Ich Wont Go Away!

[GuppyLove88]

HELP! my guppies have ich and it wont go away! Case: i have a 10 gal tank that has been fully cycled, my nitrates, are minimal if any and i do a weekly 25% water change. i have 3 males (+1 juvenile male) and 2 female guppies. 3 glofish (which i hope to be giving to a friend when this is all over with), 1 zebra snail, and an unknown number of mystery snails (small babies). as well as a bundle or so of separated anachris. story: I had a small bout of ich not too long ago that went away after i removed the carbon filter, did a temp increase to 82 F + an increase of salt and nox-ich. one treatment did the job, then i got 2 more fish and BAM ive got another bout of ich this time a big bout, i just woke up one day and they're covered. but heres the problem, im on my 2nd dose of treatment. it involves 1 drop of nox per gal of tank + daily 25% water change x 3 days. if ich doesnt go away, replace carbon filter wait 24 hours and repeat for 3 days. well im on day 2 of my second treatment cycle and my fish are still covered. its not velvet, there its for sure ich. im keeping my tank temp raised and added salt plus nox...idk what else to do.

 

[Rummynose]

Does it say on the medication info that you are supposed to add salt? It looks as though you are mixing two different treatments, the Heat-Salt-Method and the medication! You shouldn't do that, it is hard on the fish!!!

Have you tested your ammonia lately, especially after adding more fish?

The snails add a lot to the bio load, you may want to look at your stocking or your maintenance regime!

 

[fluttermoth]

No meds can affect the ich parasite while it's in the encysted form on the fish; you have to wait for it to become free swimming (ie, the white spots to disappear) before it can work. The raised temperature should speed that up, but you still have to wait.

 

[CrazyAirborne]

Also follow the directions on the meds perfectly. Doing water changes is just removing the meds...

 

[GuppyLove88]

Does it say on the medication info that you are supposed to add salt? It looks as though you are mixing two different treatments, the Heat-Salt-Method and the medication! You shouldn't do that, it is hard on the fish!!!

Have you tested your ammonia lately, especially after adding more fish?

The snails add a lot to the bio load, you may want to look at your stocking or your maintenance regime!

The snails were not a planned part, i had a snail that had babies, then died. i have babies going to new homes asap, but i have to get rid of this ich. as well as my 3 glofish are going bye bye. i havent checked my ammonia levels, should i have to if my nitrates are 0? did i mention im a beginner? the heat-salt-method i did plus meds got the ich away like instantly last time, and saved one of my fish when he started to get what looked like dropsy. he came out of it, and its been more than a week since i added fish, and if i do a regular water change shouldn't that help with my ammonia anyways?

 

[Rummynose]

Does it say on the medication info that you are supposed to add salt? It looks as though you are mixing two different treatments, the Heat-Salt-Method and the medication! You shouldn't do that, it is hard on the fish!!!

Have you tested your ammonia lately, especially after adding more fish?

The snails add a lot to the bio load, you may want to look at your stocking or your maintenance regime!

The snails were not a planned part, i had a snail that had babies, then died. i have babies going to new homes asap, but i have to get rid of this ich. as well as my 3 glofish are going bye bye. i havent checked my ammonia levels, should i have to if my nitrates are 0? did i mention im a beginner? the heat-salt-method i did plus meds got the ich away like instantly last time, and saved one of my fish when he started to get what looked like dropsy. he came out of it, and its been more than a week since i added fish, and if i do a regular water change shouldn't that help with my ammonia anyways?

Don't give anything from your tank to anybody until your tank has been well for 4 weeks, or tell the people whom you want to give anything to what is going on with your tank and to quarantine.

When you treat for ich do exactly as it states on the meds or follow the heat salt treatment for the full 14 days! The most important part in treating ich is following the regime and doing gravel vacs to get as many cysts that have fallen off the fish as you can. If you stop treatment too soon ich will return to your tank. You can remove your fish from the main tank and place them in a hospital tank where you can treat them better. The snails can be carriers of ich, but ich can't feed off of them. If ich has no food source for 14 days it dies. This way you don't need to treat your snails. They are very sensitive to meds with copper and also to salt!!!

You should check your ammonia if you have no nitrates in your tank. A cycled tank will have nitrates since the bacteria will convert ammonia into nitrIte and then into nitrAte. A cycled tank will have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrIte but some readings of nitrAte. An uncycled tank causes fish to get sick!

If you have an uncycled tank ammonia levels can get very high within hours depending on tank size and bio-load. Regular water changes will help, if they are done according to the level of ammonia in your tank. Even if you change 50% of your water daily, the levels can still be toxic to your fish since an ammonia reading of 1 would only reduce it to .5! You should not let the level of ammonia go higher than .25 and always strive to achieve an ammonia reading as close to 0 as you can.

Here is a little chart about the life cycle of ich: http/www.fishchannel.com/images/article-images/whitespot-600.gif

 

[GuppyLove88]

Does it say on the medication info that you are supposed to add salt? It looks as though you are mixing two different treatments, the Heat-Salt-Method and the medication! You shouldn't do that, it is hard on the fish!!!

