# The dreaded Ick.



## Rohkey (Apr 25, 2011)

Well today I was feeding my fish and noticed quite a few small white dots on the fins and body of one of my Cardinal Tetras, and a couple more on another. It looks to be pretty consistent with Ick. None of my other fish show signs of it.

What should I do? I've read jacking the temp to 86 degrees Fahrenheit along with salt can be successful, but also know there are Ick medicines out there. I am also aware that I will have to treat for 10-14 days and that Ick is only susceptible to eradication when in free-swimming form seeking a host. My sig has the list of fish I have in my tank and I have a 10G available for quarantine if necessary (it has some pregnant Ghost Shrimp in it, but I can abort attempting to raise the fry if needed as saving my fish takes priority). Any/all advice is greatly appreciated - my temp is currently at 82 and I have added 2 tablespoons of salt while awaiting to decide what more I have to do.

Edit: Notice one of the Barbs flailing himself at one of the plants, as if trying to scrape something off him. The fish all have a voracious appetite and are schooling together, even the infected ones, so it can't be too bad yet right?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I've only been using quick cure. It works much better than any other technique I've used. Will require half dose with Cardinals.


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## Rohkey (Apr 25, 2011)

I just did a quick Google search of it and it says it is Malachite Green based and will kill invertebrates, some of the bacteria in my tank, and may stain ornaments.

Is this true, and will it kill my plants? Should I move all my plants/shrimp to the quarantine before dosing, or would the plants retain the Ich protozoans and cause another outbreak if transferred back into the main tank?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Wont kill plants. Sorry, I didn't have inverts in the tanks I treated.


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## Rohkey (Apr 25, 2011)

I moved all my shrimp to the quarantine last night, guess if the pregnant ones have their babies they're out of luck. Anyways the temp is set to 86 and I put in another airstone as well as lowering the level of the water so the filter causes more surface agitation to oxygenate the water. Put 3 tablespoons of salt in...not sure what the salinity of the tank is but I suppose it can't hurt. Going to go out in a bit to see if I can find the medicine then will start doing the half dosing.

For having Ich the fish look pretty well. They had their appetites last night and now they are all swimming around and schooling properly..unless the increase in temp is just causing them to go bonkers.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Quick cure can be found at Walmart.Its in a little vial and costs a few bucks.The temp increase will help.What type of salt did you use?you should get freshwater aquarium salt and add a medicinal dose of that.I think(but can be wrong)the dose is a rounded tablespoon per five gallons.This is aquarium salt though.Sea salt is what I use and i add a palm full(thats about a tablespoon)to my 29.This is just whenever everyone seems moody or i see anything looking remotly like spots.

Many fish will eat with ich,the issue is when they get completly covered,the parasites are taking too much out of the fish.Like a dog with a flea or two,you know its bad but the dog seems ok,minus an itch or so,but you take the same dog and cover him in them and the dog will die soon after,as the fleas are eating the dog.


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## Rohkey (Apr 25, 2011)

majerah1 said:


> Quick cure can be found at Walmart.Its in a little vial and costs a few bucks.The temp increase will help.What type of salt did you use?you should get freshwater aquarium salt and add a medicinal dose of that.I think(but can be wrong)the dose is a rounded tablespoon per five gallons.This is aquarium salt though.Sea salt is what I use and i add a palm full(thats about a tablespoon)to my 29.This is just whenever everyone seems moody or i see anything looking remotly like spots.
> 
> Many fish will eat with ich,the issue is when they get completly covered,the parasites are taking too much out of the fish.Like a dog with a flea or two,you know its bad but the dog seems ok,minus an itch or so,but you take the same dog and cover him in them and the dog will die soon after,as the fleas are eating the dog.


Ah I didn't see this post in time. Anyways I used Jungle Aquarium Salt I added 2 tablespoons as the tank already had some salt in it, but not sure how much (I haven't been keeping track unfortunately - it probably was no more than what I added). The temp is stable at 86 and I called up the LFS I got the Cardinals from and the owner suggested I used Mardel Coppersafe. It only needs to be dosed once (lasts a month) and from what I have read the Cardinals will tolerate it a lot better than Malachite Green based medications. Also Anubias are apparently relatively unharmed by it as well. I followed the instructions and trusted what Mardel said. I didn't remove the carbon in my filter as it said if the carbon was past a week old I could keep it.

Edit: Just decided to remove the carbon. It was old anyways and needed to be replaced (I was waiting for the tank to stabilize before removing it). Added a 2nd sponge into the filter. I'll keep an eye on ammonia levels and if I notice a problem (i.e. if I just caused more than a mini-cycle), I'll consider replacing the sponge with an ammonia-removing media.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Sounds good.Coppersafe is supposed to be a great medication.I know someone who uses it as a preventative more than just a med.

