Ich Again -_-

[onidrase]

I have no idea what I'm doing wrong here. Water is always 0 ammonia 0 nitrite 10-20 nitrate, I do 25% water changes or more if I feel necessary every week, Temperature rests at 77-78 degrees steady. I've switched to stress coat+. Plenty of real decorations, schooling fish are kept in schools.

And this is the third time since I started the hobby to get ich. The outbreaks are never severe. But they're annoying, none the less.

Since now I have loaches and live plants, I'm dying to not use medication or salt. So I'm taking the high water temp and nothing else approach. The ich is very minor, a few spots on a few fish, none on other fish, and just 1 of the black skirt tetras has it pretty bad.

Anyways. What else should I do other than raise the temp in this method of treatment? How often should I change the water? How high should I take it up? (some people vouched 90 which seems a little.. well.. high, I've only taken it up to 84 so far.)

Advice is appreciated. As well as tips on anything else I can do to keep this crud from coming back again.

 

[Crossfire]

I have no idea what I'm doing wrong here. Water is always 0 ammonia 0 nitrite 10-20 nitrate, I do 25% water changes or more if I feel necessary every week, Temperature rests at 77-78 degrees steady. I've switched to stress coat+. Plenty of real decorations, schooling fish are kept in schools.

And this is the third time since I started the hobby to get ich. The outbreaks are never severe. But they're annoying, none the less.

Since now I have loaches and live plants, I'm dying to not use medication or salt. So I'm taking the high water temp and nothing else approach. The ich is very minor, a few spots on a few fish, none on other fish, and just 1 of the black skirt tetras has it pretty bad.

Anyways. What else should I do other than raise the temp in this method of treatment? How often should I change the water? How high should I take it up? (some people vouched 90 which seems a little.. well.. high, I've only taken it up to 84 so far.)

Advice is appreciated. As well as tips on anything else I can do to keep this crud from coming back again.

Do a big water change, gravel vac your sand/gravel to get the cysts out. If you have loaches and invertabrates, use Super Ick Cure by API, the manager of my LFS says he's used it with clown loaches and they were fine, and i've used it with kuhli loaches and shrimp and live plants, works great. Raise temp to above 82 slowly. If you don't want anymore ich in the future, why not invest in a UV sterilizer?

 

[Rummynose]

Have you added anything new to your tank recently? The parasite can alsom hitch-hike on plants or snails!

 

[onidrase]

I have no idea what I'm doing wrong here. Water is always 0 ammonia 0 nitrite 10-20 nitrate, I do 25% water changes or more if I feel necessary every week, Temperature rests at 77-78 degrees steady. I've switched to stress coat+. Plenty of real decorations, schooling fish are kept in schools.

And this is the third time since I started the hobby to get ich. The outbreaks are never severe. But they're annoying, none the less.

Since now I have loaches and live plants, I'm dying to not use medication or salt. So I'm taking the high water temp and nothing else approach. The ich is very minor, a few spots on a few fish, none on other fish, and just 1 of the black skirt tetras has it pretty bad.

Anyways. What else should I do other than raise the temp in this method of treatment? How often should I change the water? How high should I take it up? (some people vouched 90 which seems a little.. well.. high, I've only taken it up to 84 so far.)

Advice is appreciated. As well as tips on anything else I can do to keep this crud from coming back again.

Do a big water change, gravel vac your sand/gravel to get the cysts out. If you have loaches and invertabrates, use Super Ick Cure by API, the manager of my LFS says he's used it with clown loaches and they were fine, and i've used it with kuhli loaches and shrimp and live plants, works great. Raise temp to above 82 slowly. If you don't want anymore ich in the future, why not invest in a UV sterilizer?

I've got black khuli loaches, but none of them are infected. The only ones thare are infected are the black skirt tetras. And only 3 of them are showing signs. One of them has it bad, and the others are barely noticable. What's a UV sterilizer?

 

[Crossfire]

I have no idea what I'm doing wrong here. Water is always 0 ammonia 0 nitrite 10-20 nitrate, I do 25% water changes or more if I feel necessary every week, Temperature rests at 77-78 degrees steady. I've switched to stress coat+. Plenty of real decorations, schooling fish are kept in schools.

And this is the third time since I started the hobby to get ich. The outbreaks are never severe. But they're annoying, none the less.

Since now I have loaches and live plants, I'm dying to not use medication or salt. So I'm taking the high water temp and nothing else approach. The ich is very minor, a few spots on a few fish, none on other fish, and just 1 of the black skirt tetras has it pretty bad.

Anyways. What else should I do other than raise the temp in this method of treatment? How often should I change the water? How high should I take it up? (some people vouched 90 which seems a little.. well.. high, I've only taken it up to 84 so far.)

Advice is appreciated. As well as tips on anything else I can do to keep this crud from coming back again.

Do a big water change, gravel vac your sand/gravel to get the cysts out. If you have loaches and invertabrates, use Super Ick Cure by API, the manager of my LFS says he's used it with clown loaches and they were fine, and i've used it with kuhli loaches and shrimp and live plants, works great. Raise temp to above 82 slowly. If you don't want anymore ich in the future, why not invest in a UV sterilizer?

