Ich Treatment

[Benauld]

I started medicating my tank for Ich on Sunday with Waterlife Protozin, after seeing two white spots on my Blue Rams, and seeing some flashing. I have followed the instructions to the letter so far.

I don't know whether this is normal, and this is where any experience would be invaluable, but I've actually seen an increase in the number of spots. Does this usually happen? Are the spots coming out from organisms which were previously invisible on the skin, or is the medication not killing off the free swimming stage?

A few of my Cardinals have started to show symptoms too. In fact, the only fish not yet showing any symptoms are my wild caught Gold Tetra.

I'm also confused by the two "rest days" in the instructions for Protozin (i.e. Medicate days 1,2,3, and 6). What is the reason behind this: I mean is it something to do with the lifecycle of Ich, or to prevent toxicity to the fish?

I'm currently running @ 80[sup]o[/sup]F, but from reading around am going to slowly start building the temp to around 86[sup]o[/sup]F.

Once I have finished this round of treatment, if there are still symptoms I plan on doing a large (50%) water change, giving the tank a thorough clean, and will then begin another round of treatment on the equivalent of day 8.

Any Help/Advice/Criticism(Kind I Hope)/Thoughts are really appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[WILDER]

Yes whitespot can take two rounds of med.
Get temp up, and increase aeration as the high temp and med reduce 02 in the water.
After the first course of meds is up yes do a gravel vac and water change.
Good luck.

 

[Benauld]

EDIT= Never mind I was Ranting for no good reason. (It's been a long day & I'm a little frustrated at the moment.)

Thanks for the advice Wilder... much appreciated!

 

[WILDER]

Haven't been on long and its busy.
Only had whitespot once and it took me two rounds to get rid of the awful parasite.

 

[SouthernCross]

Yep, I have had it only once too - I used Protozin, it worked great, but I agree, do two whole rounds (I.e. repeat days 1-6 twice over) to make sure you get it all. With mine, all the spots disappeared within the first 2-3 days.

Lots of large water changes help get rid of the free floating organisms. When I did this I always made sure I did it right before the tank was due for another dose (so the tank wasn't left with reduced meds) if that makes sense.

 

[Spooky76]

Maybe you will have more luck than I did, but I found the waterlife product to be useless. I had the same thing and after day 3 it was worse than ever, so ended up using KingBritish Ws3 formula which worked.

Hope you get rid of them

 

[-germ-]

Waterlife worked fine from me.

 

[vinylman]

I'd never be without Protozin, worth its weight in gold.

 

[Benauld]

I'm struggling to see it make a difference.

Today is the first of the two "Rest Days" in the instructions, and some of the fish are still developing new white spots. One thing that did occur to me, is that, as per the instructions I have used half the dosage shown because I do not have Under Gravel Filtration. Does anybody know why you have to use a higher dose with UGF, and whether it would be worth giving the full dose during the next round of treatment?

Either way I'm going to give the tank & substrate a blitz this Saturday & do a large water change. ( I was reading in a link to the Skeptical Aquarist, that high organic carbon may hinder the effectiveness of many Ich treatments - so everything except for the filter will be cleaned to within an inch of its life!) Then, I'll begin another round of Protozin on Sunday. I'm slowly working the temperature up at the moment so by then i'm hoping it will be 30[sup]o[/sup]C.

Thanks for all the comments so far...

I'm trying to keep my chin up.


**********EDIT**********

Just picking up on something ArauraDiscus said in another thread about meds possibly being absorbed by media other than activated carbon, the lignin in my bogwood wouldn't be absorbing the Protozin would it? It is quite a large piece of wood.

**********EDIT**********

 

[WILDER]

I would add the full dose as whitespot a killer.

 

[lionchaser]

Hi - I'm not a hugely experienced fish keeper so please don't take my word as law, but I have had good success with protozin for whitespot. A guy at my local shop told me that you can continue to use it rather than having two rest days if you do a 25% water change between ie. days 1, 2, 3 dose, day 4 25% water change then dose, days 5, 6 dose, day 7 25% water change then dose, days 8, 9 dose etc. You need to keep this up until 3 or 4 days after you see the last spot disappear to be sure all free swimmers are gone. I have treated this way several times now and it doesn't seem to have done any harm to any of my fish and has cleared them up really well. Good luck!

 

[Benauld]

This is SO frustrating. I did a complete tank teardown on Sunday (except for filter), did a really good gravel vac, and began my second course of treatment using Protozin. Now on day three, and my cardinals are still developing new whitespots! What am I doing wrong?

I have e-mailed Waterlife to see whether they know of any possible faulty batches of Protozin on the market/ask them what might be happening. The best before date is 09/07. If I don't receive a satisfactory answer, I'm switching brands...

P.S. I'm definately not running carbon in my filter, but the blue colour only lasts for about an hour at a time, is it true that the dye colouring shows that the drug is still actively working?

HELP!

 

[WILDER]

Sorry for your problems.
Contact the wolf he works in an lfs and knows better meds for whitespot.

 

[Don Trinko]

I use malachite green but I treet for more days than they say to, up to 9 days. So far it has always worked. With malachite green you have to remove carbon from your filter. Many other meds require this. If you didn't remove the carbon that will weaken the effect of some meds. Don T.

 

[Benauld]

Just an update, lost 6 out of 7 Cardinals last night and the seventh looks a bit iffy. Still covered in whitespot.

On the positive side, I've spoken to The-Wolf and will be trying a different medication...