Oh look, another ich question...Non Emergency

[Aged_Cheddar]

Warning, long(ish) read...

OK, so I've had an aquarium "gifted" to me (whole other thread for those interested)...Anyway, I've developed a Ich problem, it's currently minor, and I'm treating with SeaChem Paraguard, 2 days into treatment.

Now for those who are going to ask:
1. Yes the tank is cycled
2. All the fish have been tankmates for at least 6 months.
3. There have been no FISH additions.

Things that HAVE changed:
I've been slowly changing over to RO water, 5% WC at a time.
I did add 2 bundles of Hornwort and a handful of Salvinia...And I didn't rinse them, fools mistake.
Replaced old LED fixture with a new Fluval AquaSky.
Added air pump, and 1 small decoration to go with it (all new, not from other tanks).

So, I'm going to assume the Ich either came from the plants, or from the stress of changing from pretty hard water over to RO water...Either way I hate treating Ich, it's such a PITA...

Anyway, here we are finally getting to the point...thanks for following along.

Seachem says to take out all carbon filtration while treating, so I took out my charcoal bag & my Biomax bag (AquaClear 70 filter) and sealed them in a ziplock bag...Can Ich survive in that media? Do I need to throw it out now? I've got one other tank running, and I'm not willing to put this media in there for risk of spreading Ich into that tank.

Should I just let the Charcoal & Biomax bags dry out, and just put them back into the filter once the treatment is finished?

Any other options for my removed media?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Rocky998]

So, I'm going to assume the Ich either came from the plants, or from the stress of changing from pretty hard water over to RO water.

It could be a little bit of both... Make sure to SLOWLY turn up the heat 1° a day all the way up to 81...

 

[Rocky998]

? Do I need to throw it out now?

I would just to be cautious

 

[Colin_T]

What is biomax?
if its the ceramic beads then leave them in the tank.

the only thing that needs to be removed is carbon (black granulates substance). that should be thrown out and replaced with a sponge.

-------------
are you sure the fish have white spot and not just excess mucous?

the following link has info on white spot. post `1 and 16 are worth a read.

What is ICH?

This is a common question that is often asked, what is ich and how is it recognisable and what causes it? The real term is ICHTHYOPHTHIRIASIS. OR commonly known as white spot. It is an extremely comon parasite that affects aquarium fish. It is highly infectious and potentially lethal and...

www.fishforums.net

 

[AbbeysDad]

I haven't used Paraguard for ich, but I have used Hikari Ich-X.

A common treatment for ich is to increase the temperature to 86°F for up to two weeks or for at least 1 week after spots are no longer visible. I like to get a heater up to 86°F in a 5g bucket of water, then add to the tank.

Removing carbon is required when using any medications as the carbon will adsorb and remove the meds from the water. I'm not sure why you would remove your biomax as you certainly want your bio-filtration to continue to work.
Good luck and keep posting.

Edit: I forgot to mention that another treatment for ich is to use salt, but salt can be very hard on many plants so salt may be reserved for a quarantine/hospital tank.

 

[Aged_Cheddar]

What is biomax?
if its the ceramic beads then leave them in the tank.

the only thing that needs to be removed is carbon (black granulates substance). that should be thrown out and replaced with a sponge.

-------------
are you sure the fish have white spot and not just excess mucous?

the following link has info on white spot. post `1 and 16 are worth a read.

What is ICH?

This is a common question that is often asked, what is ich and how is it recognisable and what causes it? The real term is ICHTHYOPHTHIRIASIS. OR commonly known as white spot. It is an extremely comon parasite that affects aquarium fish. It is highly infectious and potentially lethal and...

www.fishforums.net

This is Biomax, but yeah it looks like ceramic.

And yep it's Ich, I've had it before (obviously not in this tank), but I'll still go check out that thread. Thanks!

 

[Aged_Cheddar]

I haven't used Paraguard for ich, but I have used Hikari Ich-X.

A common treatment for ich is to increase the temperature to 86°F for up to two weeks or for at least 1 week after spots are no longer visible. I like to get a heater up to 86°F in a 5g bucket of water, then add to the tank.

Removing carbon is required when using any medications as the carbon will adsorb and remove the meds from the water. I'm not sure why you would remove your biomax as you certainly want your bio-filtration to continue to work.
Good luck and keep posting.

Seachem doesn't indicate on the bottle to increase temp, so I haven't yet, but yeah with the other Ich treatments I've used in the past, temp was always increased.

As far as the BioMax....it has since been put back into the filter, I only took it out because I've never used a AquaClear filter before, so I've had no experience with their BioMax stuff.

 

[Essjay]

Heat is used instead of medication. Both reduce the oxygen content of the water so it's usually either/or not both together.

 

[AbbeysDad]

As far as the BioMax....it has since been put back into the filter, I only took it out because I've never used a AquaClear filter before, so I've had no experience with their BioMax stuff.

Biomax is just ceramic "bio-media" serving as a platform for beneficial bacteria.
With the exception of my DIY Bucket Filter for the turtle pond (just because I had a bunch just laying about), I've kindof sworn off commercial bio-medias as sponge material is every bit as good or better...Not to say there's anything wrong with biomax.