Ick will NOT go away

[poindexter]

ONE and only one of my fish has ick and has had it for a few weeks ...... it has been suggested that i should euthanize this fish. it is miserable and i just dont know what to do. aider moi. ~dEx

 

[smb]

Well first of all, no, you don't euthanize a fish with ich. It' the easiest disease to get rid of.

What we need to know are all the occupants in your tank, what you have tried so far, do you use carbon and if so did you take it out during the med process?

 

[lizard]

Well first of all, no, you don't euthanize a fish with ich. It' the easiest disease to get rid of.

I had one fish in my tank that would not recover from ich. Instead of getting better, he got worse and worse. All other infected fish in the tank got better. The temperature in the aquarium was increased, carbon was removed from the filter, and regular water changes were done. The one fish still would not get better - perhaps he had some sort of immune system troubles. I talked to my vet (who has had fish for many years) about it and he suggested euthanizing the fish, since it was not getting better and was probably miserable. The fish died before I got to euthanizing it.

Didn't mean to make ich sound like a hopeless, uncurable disease, because it's not. However, I think it affects a few fish quite negatively and they just can't recover from it.

On a happier note, I've had a number of fish recover successfully from bouts with ich!

Good luck!

Pamela
aka Lizard

 

[OscarCichlid]

for ich the best treatment is to raise the temp, remove the carbon and use This. Cupramine is the best ich treatment that you could buy. I have used it in tanks from 10 to 55 gallons, fresh and Salt water. I guarantee that if you get it while the fish is still able to swim and he is eating that the fish will live. If the fish has stopped eating then it MAY be hopeless. Add aquarium salt to the tank if there are no Pl*cos or Corys in the tank. The best thing about this is that it has no harmful side effects to the bacteria in your tank. You dont even HAVE to remove the carbon but it is recomended because Carbon doesnt allow the medicine to work the way it was designed to. Good Luck!

 

[poindexter]

thank you everyone! this all helps so much, i have tried ick clear tablets and aquarisol. i took the carbon out when i used the ick clear tablets (two days in a row), but i am pretty sure i forgot to take it out when i added the aquarisol a few days later when i did a water change. I have a small 5 gal with a heater but no filter, it has no gravel or anything (right now just a betta living in it), should i maybe put ickyfish into there with the meds and turn up the heat? would it be ok without a filter? and how long would it take for meds to work?