I dont use carbon in any of my tanks,I just dont need it.


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## Rohkey (Apr 25, 2011)

I'm thinking I'll stop using carbon after this and might try the ammonia removing medium instead as my ammonia is perpetually at around .25 ppm and never 0, unlike my nitrites which are always 0.


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## BBradbury (Apr 22, 2011)

Rohkey...

Saw your post and you have several replys about treating "Ich", but you need to turn the light off in your tank in addition to whatever else you're doing. The "Ich" parasite attaches to fish by seeing it. If you darken the tank, your fish will settle down and believe it or not, the parasites will have trouble locating a fish host. I've read that some people put a blanket over the tank for a couple of days to keep the tank dark during the treatment process. 

I use a little standard aquarium salt in my tank every few months to control disease causing bacteria, so have never had a disease in my tanks.

One other bit of information, sick fish will stop eating, so stop feeding them for a couple of days. You don't want uneaten food making water conditions worse. Poor water conditions is an open door for disease.

B


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Sounds like you're off to a good start in curing the Ick! I was going to suggest many of the things you've already done: turning up the heat, adding salt as well as removing the carbon and medicating.

The only worry I have is the salt potentially burning the plants. (Kind of like road salt on grass at the side of the road.) Hopefully you've got tough plants and they'll be fine.

Sounds like the one tetra had ick as well - just describing it trying to itch itself on a plant.

Removing the carbon was great - no point in medicating with carbon in the filter. You'll probably be fine not using it after. I would put in a new pouch for a few weeks afterwards, just to take out the left over medication and then take it out and just use the sponge and biomax. (My 36g filter has the sponge and carbon together in one, so it only gets changed once every 3 months.... and carbon is useless after just a few weeks, so basically, my filter will just be using the sponge and the bio max since the carbon will be waaaaay old by the end of 3 months.) It's really just for taking out medication, clearing up cloudiness and removing odours any way.

Keep us updated and good luck!

(By the way: Coppersafe - sounds like it would be copper_ free_.... which would be fine for inverts..... since you moved everyone though, I'm assuming there _is_ copper in it?)


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

One word of caution, when using copper based meds in a tank, the copper remains even after water changes and you can't put any inverts into the tank again.


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## Rohkey (Apr 25, 2011)

holly12 said:


> Sounds like you're off to a good start in curing the Ick! I was going to suggest many of the things you've already done: turning up the heat, adding salt as well as removing the carbon and medicating.
> 
> The only worry I have is the salt potentially burning the plants. (Kind of like road salt on grass at the side of the road.) Hopefully you've got tough plants and they'll be fine.
> 
> ...


Yeah, the name is a bit odd considering the active ingredient is copper sulfate. I made sure to put the salt in water I was adding to the tank instead of just pouring it in and the Anubias seem to be doing fine (I'm starting to believe they are indestructible) while the Amazon Swords look like they've seen better days. I'm thinking I'll get rid of the swords anyways, I like Anubias more.



susankat said:


> One word of caution, when using copper based meds in a tank, the copper remains even after water changes and you can't put any inverts into the tank again.


Ouch, I didn't realize this. The instructions say the meds stay effective for a month in the tank. Could I add the shrimp after a month? If not, what if I put a fresh carbon insert in my aquarium and let it run for a few days after the month of treatment, could I safely add them then?


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

The meds may be good for a month, but the copper soaks into the silicone and will never leave. Sorry but you wont be able to keep inverts in this tank again.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

And yet....another fine reason to NEVER put copper in my tank. First time I had heard that Susan, thanks.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

That is the main reason I just use salt for ich. High temps and salt will kill all traces of ich in about 10 days.

I had an ichtoligist tell me about the copper. He's the president of our statewide aquarium club.


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## Rohkey (Apr 25, 2011)

This is some depressing news. Those shrimp do a bang-up job of cleaning the tank. Any other bottom dweller you guys can recommend that I can keep to eat at the leftovers that won't be affected by the leftover copper? (Most obvious answer is not to overfeed, but I really want something occupying the bottom of my tank other than the pleco I already have).

Looks like I'm buying myself an HOB filter for the 10G with the shrimp and turning this thing into a permanent tank rather than a quarantine. I have a 5.5G I can use for quarantines now I suppose. I'll probably look to get some Dwarf Frogs or something to make the 10G a little more lively.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

Maybe some Corys? They hang around the bottom but are more scavengers than algae eaters. They like left over food. (They range in size from 1.5" to around 3.5" depending on the species, and they do like to be in groups.) You could try a small group of Dwarf Corys - they are about 3cm when fully grown. Bronze Corys are around 7cm.

Maybe a Guitar Pleco (which is actually a Hillstream Loach.) Hillstream Loach (Beaufortia kweichowensis) Profile I love the way they look! Seriously! Like little guitars swimming around the tank!


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