Early Stages of Ich / Whitespot

[LuckyLoach]

Hi,

Yesterday I noticed a few white specs on one of my clown loaches. In all the pictures that I have ever seen of ick, the fish looks to have a heavy dose of "salt" on him. Does ick start out slowly with a spot here or there, and then proceed to get worse, or does the fish breakout all at once. Most of the spots I see on the one are on the tail. One of the others has about two or three spots on his tail. And the last has none right now. Behavior has been normal loach behavior. They've been swiming back and forth all morning, and right now they are clicking and throwing gravel across the tank as I write this.

The water levels (nitrites 0, ammonia 0, ph 7) are the same as they have been for the past six months. The only changes to the tank was that I put in a few new live plants in last week and added a school of seprae tetras about 3 weeks ago. I've read that the plants can carry the ick parasite, and I'm thinking that may be the culprit.

Should I start treating for ick? If I treat, and they don't really have it, will it hurt them?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[pnyklr3]

I am having the same problem at this very moment! Any type of stress could cause a fish to have an ich outbreak. Ich is always present in the water, and will "go after" stressed-out fish. My ich has started off very slowly. I have also seen a fish heavily coated in salt, an mine did not look the same....but it will get worse if untreated.

From what I understand, loaches often get ich when they are brought home form the lfs (though mine never did). Right now, 2 of my clown loaches have a few (4-7) spots on them, and it is indeed ich. They are acting normally, and actually seem happier now that I've switched the substrate to sand (this switch process is how I stressed them). As I watched my tank, I noticed that a few of my tetras have a spot or two of ich as well.

Treat the whole tank with a medication that contains malachite green, and is safe for scaleless fish. I believe that anything containing copper will harm the clown loaches. Also bear in mind that malachite green will stain some aquarium sealant and decorations, as well as your hands and clothes. My seams are not turning blue, but I used some sealant to fix and create some decorations, and they have a slight tinge (but a small price to pay for a healthy tank!).

 

[LuckyLoach]

Thanks for all your help Pnyklr3. I'm going to run down to the store for medication today. I've heard it's supposed to be fairly easy to treat if you catch it in the early stages. I've had my clowns since last December and have had no problems until now. I might have to go hire a fish counsler to find out why there stressed though!!

 

[IMCL85]

Hosting a picture would be nice. But from what u said I think it is. Ich start as little spot from tail fin or some other part of the body then it will become more and more if you dont treat them fast. As right now you can just raise temperature in ur tank to 84-86 ich will die in that kind of temperature. medicine can also be apply but down side is that it will destroy alot of the benefit bacteria inside ur tank. I my self dont use any medicine to ich just raising temperature already works wonder. Or dont forget add airstone when u raise ur temperature. Good luck.

 

[pnyklr3]

When you raise the temp, make sure to do it slowly; don't just crank it to 86.

IMCL85: Has the temp raise and no meds worked in killing off the ich for you personally? I have read that it was more of a theory.

 

[IMCL85]

That works for me wonders. Before when I have ich I have try many many medicine but there r no sign of clearing. And I did exactly what every one suggested. Raising temperature to 82+ and add medicine. But things r getting wrose. Like more white spot. I guess I'm dealing with a more deffensive ich parasite. When I go ask my friend over on a LFS. He told me if medicine dont tend to work at all. You should just stick with temperature + aquarium salt treatment + 3-4 days per waterchange. And it clear up pretty fast. I have treat like over 3-4 ich problem with this methor. And as you haven't add any medicine yet you just just raise temperature + salt or no salt for a try first. If it doesn't work for u then you add medicine. Medicine kill bacteria thats why I hate them. But if its a must then use it and read info as some tend to hurt catfish or scaless fish so half does (and thats why I hate them, some fish need full does and some need half does you might not cure the one require full does under a half does treatment so you have to pick ur medicine carefully). Good luck

 

[LuckyLoach]

When I'm adjusting the temperature, how often should I raise the temperature? I'm sitting at 76 right now, so I need to go up 8-10 degrees. I just raised it one click on the heater (2 degrees). Should I do this once every hour, every couple of hours, etc.

Also, I have platys, tetras, whiteclouds, danios, and cories in this tank. Will the higher temperature hurt them any?

 

[LuckyLoach]

Also, how quickly should the ick start disappearing? How long do I need to treat the tank after it disappears? After everything is treated and gone, do I drop the temperature back to the high 70's?

Thanks

 

[pnyklr3]

I don't think the higher temp will hurt them at all, but I also think you should stay away from the salt as it can burn scaleless fish. Not sure ifdissolving the salt in water before adding it changes that or not, though. The Rid-Ich I am using says that it is safe for scaleless fish. I think that I am going to continue with the meds, and if that doesn't work, then go to very high temp.

 

[IMCL85]

you should not raise temperature all at once. Like 1-2f every days or so. To build it up to 86. And after ich disappear you should not lower the temperature for another weeks to prevent reinfection. After everything is done slowly lower ur temperature by setting ur heater 1-2f every days. And you should never set ur water to 70 unless ur fish is cold water fish. Most tropical fish need a 76-78 temperature to be healthy and happy. And I put mine on 80.

 

[tttnjfttt]

This link might be helpful for treating ich.

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article2.html

 

[GSD]

yeah raise the temp SLOWLY not all a once!!!or the fish will get even more stressed.What fish are in there?If there is no scaleless fish you could add a tiny bit of slat to help them but it isnt neccicary,do alot of water changes and keep the water as clean as you can.dont overdose on the meds ither.i killed all my fish this way!

 

[LuckyLoach]

I've raised the temperature two degrees for the day. There are no local fish stores here, so I went to Wal-Mart and picked up a couple of packages of Jungle Labs Ick Clear tablets. Followed directions, took the carbon out of both my filters (a lot easier to do on the cannister filter than the hanging power filter!!), and put the recommended half dose in the tank. It says to repeat every 24 hours until ick is gone. I almost put some aquarium salt in, but I read on numerous web-sites not to put aquarium salt in with loaches. So I held back on that. Hopefully I caught this soon enough that I won't have to medicate too many days.

Is there away to really tell when the Ich has been eliminated? I know the spots on the fish will disappear, but I would hate to get everything back to normal and get hit with this again.

Thanks to all of you.

 

[pnyklr3]

Keep medicating for a few days after the visible signs of ich are gone from the fish. The only time to kill the ich is when it is free-swimming. Not sure if you know about the cycle, but in a nut shell it goes

fish->substrate->water->fish

So medicating for a few days after it has left the fish will ensure that it is gone for good!

 

[Chaz]

Hi
I have had white spot over the holiday and all you need to buy is some anti white spot plus thing, this will clear up the spot within days, good luck