Have you tested your ammonia lately, especially after adding more fish?

The snails add a lot to the bio load, you may want to look at your stocking or your maintenance regime!

The snails were not a planned part, i had a snail that had babies, then died. i have babies going to new homes asap, but i have to get rid of this ich. as well as my 3 glofish are going bye bye. i havent checked my ammonia levels, should i have to if my nitrates are 0? did i mention im a beginner? the heat-salt-method i did plus meds got the ich away like instantly last time, and saved one of my fish when he started to get what looked like dropsy. he came out of it, and its been more than a week since i added fish, and if i do a regular water change shouldn't that help with my ammonia anyways?

Don't give anything from your tank to anybody until your tank has been well for 4 weeks, or tell the people whom you want to give anything to what is going on with your tank and to quarantine.

When you treat for ich do exactly as it states on the meds or follow the heat salt treatment for the full 14 days! The most important part in treating ich is following the regime and doing gravel vacs to get as many cysts that have fallen off the fish as you can. If you stop treatment too soon ich will return to your tank. You can remove your fish from the main tank and place them in a hospital tank where you can treat them better. The snails can be carriers of ich, but ich can't feed off of them. If ich has no food source for 14 days it dies. This way you don't need to treat your snails. They are very sensitive to meds with copper and also to salt!!!

You should check your ammonia if you have no nitrates in your tank. A cycled tank will have nitrates since the bacteria will convert ammonia into nitrIte and then into nitrAte. A cycled tank will have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrIte but some readings of nitrAte. An uncycled tank causes fish to get sick!

If you have an uncycled tank ammonia levels can get very high within hours depending on tank size and bio-load. Regular water changes will help, if they are done according to the level of ammonia in your tank. Even if you change 50% of your water daily, the levels can still be toxic to your fish since an ammonia reading of 1 would only reduce it to .5! You should not let the level of ammonia go higher than .25 and always strive to achieve an ammonia reading as close to 0 as you can.

Here is a little chart about the life cycle of ich: http/www.fishchannel.com/images/article-images/whitespot-600.gif

i wasnt going to give away anything until this was cleared up anyway. the problem is i live in a dorm, and im only alowed my 1 ten gal tank. so i dont get to have a hosp. tank. i just went and talked to my local fish specialty store and the owner suggested that i get a new heater (one that adjusts) raise my heat, increase my salt and try this new medicine called "Ich Guard II" its for scaleless fish. its more sensitive so it will work with the salt. I trust this guy bc his tanks are always clean and i have never seen a dead fish in any of them. or a sick one for that matter. and i cant stabilize my ammonia until i get the creatures out of my tank, im in a never ending cycle here. thank you for your advice. ill try to update on how this goes.

 

[AshP1986]

i wasnt going to give away anything until this was cleared up anyway. the problem is i live in a dorm, and im only alowed my 1 ten gal tank. so i dont get to have a hosp. tank. i just went and talked to my local fish specialty store and the owner suggested that i get a new heater (one that adjusts) raise my heat, increase my salt and try this new medicine called "Ich Guard II" its for scaleless fish. its more sensitive so it will work with the salt. I trust this guy bc his tanks are always clean and i have never seen a dead fish in any of them. or a sick one for that matter. and i cant stabilize my ammonia until i get the creatures out of my tank, im in a never ending cycle here. thank you for your advice. ill try to update on how this goes.

1.) Is this where you got the 2 fish that you say re-introduced ich?
2.) Just an fyi guppies that are kept in mixed gender groups need a ratio of at least 3 females to every 1 male.

 

[GuppyLove88]

i wasnt going to give away anything until this was cleared up anyway. the problem is i live in a dorm, and im only alowed my 1 ten gal tank. so i dont get to have a hosp. tank. i just went and talked to my local fish specialty store and the owner suggested that i get a new heater (one that adjusts) raise my heat, increase my salt and try this new medicine called "Ich Guard II" its for scaleless fish. its more sensitive so it will work with the salt. I trust this guy bc his tanks are always clean and i have never seen a dead fish in any of them. or a sick one for that matter. and i cant stabilize my ammonia until i get the creatures out of my tank, im in a never ending cycle here. thank you for your advice. ill try to update on how this goes.

1.) Is this where you got the 2 fish that you say re-introduced ich?
2.) Just an fyi guppies that are kept in mixed gender groups need a ratio of at least 3 females to every 1 male.

no, i got the two fish that re-introduced ich from a different pet store. was supposed to be another fish specialty store, but they mostly had salt water and a few fresh water fish.
i wont be going there again. im new to the area so i didnt know where to go so i went to a few places but have finally found the best one.

i wasnt told about that ratio, i was told somewhere online that 1 female to at least 2 males is fine.

 

[sadguppy]

It is definitely the other way round, two horny fellas will pester her literally to death poor thing!

 

[GuppyLove88]

so its working, ive maintained my temp at about 82-85 F and added more salt plus the meds and the ich is going away! my anachris are looking poorly but at least my fish are looking better! theyre begging for food more too. so they must be feeling better!