Ich outbreak, Need some urgent advice

[TomW]

No, do not add anything, the higher temp will not kill your BB (beneficial bacteria).

"Nitrite digester"?

okay cool cool, and yea i didn't know how to word it so thats what I've spat out hahaha

 

[TomW]

 

[Colin_T]

Can you post some pictures of the infected fish so we can confirm white spot?

okay, ive done an initial water change and cleaned the substrate as that was due anyway, Ive filled up with slightly warmer water at 29 degrees c it was originally at 28 because the weather has been ridiculously hot here in the uk. Can you suggest a good heater for me which i can control the temperature of? thank you as well for your reply. And I have a filter and an air stone running so lots of surface agitation.

If your current heater doesn't get the temperature up to 30C, then reduce the temperature until you get the new one. This will slow the parasites growth rate and give you a few more days until the new heater arrives. If the water is at 28-29C, the parasites grow really fast and will spread more quickly. Filter bacteria also grows more quickly at 28-30C.

You should also do a big (80-90%) water change and gravel clean the substrate every day until you get the new heater and can get the water up to 30C. This will remove a lot of the parasites from the tank so there will be fewer to re-infect the fish.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

You might also want to get some polystyrene foam sheets to put on the base, back and sides of the tank to help insulate it and help the heater keep the water warm. Use polystyrene foam that is 1 inch thick and just tape it to the outside of the glass.

A coverglass on top of the tank will also help trap heat and make it easier for the heater to warm the water to 30C.

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However, i phoned my local fish shop and they suggested using ich x which I have obviously come across in my research and I was contemplating using that, do you have any reasons I shouldn't do that?

Ich-X contains Malachite Green (aka Victoria Green), which is a carcinogen (causes cancer). High levels of this stuff also kills scaleless fish (catfish, loaches, eels) and shrimp.

If you want to know more about white spot, check out post #1 and post #16 of the following link.

What is ICH?

This is a common question that is often asked, what is ich and how is it recognisable and what causes it? The real term is ICHTHYOPHTHIRIASIS. OR commonly known as white spot. It is an extremely comon parasite that affects aquarium fish. It is highly infectious and potentially lethal and...

www.fishforums.net

 

[TomW]

Can you post some pictures of the infected fish so we can confirm white spot?


If your current heater doesn't get the temperature up to 30C, then reduce the temperature until you get the new one. This will slow the parasites growth rate and give you a few more days until the new heater arrives. If the water is at 28-29C, the parasites grow really fast and will spread more quickly. Filter bacteria also grows more quickly at 28-30C.

You should also do a big (80-90%) water change and gravel clean the substrate every day until you get the new heater and can get the water up to 30C. This will remove a lot of the parasites from the tank so there will be fewer to re-infect the fish.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

You might also want to get some polystyrene foam sheets to put on the base, back and sides of the tank to help insulate it and help the heater keep the water warm. Use polystyrene foam that is 1 inch thick and just tape it to the outside of the glass.

A coverglass on top of the tank will also help trap heat and make it easier for the heater to warm the water to 30C.

----------------------

Ich-X contains Malachite Green (aka Victoria Green), which is a carcinogen (causes cancer). High levels of this stuff also kills scaleless fish (catfish, loaches, eels) and shrimp.

If you want to know more about white spot, check out post #1 and post #16 of the following link.

What is ICH?

This is a common question that is often asked, what is ich and how is it recognisable and what causes it? The real term is ICHTHYOPHTHIRIASIS. OR commonly known as white spot. It is an extremely comon parasite that affects aquarium fish. It is highly infectious and potentially lethal and...

www.fishforums.net

Thanks for all the info i will give that article a read! I realised after i did my initial change (80%) after today that would be the case but fortunately my heater is coming tomorrow which is good.

But ill do another 80% change tomorrow morning before i add the heater. This is my first time dealing with this and hopefully the last and will start quarantining any new fish from now on, not wanting to deal with this again. I assumed it would be okay as the new fish was from an award-winning store but I guess it can occur in any tank really.

 

[Colin_T]

Even the best shops get sick fish sent to them from their suppliers. The good shops identify the problems early and usually manage to stop sick fish being sold. You just got unlucky, and it happens to all of us at one time or another.

 

[sgropp311]

I woke up this morning to find ich looking white spots on my pahntom tetras, i assume this outbreak occurred from a pleco i recently purchased that passed within 6 hours of being in my tank for no apparent reason as they have been fine for a month with no additions to the tank.

