Ick Treatment

jdroz · Feb 5, 2011

Hey

I have a question. My 35 gallon tank has a albino oscar and a convict cichlid in it. there is also a crayfish and a pleco in it. My albino is 4 inches, convict 2 inches, pleco is 1 inch and the crayfish is 3 inches.

I recently had to move the crayfish into another tank, so i could treat my fish for "ick". after treating the fish as recommended by my pet shop and the directions on the bottle, my Pleco and Cichlid are doing fine, but my oscar is not eating and not active anymore. what do i do to help my oscar get better?

also, how do u treat a crayfish for "ick" - i put the crayfish in my other tank while the other fish were being treated for it. i noticed ick on the goldfish i put in for food for the crayfish, so can crayfish carry the disese "ick" or not?

thanks,
Jeff

anon02 · Feb 5, 2011

I dont think that your cray can carry the infection as such, but any water transferred with it certainly can

jdroz · Feb 5, 2011

I have found some information on the internet about crayfish carrying "ick" but i dont know if its true or not. It doesnt seem like my Cray had any spots or anything, he is without antenneas right now due to the lose of them when he molted last time, which makes him kinda slower...but no other noticeable signs of "ick".

thank you anon02 for the advice

anyone else know if crayfish can carry ick?

Bignose · Feb 5, 2011

Ich is a fish-only parasite. It has to have fish to survive. Despite its name, a crayfish is not actually a fish, it is in the lobster family. So, it cannot get ich. However, it can be a carrier in that water in its body may contain ich free swimmers, or the tomonts may have settled onto parts of a crayfish's body.

If you are worried about the crayfish while treating the tank, remove the crayfish to a tank without fish and leave him in there for at least 14 days. In 14 days at tropical temperatures, all the ich will have died, because they will not have found any fish to parasitize off of.

jdroz · Feb 5, 2011

ok, cool, thanks - but whats the best temperature to keep the tank at to make sure the "ick" is dead?, but still be ok for my Albino Oscar, Convict Cichlid, and crayfish?

Bignose · Feb 5, 2011

The heat method can work, but isn't 100%. There are strains of ich that can survive to temperatures that are really not good for most fish. So, if you try to heat method, please be ready to use medications if the heat isn't working.

Have a read through: http

/www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml by and far the best collection of ich information on the web, full of what treatments work well and why, and addresses many of the myths about ich that are most prevalent.

jdroz · Feb 6, 2011

Whats the best temperature to keep a tank at then that wont kill or make my albino oscar, convict ciclid, or crayfish sick, or die?

Bignose · Feb 6, 2011

there is no "best". If you attempt the heat method, you will have to carefully observe your fish to make sure that they aren't too stressed out, and to make sure that the ich infestation is going down. You may want to ask in the cichlid forums how high a temperature these fish can usually tolerate, because I don't know cichlids very well.

AstonN24vantage · Feb 6, 2011

82ºF means the ich cant reproduce and i think 86ºF means it dies, not sure at what rate though. i would go for 82ºF because it is a safer temp for the fish.

jdroz · Feb 6, 2011

I just bought a heater for the tank, to help kill the ICK that i treated with the medication, and its at 82f...things seem ok at that temperature for the fish....My Convict Cichlid is actually staying right under and near the heater. is that normal for them??

anon02 · Feb 7, 2011

AstonN24vantage said:
82ºF means the ich cant reproduce and i think 86ºF means it dies, not sure at what rate though. i would go for 82ºF because it is a safer temp for the fish.

What is your reference for that statement, I would like to read it

Bignose · Feb 7, 2011

AstonN24vantage said:
82ºF means the ich cant reproduce and i think 86ºF means it dies, not sure at what rate though. i would go for 82ºF because it is a safer temp for the fish.

Mid 80s is often cited as the temperature at which ich dies. But, again, temper this with the fact that the link I provided above cites an article that studied a strain of ich that can survive into the 90s.

So, again, if one only uses the heat method, they need to be ready to use medication if heat alone seems ineffectual.

Also, what is the difference between "can't reproduce" and "dies"? If an ich can't reproduce, it will die since the organism is constantly cycling through its different life stages.

AstonN24vantage · Feb 8, 2011

yes it will eventually die, but it isnt reproducing every solitary millisecond of its life, so it will stay alive at 82ºF, but maybe only briefly.

Bignose · Feb 8, 2011

AstonN24vantage said:
yes it will eventually die, but it isnt reproducing every solitary millisecond of its life, so it will stay alive at 82ºF, but maybe only briefly.

I never said it was reproducing at every millisecond. Only that microbes live their lives far more rapidly than higher order beings like fish or humans. At 82, a nice warm tropical temperature, an ich organism will go through all its life stages in about 3 or 4 days. Including the reproduction stage. If it cannot reproduce, it dies. Ich has never been observed to have a dormant state, so it cannot just pause in any of its life stages. If 82 if not warm enough to kill the free swimmers, then the ich will reproduce.

Unless you can cite some sources for this fact, because it does not jive with everything else I've read about the ich organism.