Help With ICH

[Zveach26]

Hi,

Still pretty new to the hobby with a 10gal freshwater tank. We noticed today that our tetra was showing small signs of possible ICH. We went ahead and got a two quarantine tanks to be safe. One to treat the tetra and the other to house the rest of the fish while our display tank heats up to kill the ICH. Is this the right way to go about things? We're just concerned on what's healthiest?

For treatment I have Aquarium salt, Super ICH Cure and Imagitariums Parasite Remedy. Which do you recommend?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Colin_T]

Do not move the fish out of the tank because you need to treat all the fish in the tank.

What fish, shrimp do you have in the tank?

Can you post a picture of the fish with ich?

The following link has information about ich. The first post (on page 1) is more scientific. The last post (on page 2) is more for beginners.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-is-ich.7092/page-2

What are the ingredients in the medications you have?

You can treat ich by raising the aquarium temperature to 30C (86F) for 3 weeks, then lower it back down to 24-26C. No medications needed. But post a picture before doing anything so we can confirm it is whitespot (aka ich).

 

[Zveach26]

Do not move the fish out of the tank because you need to treat all the fish in the tank.

What fish, shrimp do you have in the tank?

Can you post a picture of the fish with ich?

The following link has information about ich. The first post (on page 1) is more scientific. The last post (on page 2) is more for beginners.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-is-ich.7092/page-2

What are the ingredients in the medications you have?

You can treat ich by raising the aquarium temperature to 30C (86F) for 3 weeks, then lower it back down to 24-26C. No medications needed. But post a picture before doing anything so we can confirm it is whitespot (aka ich).

Reading and with some advice from a friend (Maybe not the best) I went ahead and moved them to a quarantine tank, added salt and slowly have been bringing the temp up to 86 degrees. I've went ahead and turned our display tank which is now empty up to 90 to hope to kill it in there.

The fish we do have can handle salt and the warmer temperature but I am worried out our butterfly loch, he is now in a separate tank at a proper temp while I try to figure out the best method of treatment for him.

Attached is the fish. He had a lot more spots on him earlier, now there is only a couple on his tail.

Thank you

 

[Colin_T]

Use half dose for most medications to treat the hillstream loach.
If you can find a product called "Waterlife Myxazin" that can be used on the loach at the recommended dose rate on the bottle.
Praziquantel treats whitespot too and is safe for all fishes.

You could move the fish into a new clean container of water each day for 2 weeks and that can get rid of the whitespot. Basically you set up a small container of clean water that has no chlorine/ chloramine in, and add a heater and airstone. You keep the fish in here for 24 hours then move it into another container of clean water. You need to wash, disinfect and dry the first container, heater & airstone before using them again.
You could put the small container with the loach in, on top of the main aquarium and there should be sufficient heat coming through the coverglass to warm the container. This would mean you don't need a heater with the fish so there would be less to clean.
Make sure you have a cover on the container with the fish so it doesn't jump out. The cover will need to be cleaned when you do the airstone. heater and container.

Each day you move the fish into another clean container of water. As the parasites drop off the fish, they settle on the bottom of the container and spend several days developing inside their white spot (cyst). By moving the fish into a new container of clean water each day, you leave the cysts behind so they can't hatch and reinfect the fish. Over a period of time, all the parasites drop off the fish and the fish is free of the disease.

When you move the fish to another container, you should carefully catch it with a net and hold the net above the first container for a few seconds until the water stops dripping off the net. Then put the fish into the next clean container. If water from the net drips into the new container it could add a few white spot cysts. So the less water that is transferred across, the better this method works.

 

[NickAu]

Hi

Do you keep the Hillie ( Hillstream Loach ) in the same tank as the Platies?

Hillies need fast flowing water highly saturated with oxygen,