I've got black khuli loaches, but none of them are infected. The only ones thare are infected are the black skirt tetras. And only 3 of them are showing signs. One of them has it bad, and the others are barely noticable. What's a UV sterilizer?

A UV sterilizer can be either in-line or hang-on. Water passes through it, and a UV bulb emits dangerous levels of UV radiation killing all waterborne algae, bacteria, viruses, parasites, and other nasties. Its safe for all aquatic fish/invertbrates/corals and is mostly used for saltwater but also for freshwater. Can be a tad expensive and you'd need to replace the bubls every so often, but its worth it. Sort of insurance, its like a 99.9% you'll never have disease in your tank unless introduced by an already infected fish. I meant that the meds where safe for use in the main tank, and it won't adversly affect your loaches

 

[onidrase]

does the super ick cure stuff kill beneficial bacteria?

 

[Crossfire]

does the super ick cure stuff kill beneficial bacteria?

Sadly, yes. I learned that the hard way, but i have three options for you. Use Cupramine from Seachem, doesn't affect filter but kills invertabrates. Or take some filter media and put it in another tank or bowl and just add ammonia so it doesn't die off, then when medication is done just plop it back in. Or use something like Stability by Seachem or Ammo Lock

 

[onidrase]

does the super ick cure stuff kill beneficial bacteria?

Sadly, yes. I learned that the hard way, but i have three options for you. Use Cupramine from Seachem, doesn't affect filter but kills invertabrates. Or take some filter media and put it in another tank or bowl and just add ammonia so it doesn't die off, then when medication is done just plop it back in. Or use something like Stability by Seachem or Ammo Lock

Can I just throw the filter pads and wheels inside of my tank with my convict, just prop them against the glass or something? They won't fit inside of the filter on that tank, my current tanks filter is a giant, I had to cut the lid of my tank with a saws all just to get it to fit right

 

[Crossfire]

does the super ick cure stuff kill beneficial bacteria?

Sadly, yes. I learned that the hard way, but i have three options for you. Use Cupramine from Seachem, doesn't affect filter but kills invertabrates. Or take some filter media and put it in another tank or bowl and just add ammonia so it doesn't die off, then when medication is done just plop it back in. Or use something like Stability by Seachem or Ammo Lock

Can I just throw the filter pads and wheels inside of my tank with my convict, just prop them against the glass or something? They won't fit inside of the filter on that tank, my current tanks filter is a giant, I had to cut the lid of my tank with a saws all just to get it to fit right

I guess it could work, i'm not sure though. Be sure that when you add the filters back into the tank you've run carbon in your filter to get any med

 

[snazy]

Can I just throw the filter pads and wheels inside of my tank with my convict, just prop them against the glass or something? They won't fit inside of the filter on that tank, my current tanks filter is a giant, I had to cut the lid of my tank with a saws all just to get it to fit right

Water needs to be circulating through the filter media. So maybe you can use some air pump temporary for best results.

So I'm taking the high water temp and nothing else approach.

Why not using the temperature and salt approach? Temperature on it's own will just speed up the cycle of ick, but not get rid of it. Anyhow, it is better than the medication approach, considering you can get in even more trouble if ammonia builds up.

How long did medicate the last couple of times. Maybe it wasnt long enough, or the fish are just weak from the previous diseases.

 

[onidrase]

Can I just throw the filter pads and wheels inside of my tank with my convict, just prop them against the glass or something? They won't fit inside of the filter on that tank, my current tanks filter is a giant, I had to cut the lid of my tank with a saws all just to get it to fit right

Water needs to be circulating through the filter media. So maybe you can use some air pump temporary for best results.

So I'm taking the high water temp and nothing else approach.

Why not using the temperature and salt approach? Temperature on it's own will just speed up the cycle of ick, but not get rid of it. Anyhow, it is better than the medication approach, considering you can get in even more trouble if ammonia builds up.

How long did medicate the last couple of times. Maybe it wasnt long enough, or the fish are just weak from the previous diseases.

I've heard lots of cases where people cure ich purely by keeping the water clean and raising the temp. Temp makes the ich fall off, clean water and frequent changes keeps the fishes immune system strong to keep it from coming back.

I used salt treatments before, but now I've got live plants and scaleless fish, both which will not appreciate salt any more than they'd appreciate medications, which seem to be more effective.

 

[snazy]

I used salt treatments before, but now I've got live plants and scaleless fish, both which will not appreciate salt any more than they'd appreciate medications, which seem to be more effective.

This is debatable, but that's not the point. With scaleless fish the most important about adding salt is to make sure you melt it in dechlorinated water first and maybe don't exceed the 1tsbp per 5 gallon. At least it does not affect the bacteria in the filter. Chemicals are chemicals, no matter the reason you use them with fish.
These days when people see damaged fins, due to cycling problems and ammonia, they start adding meds for fin rot instead.

I am only suggesting. I guess the previous idea for UV sterilizer is good to prevent this in the future. And good luck, hoping you can get rid of this one way or another for good