Ich... Again

[stuuk1]

I have done a search but cant seem to find anything even though I have seen it talked about before. My fish appear to have ich (white, salt like particles on their scales) and im wondering about treatment?

I remember reading that putting the tank temp up to around 30 degrees gradually helps as the ich cannot survive at that temp?

Thanks guys?

 

[CrystalClear16]

You need to medicate the tank - go to your LFS and buy some whitespot treatment. Remove any carbon filters and medicate as per the instructions.

The raising of the temperature doesn't kill the ich - it speeds up the process. The whitespots you see are the adult parasites burrowing into the fish, but they can't reproduce when they are in the fish. Raising the temp speeds up the lifecycle thus killing the parasites more quickly when you treat with meds.

The parasites cannot be killed by the medication when they are in the fish either - this is why it is so important to complete the treatment as per the instructions even if you can't see any more symptoms.

If ich keeps returning it suggests either you are not properly medicating, or you have bad quality (what are your stats?). Ich can also be spread by not quaranting new fish.

Good luck!

 

[drobbyb]

There are various treatments for ich including, my favorite, heat and salt. Ich is not a symptom of bad water quality. You can have perfect water quality and still have an outbreak. Ich is a parasite that gets into your tank from infected fish, and to best be prevented, quarantine ALL new fish for 4 WEEKS. If you can't quarantine for that long, don't bother as it can take some pathogens that long to surface. It is a huge risk to add new fish directly to your tank.

Also, as stated in the post above, treat for the full duration. The parasite goes through a larval stage in which it can't be seen in the tank. Trust me, it's still there. The larva shoot up from the substrate attaching to your fish as they swim by, starting the life-cycle all over again.

 

[stuuk1]

Thanks for you replies. DrobbyB, would you please explain to me the salt and heat treatment? My tank is currently at 28 degrees.

 

[drobbyb]

The theory behind the salt and heat treatment is simple, but there is a lot going on. I think it would be best for me to point you to an article I happened across. It explains the science behind this particular treatment and provides the dosage and temperature information.

The information can be found here.

 

[waterdrop]

Also, I think the good article OM47 points us to is Here

~~waterdrop~~