I have purchased some ich treatment on amazon so awaiting that now, but I read you can help combat ich by raising the temperature to 30 degrees Celcius, but I need to know if it's safe to do so with my fish inside the tank. I also have 2 Amano shrimp which I saw can be adversely affected by ich treatment and I have another tank which is small but only one filter and an air pump, will they suffice if I quarantine them with just an air pump and a couple plants if I take them out the tank?

Also just to double-check, I am going to proceed with the treatment for 2 weeks as suggested by the packaging and continue the 50% water change weekly, so how long should I keep the tank at 30 degrees? I don't want to cause any more harm to the fish.

I know im a bit late, but Herbtana Microbe Lift for parasites works amazing for me. Doesn't disrupt the bacteria in the tank, snails, shrimp or plants. I've had great success with it, and it smells great too. Its something I swear by and since its all natural I don't feel bad about dosing when I think something might be wrong but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[Essjay]

Everything we add to a tank ends up inside the fish, so the fewer things we add to a tank the better. If a disease that can be treated without adding anything that should be tried first.

The beneficial bacteria will be fine. During fishless cycling, it is recommended to have the temp at around 30 deg C to get them to multiply faster.

 

[TomW]

Ok so to finalise and reiterate.

Heater comes tomorrow

• I install the Heater
• I set the temperature to bring the tank to 30 degrees Celcius
• Ich starts to multiply fast and then DIES because of the heat, they shall not pass!
• This all occurs over the next week and I should start seeing a diminish of the white spots
• (Maintain Regular water changes to clear dead parasites from gravel)
• After the last one disappears I double-check there are no more but leave the heat running at 30 Degrees Celcius for one more week to be sure
• 1 Week later I adjust the tank by no more than 1 degree per hour to its normal temperature
• Jobs a gooden
• Lord of the rings can be filtered into any and every situation
• Fish and I go back to enjoying the less stressful life without ich

Sound good?

 

[Essjay]

Yes. Make sure that the temp doesn't drop below 30 deg C during treatment.

Just in case you don't already know, the ich parasite has 3 stages.
#1 is on the fish where we see it as a while spot. It cannot be killed in this stage, either by heat or medication, as the coating protects it. When it has eaten enough of the fish, it falls off and the spot vanishes.
#2 is where the parasite is inside a cyst on the bottom of the tank, multiplying. Again the coating protects it so it can't be killed by heat or medication.
#3 is where the cyst opens and hundreds of free swimming parasites go looking for a fish to infect. Both heat and medication can kill this free swimming stage.

The warmer the water, the faster the parasite goes through these three stages. And the reason for leaving the temperature raised for 2 weeks (or 1 week after the last spot disappears if this is longer than 2 weeks) is so that every last cyst has opened and the contents died before letting the heat drop.

 

[TomW]

Regular maintenance water chnages and filter cleans will get rid of the dead parasites.

Sorry Essjay to bother you again today, by regular are we talking every day every other day or something like two times a week? Thank you

 

[Essjay]

Extra water changes during an ich outbreak are useful as they remove some of the stage #2 parasite (the cysts inside which they multiply). Once treatment has finished, weekly maintenance water changes will remove the dead parasites. Assuming the filter has been running more than 6 weeks, that can be cleaned in old tank water every couple of weeks during a water change.

 

[TomW]

Extra water changes during an ich outbreak are useful as they remove some of the stage #2 parasite (the cysts inside which they multiply). Once treatment has finished, weekly maintenance water changes will remove the dead parasites. Assuming the filter has been running more than 6 weeks, that can be cleaned in old tank water every couple of weeks during a water change.

Yea, I do it every week when normal but how often should I do it during this heat treatment to get rid of these stage #2

 

[Essjay]

I know Colin_T advises every day until the temp is at 30 deg, but once it gets to that temp maybe twice a week (unless Colin says different)

 

[TomW]

Okay So ive raised the temp up from 28 to 30 degrees C over the course of the day. My fish don't seem to happy about it though, I have a filter and an airstone going at full blast so there should be enough oxygen filtered into the water. One of my corys has got a swollen bit on its stomach and I cant work out if its bloated or carrying eggs so ive fed the fish some mushy peas. My guppies are slower than normal and resting near the top of the tank (This might well be because theyre showing symptoms of ich though). Any advice?

Would it be wise to take the plants out and use some salt to help kill the ich

 

[TomW]

Can you post some pictures of the infected fish so we can confirm white spot?

Here you go please could you affirm Thanks for your help too, everyone for that matter