Community Tank - Ich - What To Do?

[rhstranger]

Platies with ich.
29g Heavily planted low tech tank.
Noticed one platy with white spots last night. This morning saw most (4 or 5) of my platies with white spots. From reading here, looks like I have ich going around.
Other tankmates include 3 albino cories, 2 false SAE, and 3 apple snails. Medicines with copper (that's pretty much all that's available around here) are out due to not wanting to wipe out my apple snails, and from what I read here, Cories don't take too kindly to salt. I don't have a QT/emerg tank to move anybody to either. Any suggestions on how to treat? I plan on raising the temp slowly over the course of the night to 80-82, and was considering adding the salt, but I didn't know how sensitive Cories are to the salt. I don't have any meds yet, but I think if I had to, I could track down some Melafix......i hope.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.

PS thanks to all the info everyone's posted on here, not only was I able to determine what was going on, but I was able to read up on how to treat it.
Thanks to everyone's input here. I love this forum.

 

[mattlee]

Hi corys are very sensitive to salt and also some meds, sometimes when treating corys its best to half the dose and treat for twice as long. turning the heat up will speed up the cycle of the ich and along with lots of good water changes and substrate cleans sometimes is enough to rid the ich. just make sure you add an airstone or similar when increasing the temp too.

good luck

 

[rhstranger]

Thanks for the info Mattlee.
I don't have an airstone, but I was going to lower the water level so the 2 filter's outputs "oxygenate" the water a bit more.
I will do a vac, water change, and half dose starting tonight (if I can track down some ich meds), keeping an eye on the Cories. I just got started with a community tank again after 20 years out, I guess I get thrown back in the ring early.
...and it begins....lol.

I was reading that Ich guard II by Jungle is more for scaleless and/or weaker, smaller fish. If I can find it, would it be better suited for the Cories, or is it all just marketing BS by Jungle? Would it still work on the Platies?

 

[mattlee]

sorry mate ive never heard or used that med so cant comment on it really. ive never had to treat any of my corys for disease so cant really advise any either but i would just try higher temps and clean water for now and use meds as a last resort
what filters do you have? cant you just angle then different or raise then up a bit?

 

[rhstranger]

They are both HOB. AC50 and a Whisper 30. If I lower the water level, at least it would disperse some oxygen into the water a little better.
I really don't want to use meds either, so I'll try the temp rise and water changes for the weekend and see how it progresses....thanks for the advice!!!

 

[mattlee]

just be carefull of the corys as they wont tolerate high temps for too long but the extra oxygen will help and be needed.

good luck with it all, i hope you can rid it without meds mate

get deep into the gravel if you have it or give the sand a good clean, even take the surface layer off at every water change as the ich will be on the substrate as part of its cycle. more sand can be added when all is well if you have sand that is.....

 

[rhstranger]

Well, I got a water change in on Friday, temp up to 80, then came down with a really nice Flu bug and couldn't get out of bed til Yesterday. Monday: Temp is at 82, did another 25% WC last night, fish are looking worse, and clamping fins. Will do another WC tonight, might add 1/2 dose of salt? Or would I be better just starting 1/2 dosing of meds? I do have a 5g with a betta I could throw the snails into for a short period, but the betta picked on the snails I had in there before.....ate their tentacles right off. These ones have been doing so good in the 29g. The Cories could go in, but they are Albinos, and I can't tell if they have ich (white on White, can't see it) and don't want to spread it to the betta,
I can see where the frustration people on here talk about comes from...lol! Best way to go?

 

[mattlee]

dont transfer anything from one tank to another, even the snails as they can carry the virus even if not effected. moving them to the betta tank will guarentee he gets it too.....

if higher temps and water have not helped then its time to add a med i think to try and get it under control. what meds do you have to hand?

 

[rhstranger]

I picked up some ick guard by Jungle.
I'll just half dose, and see how it goes for the next couple days.

 

[mattlee]

just make sure you complete the stated amount on the bottle, if your half dosing then dose 2x as long

 

[Paradise3]

I am treating my tank with protozin but i had to remove my snails which are now in a bucket of tank water. My corys are fine with the med.

~AJ~

 

[rhstranger]

Gotcha Mattlee. Unfortunately, the bottle doesn't have a set direction regime given, so I'm going to go by info read here that a standard treatment (lifecycle of ich of 4-5 days at raised temp) x 2 for the 1/2 dosing would be about 10 days of treatment? Maybe go a couple extra?
Misscosmo, I had read good things about the Protozin, but couldn't find it locally.

 

[mattlee]

I am treating my tank with protozin but i had to remove my snails which are now in a bucket of tank water. My corys are fine with the med.

~AJ~

misscosmo if you have removed your snails from a tank with disease hen as soon as they are put back in the tank may well get the trouble back as they still carry diseases although they arent effected by things like ich, so beware!

Gotcha Mattlee. Unfortunately, the bottle doesn't have a set direction regime given, so I'm going to go by info read here that a standard treatment (lifecycle of ich of 4-5 days at raised temp) x 2 for the 1/2 dosing would be about 10 days of treatment? Maybe go a couple extra?
Misscosmo, I had read good things about the Protozin, but couldn't find it locally.

does it not give any advice on treatment? dosage, period of treatment etc....

 

[rhstranger]

It just says treat with 1 teaspoon per 10g. "If ick persists, treat every 24 hrs til it clears" Change 25% water before new dosing. That's about it. I dosed 1.5 teaspoons last night (29g tank), hasn't really changed from last night. Doing 25% WC and 1/2 dosing once again tonight, see if anything changes tomorrow.

 

[rhstranger]

Well, I had a feeling last night. One Female was gone this morning.
Last night she was at the bottom, clamped and breathing heavy. Was visibly the worst condition fish with white spot.
The Good news is the other platy that showed visible signs of ich looks better, spots are gone, and is swimming better, no more clamped fins.
The snails don't look any the worse for wear from the last 3 days of 1/2 dosing, and the cories don't look too stressed out over the higher temp of 82.
The plants, well, are looking a little ragged, but hopefully they can hang on for another 4 or 5 days....continuing treatment.