Help With Ick In A Planted Tank

[SwissHandGrenade]

I have a heavily planted 37G tank with ottos, apple snails, assassin snails, dojo and black kuhli loaches. a week or so ago i purchased a baby African Brown Knife (no more than 3") i put him in the 37 until hes big enough to be in my 75. i watch my tanks daily for any sign of disease or odd behavior. i noticed a few white spots on him today and became very concerned, hes quickly become a fav of mine. i hand feed him and when i am trimming my plants he comes to say hello by rubbing against me or nibbling on my arm. i have raised the temp 2 degrees and am gonna gradually raise it to 86F. though this worrys me about the dojo loaches. i would put them in the pond but 1.its soon to be winter 2. they are babies and the koi are huge 3. i could contaminate the pond. My 40B QR is currently full with my new fish for the paludarium. i paid a good bit for them and i dont want them to get sick and the paludarium is no where near cycled. so i have nowhere to put him and have to treat the whole tank. i have floating wisteria, dwarf hairgrass carpet, java moss, christmas moss, weeping moss, anubias, cryptocoryne wendtii, and moss balls. i will appreciate whatever help you guys can give me.

 

[SharkWeek]

I always us API aquarium salt, i normally put it into a plastic cup and fill it up pretty good then just leave that in the water for a while. id wait for a second opinon before you do that though

 

[colleen0309]

The knife fish and loaches are salt sensitive. If you choose the salt and temp method, be very careful. Use a half dose of salt. Any medication you use will be hard on scaleless fish. I understand how attached you can get to a knife fish. I find them to be very personable. I used to hand feed mine and play with him while I did water changes.

 

[SwissHandGrenade]

well the knife fish has passed today at lunchtime... worst day ever... i still need to treat the others right? they have no signs of ick but im still worried...

1st fish ive lost in a year and a half... this sucks...

 

[colleen0309]

I'm so sorry!! If it was ich, yes, you should still treat the tank. You could play the wait and see game. If no others come down with it in 2 weeks, you should be ok. I would treat the tank with a good ich med that is either for scaleless fish or one that has directions for scaleless fish. Most of them tell you to use the med at half dose.

 

[SwissHandGrenade]

ive heard commercial ich meds hurt plants. do you know if thats true?

 

[colleen0309]

Some do, I believe. I, myself, don't use them unless I absolutely have to. I do most things "old school". Whenever I have had a problem with ich, I raise the temp to 86F and use aquarium salt. It has been so long since I had to treat, I can't remember the doseage right off hand. I think it is 2 tbls per 10 gallons of water. If I have scaleless fish (pleco, loaches, knifefish, ect...) I use half the amount of salt and watch the fish for any signs of distress. If they look good, I keep it up for 10 days after the last signs of spots. If the fish look distressed, I do a big water change and lower the salt when I refill. Hope this helps.

 

[SwissHandGrenade]

ok i got tetra ick Guard. it claims you shouldnt raise the temp of the tank. and to add 1/2 a tab per 10usG for scaless fish. it also says safe for plants. AI: Victoria Green, Acriflavine. Do you know if these would hurt my fish? ... also... i forgot about the ghost shrimp being in the tank (they're always hiding in moss and i figured they had already been food) so i turned the heat down 2'F lets hope i dont lose anymore fishies...

 

[OldMan47]

Use the ich control medication as directed on the product. It will likely be a formalin compound or a malachite green product if it will work which means that fish response to it is well known. Scaled vs scaleless is a poor way to judge tolerance to chemicals, most fish are more or less tolerant of chemicals based on their own species tolerance, which does not follow scaled or scaleless dividing lines very well. Do not turn down the heat in your tank unless it is just too warm for the fish. The medication should not require lower temperatures but may require that you remove any carbon from the filter. If it requires that, don't try to skip that step. Carbon has one of its main functions to remove medications after they are no longer needed.

 

[SwissHandGrenade]

no i lowered the temp because of the ghost shrimp. plus it lowers the dojos lifespan to heat them past 76'F. i removed the carbon. it said on the product to use half dose for scaless fish. i wouldnt skip a step or do anything to endanger my fishies. i have 6 tanks and been disease free for over a year. in a month or so ill try another ABK. thanks for the help everybody. one last thing: i worry the partial water change every 24 hrs plus the meds and no carbon will hurt my bacteria. any input?