Ich Meds And Plants

[leafs]

I'm experiencing a small bout of ich in my tank. It only seems to be noticable on my Rummy nose tetras and not my Angelfish. I was wondering if ich meds such as Quick Cure would be safe to use with plants. I believe it has Malachite Green and Formalin which is pretty strong stuff. I've raised the temp to about 82f to speed up the cycle, but I don't know if it will help. I really don't want to add chemicals, but I might not have a choice. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Themuleous]

Don't generally think they affect plants (but check the packet as well just to make sure) they tend to affect shrimp more, so be sure to get one that's NOT copper based, or any shrimp you have are for it!

Sam

 

[EliteFishy]

Ich meds contain copper which can kill plants and invertebrates. I would suggest you to put the infected fishes in a quarenteen tank and than dose the medication so It wont affect your plants and invertebrates.

 

[Themuleous]

I know a shop that uses a non-copper based med in their shrimp and plant tank, works great and doesn't hurt the shrimp or plants. Unfortunately I cant remember the name, will have a think. Would think dosing the whole tank would get any parasites that are in the water too?

Sam

 

[leafs]

Thanks for the replies. The medication doesn't mention anything about plants. I think I will quarantine them. I don't have any shrimp but I do have loaches and other scaleless fish that might be affected by the medication. I'm wondering why my Angelfish aren't showing any signs of ich. It makes me wonder if it really is ich. I had a case of ich a few years back when I didn't have plants and the medication worked really well.

 

[EliteFishy]

I know a shop that uses a non-copper based med in their shrimp and plant tank, works great and doesn't hurt the shrimp or plants. Unfortunately I cant remember the name, will have a think. Would think dosing the whole tank would get any parasites that are in the water too?

Sam

I think that med will get rid of other parasites. Since ich is a parasite and that med can get rid of ich, it should get rid of other parasites.

 

[lljdma06]

I have just finished a bout of ich in my 20g and I used Kordon's Rid-Ich+ at the recommended dosage. I also performed daily 25% waterchanges while I was treating the tank and I raised the temperature to 82 degress F. You must treat for three days after the spots disappear to make sure you get the buggers during their free-floating stage, when they are most susceptable to medication. The main ingredient in Rid-Ich is Formalin, which I have read was safer for plants than copper-based medications. I have also noticed that formalin is an algaecide as well, for the treatment resulted in the destruction of various types of algae in my tank. The plant growth during treatment has been robust to say the least.

 

[leafs]

As of today, the spots are almost gone. I've raised the temp to 82f. I'm still not sure if I should use the medication. It only seemed to be on my Rummynose Tetras. I'm going to do a good gravel clean tonight and see what happens.

 

[TrueNoob]

I know a shop that uses a non-copper based med in their shrimp and plant tank, works great and doesn't hurt the shrimp or plants. Unfortunately I cant remember the name, will have a think. Would think dosing the whole tank would get any parasites that are in the water too?

Sam

th most harmless stuff to anything but ich is the Jungle Care Ich product, id get that and the Jungle Care Ich Guard II it prevents ich from coming in the tank again, the Ich medication is a fizzly tablet usually works in one dose, its awesome, ive used it, may leave unnnoticiable blue look to the plants for about a minth, but its only noticed if you stare at one spot for a while

also no need to raise the temp(raising the temp can kill the plants and fish if your not careful)

 

[leafs]

Here's an update. All the spots are gone and I did a water change and gravel vac. I'm wondering if this was ich to begin with? I'll have to keep an eye out to see if it comes back.

 

[Themuleous]

Yes keep an eye on it, I had ich and then it seemed to go only to come back with vengeance. I think the white spots (the cysts) had all burst at the same time so it only looked like it had gone, when in fact the water was full of the stuff!

Did you use any medication in the end?

Sam

 

[leafs]

You bring up a good point Sam. Maybe I'm getting a false sense of hope thinking that it's gone. I didn't end up using any meds, just raised the temp. I'll keep a close eye on it.