Ich!

[TrainRek77]

Ph 6.8 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 20.
I bought a new fish for my tank. A rubber lipped pleco. I have 4 angelicus loach 4 otos and one golden gourami in a 29 gallon tank. Instead of quarentining my new fish I got lazy and dropped him right in. Now I have ich... boo me, I know. I have raised my temp to abouy 87 degrees and added salt. 4 teaspoons. Its been 2 days of the high temps and th3 ich doesnt seem to be getting much worse but it doesnt seem to be getting much better either. Any advice wilp be much appreciated. Most of the fish in the tank I have had for almost 3 years.

 

[Ryan10]

It will take close to a week to stop.  Just hang in there. 

 

[AshleyNZ]

I use Wunder Tonic Ich treatment, when I noticed my Neon Tetra showing the signs, I quickly added the dose (be careful as it turns everything blue) But within a week, all my fish were healthy and Ich free

 

[the_lock_man]

The parasites (they are a protozoa) are not susceptible to the treatment all the while they are in the cyst on the fish. Once they have done that, they fall off the fish and into the substrate, and they are still unsusceptible.  Only once they have released the next generation, into the free swimming stage, will they be killed.
 
Increasing the temperature speeds up the life cycle, making them reach the free-swimming stage quicker.
 
Keep the treatment up, and remember that if you do a water change during the next week, you will have to replace the removed salt.

 

[stanleo]

Also a high protein diet helps their immune system fight off infection. Give live foods as often as you can until you don't notice the ich. That worked for me, along with raising the temp. After a month I didn't see any ich and I didn't loose any fish. I never added salt because of my corys and I couldn't do the meds because of the shrimps. Good luck.

 

[TrainRek77]

Thanks for the advice. It's not looking good. The temp stayed up until we got a nasty cold snap and the tank got down to 79. I added a second heater and its back up to 85. The gourami is looking much better but my loach are looking worse. One has really badly swollen gills and isn't moving a lot. I was feeding white worms and brine shrimp but their appetite has begun to diminish. Another water change tomorrow and a good gravel vac is on the agenda.

 

[star4]

There is only one medication I know of (and I have tried a few) that will kill the parasite in cyst for and that is Esha Exit, it is also safe to use for delicate fish such as loaches etc, and is safe to use with shrimp and it is really fast acting 3-4 days and the tank was clear.

 

[TrainRek77]

Well three loach are dead now. The gourami is doing much better and the oto's dont's seem to really be touched. Maybe because they're scales are so thick. It's supposed to be warm the next couple of days so the temp should stay up. If the other loach goes I guess I'll just buy some med's and try to knock this ich out.

 

[DoubleDutch]

Think you might have killed the scaleless fish by adding salt !!!
Read the post of Star4 again. Totally agree !! There are plenty of good anti Ich-meds and Esha Exit is one of them.
Ich is really one of the easiest diseases to cure, but act the right way and have a search for the cause !!!