Oh Man

[karneval]

My betta, who is in a 14 gallon tank with a bulldog pleco and 3 Otos, has developed Ich. I think. Okay, I'm pretty sure. He didn't have any white spots yesterday. That's when I added the Otos (who were also clean). The tank is cycled, with carbon in the filter, so I have a few questions.

1. The only other tank I have is 1 gallon. Can I put the betta in this while I treat, or will the small amount of water be hard to work with?

2. If the betta can go into the one gallon, can I strip down the 14 gallon completely, replace gravel, bleach the tank itself, etc, and put the Otos back in, or do you think they pretty much already have Ich? Since it's not freeswimming yet, does that mean the other fish can't get it? I am so confused.

3. I don't know if my Bulldog Pleco has the Ich. She's really shy and doesn't come out of her cave much. How can I check without stressing her, and if she does have it, how am I supposed to treat her?

4. Is there any way to do all this without killing my cycle?

Sorry for all the questions. I read the stickies, but these are sort of .. 'case related'. Uhm. Thanks.

 

[rabbut]

Ich is contagious, so the whole tank will need treating. If one fish has it, chances are they all do I'd use Interpet number 6, anti white spot plus It worked for me, with all spots gone from a heavy infection before the second dose was added. Remember to treat for atleast 2 weeks with meds, as this is the length of the ICH life cycle. Increase airation, as any ICH med will remove oxygen from the water.
Just realised you are in the US. Is Waterlife Protozin available ovver there? I'm fairly shure Interpets stuff isn't. Protozin is what my place of work use for whitespot, and is also a good med

HTH
Rabbut

 

[lynnathon]

We had Ich, we used the temp up to 30 degrees C and salt in the water - kept it like that for 4 days after the last visible spot (1 week altogether) and then lowered the temp to normal and did a 30% water change daily for 4 days.

Woot no more Ich. The tetra didn't like it much but with shrimp going in the tank we didn't want to use medication. They are all fine now.

Check if your fish will tolerate the temp and salt.

Good luck

 

[snoopyfrench87]

an increase in temp will speed up the life cycle of the ich making treatment faster, good luck ich is horrible!

 

[pixelpefekt]

We had Ich, we used the temp up to 30 degrees C and salt in the water - kept it like that for 4 days after the last visible spot (1 week altogether) and then lowered the temp to normal and did a 30% water change daily for 4 days.

Woot no more Ich. The tetra didn't like it much but with shrimp going in the tank we didn't want to use medication. They are all fine now.

Check if your fish will tolerate the temp and salt.

Good luck

What fish did you have in your tank when you raised the temp? And what type of shrimp?