Nitate 20ppm, Nitirte 0ppm, Gh 150ppm,Chlorine is 0ppm, Kh 180ppm and my Ph is 8+

3 days ago I noticed strange behavior form my 55. I immediately checked my water parameters and all was well. Hmmmmmm, I began to wonder I have not done anything different what could be my problem... The following day I lost my Ngara flametail plus 56 kadango wigglers. I took a closer look and noticed a few fish had white specks.( I believe it to be ick) I immediately treated w/clout and metro. I gave 2 treatments within 24hrs. followed by a 25% water change, this went on for 3 days. As of this morning Im stilll noticing the specks. How long should i continue this treatment? or how long before i stop seeing the specks? The fish are all very active and eating. My understanding is that clout is one of the best meds you can you for this type of infection. Help me out please,

Thanks Phil,

 

[lloyd]

here's a quick copy/paste. HTH:
* Trophont Phase: This is the phase when you discover your fish have ich. The parasite burrows through the slime layer and becomes encased in a hard shell which is often called a "cyst." It is these cysts that have the distinctive "grains of salt" appearance. The parasite at this stage is immune to medication, being protected by the skin of the fish and the hard shell of the cyst.

* Tomont Phase: When the parasite matures it breaks out of the skin, still encased, and falls away leaving a tiny open wound in the skin of the fish. The cyst falls to the bottom of the tank or into the cracks and crevices of an object such as a rock or plant. Inside its casing the tomont divides. At this stage, the parasite is immune to treatment.

* Theront Phase: When the tomont ruptures it bursts open to release hundreds of theronts into the water. This is the phase of the Ich life cycle when the parasite is vulnerable to medication. Theronts have a life span of approximately two days and will die if they have not successfully located a host fish.

Understanding the life cycle of the ich parasite is crucial to treatment. As you can see, there is only a very short time that the parasite is vulnerable to treatment. Medications which claim to cure ich in 2 days are optimistic, at best. The duration of this cycle is dependent on temperature. At 70 degrees Fahrenheit, the cycle takes 18 days; at 80degrees, 10 days; at 85 degrees, 6 days.

 

[Robin]

Phil, you might also check out the ick article linked below. I am skeptical about ick meds that claim to treat ick in a couple of days however there may be some that do.

In my own personal experience with ick I found the heat and salt method to work perfectly. That was over two years ago and all the fish who were infected remain happy, healthy and ick-free in my 90 gallon tank.
There are directions on how to do the heat and salt treatment in the article. The only thing I would add is that no matter what treatment you choose to use add in as many partial water changes and gravel siphonings as you possibly can. This will help reduce the overall numbers of the parasite in your tank. Not a cure all by itself but it definitely helps.

Robin