Ok, Ick Has Come Back

[Mayu]

I was wondering what was safe to use for Ick? In my aquarium I have two mollies, 6 x-ray bellies, 3 black neon tetras and 2 longnose whiptails.

currently, my male molly has a number of ick spots on his tailfin, and two of my black neon tetras with one or two spots of ick on their fins.

last week I had an ick issue (but it was my other molly and on some of my X-rays). I used salt/heat therapy where I did 1 tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons of water... (I did a water change while the salt was diluting in the replacement water, so I didn't add the salt directly to the tank. I thought it would be less stressful for them.)

that, combined with turning the heat up from 75 to 78.2, took care of the ick litterally overnight. I woke up the next morning and it was all good.

so I figured I'd leave it in a bit longer to make sure it killed the organizms as well before doing a water change to remove the salt since the ick technically isn't dead when the spots disappear.

I never got that far. Yesterday I noticed the spots on the fish I just mentioned. So I did a 5 gallon water removal, added 1 tbsp of salt (since it's 1 tbsp per every 5 gallons, and I removed 5 gallons) and this time I added a VERY low dose of Mardel coppersafe... (like a teaspoon and a half). I didn't want to do that cause I heard bad things about coppersafe, but I didn't have anything else at my disposal.

This morning my fish looked healthy, weren't stressed and were still swimming normally, but the ones I mentioned that had ick, still had ick. It isn't spreading to the fish I didn't see having ick, and it's not getting worse on the ones that do have it... but it's still there.

is there something else I can do if the salt is no longer working to treat it? Is there a medication for ick that's safer than Mardel coppersafe?

do I need to do another waterchange before adding it? or do I remove one gallon and add the proper dosage to the replacement water before putting it in?

 

[Mayu]

ok, quick update.

I talked to an aquatics expert... and they said, the salt will help, but the temperature was not high enough, that it should be as close to 85 as I can get it. I had the water at 75 and upped it to 78.2 which is as high as my other thermo went. So I bought a new one.

Since salt doesn't dissapate out of the water... I didn't need to add anymore salt... I upped the temp on the new thermo to about 80... once it's at 80 for a while and the fish get use to it, I'll up it to about 83.

I don't have any extra aeration as is advisable for when you up the temp, so instead I removed some of the water.

I don't know if I removed enough... I usually have it level with the tank top so you can't see the water line... so as you can see I emptied quite a bit, at least 3.5, 4 gallons worth.

Once I get as close to 85 as my fish are comfortable with... the expert told me to leave it there for 10 days, even if there is no outward sign of ick, because once the ick falls off the fish, that doesn't mean it's dead.

the heat will speed up the process, then kill the ick. He also told me not to use any more ick meds unless this doesn't work and it gets to a last resort type deal.

lets hope it doesn't get there. Keep your fingies crossed for me!

 

[OldMan47]

To treat ich, you need to keep treating until well after the spots are gone from the fish. Ich is a parasite that has a part of its life cycle away from the fish. That is the only time that any treatment can kill the parasite. It is the reason that the full treatment must be continued for several days after the last spot is gone. There is a link in my signature area, called Ich Info, to a place that describes the life cycle in detail along with the treatment methods that have worked for me. If you have your tank parameters back to normal in a week, you did not treat long enough to be effective.