Ick Again....

[fishychick77]

i have a 10gal tank my two yoyo loachs and my clown pleco are covered in ich my other fish besides one tetra is okay i use the rid ich and it usually works good but im scared to use it this time because of the loaches being scaleless

i dont have a tank to move them into to treat them either. curently the water is at 80 degrees f ( i turned it up for the ick) i vacuumed the gravel added aquarium salt in a covered but with holes cup and put the carbon back in my filter hoping it would be okay but now its worse . i dont want to lose my hunnys D: if anyone knos anything else that would help pleaseee

 

[Ryan10]

Bring that tank temp up to about 86.  

 

[the_lock_man]

The scaleless thing also applies to the plec. Does Rid-Ich not give you instructions for use with scaleless fish?
 
With ich (aka whitespot), you need to treat the whole tank, not just affected fish anyway, so no matter that you don't have a quarantine tank! It is a parasitic infection that is only susceptible to medication when it is free-swimming, not when attached to the host (ie the fish).

 

[Meeresstille]

I would try the heat salt method, and go with only half the salt treatment because of the pleco and the loaches. Daily gravel vacs to reduce the chance of re-infection. Have a look at the life cycle of the ich parasite so you understand why you need to increase the heat and the daily gravel vacs.
 
I've had to treat for ich twice, once I used the full strength salt, and once the half strength, both have worked fine! Just keep an eye out for any distress so you can lower the dose if needed, and remember that warmer water holds less oxygen, so you need to increase aeration in the tank.

 

[fishychick77]

my pleco has been right by the heater for 2 days now and my loaches hiding so they are getting worse. is 86 too high...? i dont think so about the instructions but ill look

 

[Meeresstille]

When you increase the temperature you need to do it slowly. I believe 1 or 2 degrees every day or maybe every 12 hours. You could lower the temperature some again and see if it makes a difference in your fish.