My Fish Have Ick Please Help White Spot

[times9]

Hi
i have a 95 gallon aquarium. i have had ick for the last 7 days. i have raised the temperature to 82f, did a 25 percent water change. have been using a liquid medeication from api aquarium pharmaceuticals to treat ich. i have been using the recommended dosage for the past 6 days with no sucess. it turns the water blue for a few hours and then the water clears up. the ich has not gone away and it looks to be getting worse with more fish getting the ich and every morning i wake up and i have a dead fish someone please help ad suggestions.

thanks

 

[times9]

Hi
i have a 95 gallon aquarium. i have had ick for the last 7 days. i have raised the temperature to 82f, did a 25 percent water change. have been using a liquid medeication from api aquarium pharmaceuticals to treat ich. i have been using the recommended dosage for the past 6 days with no sucess. it turns the water blue for a few hours and then the water clears up. the ich has not gone away and it looks to be getting worse with more fish getting the ich and every morning i wake up and i have a dead fish someone please help ad suggestions. also the carbon was removed from the filter before i started the treatment

thanks

 

[loraxchick]

did you take the carbon out of your filter...maybe a silly question but possibly you overlooked it?

 

[Bignose]

1) While the forum is busy, you gotta give people more than merely 12 mins to reply. There is no way your post had slipped more than 1 or 2 lines down the page in 12 mins. You have to remember that the forum is 100% volunteers and people will be around to answer you soon enough.

2) I'd suggest you read through http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml It is by far the best collection of accurate ich info on the web. It tells you about the life cycle of ich, the proper treatments, and even analyzes some of the more common myths about ich.

For example, you probably want to do a good water change before each medicine dosing. The reason is that most medicines work by oxidizing organic material, and by doing water changes you will take out much of that organic material that the medicine oxidizes indiscriminately and is therefore wasted because it wasn't oxidizing the ich.

Another thing is that there are different strains out there -- maybe you have one that is more resistant to the API medicine. I'd try a different one. Make sure it is one that has different ingredients in it.

 

[times9]

hi thanks for the info , i was not trying to bump my question in anyway i simply added a line to it . as i state at the bottom that i removed the carbon from my filter which i forgot to include in the previous post thanks for the info. any one have any ideas on a different medication i should try thanks

 

[Schmill]

I'm currently treating my tank for Ich as well. I'm using the eSHa range of medications for this as they were recommended to me. eSHa Exit for the whitespot, and eSHa 2000 to prevent any secondary infections. They can be used together.
Can't personally recommend them at the moment, or say how good / bad they are as I'm only on day 2 of treatment

 

[saz326]

While you are doing the water changes - be sure to do a gravel vacuum.

Ick bugs have a lifecycle that involves the bug dropping off the fish to reproduce. The new young Ich are the ones that then attach to more fish and thus the bug spreads.

If you do a gravel vac (with a very fine vacuum bag i.e. stocking material) or do a water change using a gravel cleaner then you can help remove the "dropped" off bugs.

Good luck.

 

[Athena]

I've always used PROTOZIN to treat ich, with great success so have only ever used that particular brand.

Whatever treatment you use, you must see the course through to the end (often results are seen right at the end of that treatment time) - sometimes if it's really bad you might need to do a 2nd treatment. Also, make sure you are using the correct dose, don't be tempted to add extra - and bear in mind when working out your tank water volume that if you have lots of rocks/ornaments in there, your actual water volume will be less than the amount the tank actually holds.

Athena

 

[Inchworm]

Hi times9

It would be helpful if you give the members some more information about your fish and tank. That way they'll know if your fish can take additional heat and/or salt, since these are often effectively used in the treatment.

I'll be moving your thread over to the Emergencies section. I hope your fish recover soon.

 

[Bignose]

If you do a gravel vac (with a very fine vacuum bag i.e. stocking material) or do a water change using a gravel cleaner then you can help remove the "dropped" off bugs.

This is actually one of those "myths" that is mentioned in the Skeptical Aquarist's page. While a water change will no doubt suck up some of the ich organisms, it isn't going to be as many as you think. What the water change, and a good gravel/sand cleaning does is remove excess organic material from the tank -- things like dead plants material, poo, uneaten fish food, etc.. This is good because as I wrote above, most ich medications work because they oxidize organic material. And, by removing as much organic material as possible, some of the medication isn't used to oxidize things that won't help clear the tank of ich. More medication left to oxidize and kill the ich organisms means that you probably can clear the infection faster.