Ich ehhhh!

[bandicoot]

Hello there, I have just gotten back into the hobby of fish keeping, and was graced with the bane of the hobby, Ich.
So here is a breakdown of my tank.
55 gal acrylic set at 82 degrees F. Sand x Gravel for substright. no live plants.
1 Blue Gourami
(now 1) Sail fin Molly
3 Sunburst Plattys

The ich has been persistent for one week now. I'm very confused as to what I'm doing wrong. I'm using Jungle IckCure
but there are hardly any instructions on the bottle. It says to add one tsp per 10 gal and if the ich still persists do 25% wc and treat again daily.... well now my fish are dieing, I'm treating daily with the stuff and doing 25% wc's daily before treating along with cleaning the bottom.

2 of my fish now have clouded eyes, fully covered with the white dots of the cysts and I believe there is now a fungal infection on the rise but the ickcure states to treat only after ick is gone... I'm at my wits end now.

Should I move the fish to a 10 gal with a bubbler, raise the heat, and add salt or should I continue to treat the whole tank? If I do need to move them to a smaller tank, what is the proper way to treat them? And how should i treat the 55? leave it or treat it? drain it? I'm so lost.

Thank you all for your help in advance.
Jess

 

[tlindsey]

Hello there, I have just gotten back into the hobby of fish keeping, and was graced with the bane of the hobby, Ich.
So here is a breakdown of my tank.
55 gal acrylic set at 82 degrees F. Sand x Gravel for substright. no live plants.
1 Blue Gourami
(now 1) Sail fin Molly
3 Sunburst Plattys

The ich has been persistent for one week now. I'm very confused as to what I'm doing wrong. I'm using Jungle IckCure
but there are hardly any instructions on the bottle. It says to add one tsp per 10 gal and if the ich still persists do 25% wc and treat again daily.... well now my fish are dieing, I'm treating daily with the stuff and doing 25% wc's daily before treating along with cleaning the bottom.

2 of my fish now have clouded eyes, fully covered with the white dots of the cysts and I believe there is now a fungal infection on the rise but the ickcure states to treat only after ick is gone... I'm at my wits end now.

Should I move the fish to a 10 gal with a bubbler, raise the heat, and add salt or should I continue to treat the whole tank? If I do need to move them to a smaller tank, what is the proper way to treat them? And how should i treat the 55? leave it or treat it? drain it? I'm so lost.

Thank you all for your help in advance.
Jess

Charney
Aquanero

 

[bandicoot]

Thanks for passing this on, I'm hoping for some sort of help on this matter. I know they are just cheap cycling fish but it irks me that this is happening and wont quit.

 

[bandicoot]

I have gone through other posts on Ich here but I have never dealt with an issue this bad before. I'm sorry to have posted this here but I'm starting to panic a bit. I can remove the post if needed. I will move them to a smaller tank and try the heat and salt method, and Drain the tank and start from scratch. I just lost my last sail fin and the Gourami has now turned gray and is swimming on his side in the corner.

 

[duanes]

Medication only gets the ich when its in the vulnerable stage, on the fish it is immune to treatment. It is when the Tomites hatch out of the fish that the medication works. This can take days, sometimes weeks to get them all.
The cloudy eye is an indication of secondary infection, caused by stress, and bacteria which infect the sores, holes where the protozoa have lodged in the fish. While raising temp increases the life cycle of the Ick, helping to destroy it, raised temps are also perfect temps for certain bacteria to proliferate.
This is why when you want to grow bacteria in a lab, you put it in very warm incubators (90+'F).

 

[duanes]

Ich (White Spot Disease)

 

[Pomatomus]

Definitely raise the temp to 84 and dose some salt. Keeping the tank at 84 will eventually rid it of ich but it won't catch up quick enough to save your fish. Salt at 3ppt (3 grams per liter) will kill it as well and you will see results faster, but it can hurt your beneficial bacteria. A little salt would be good at the very least as your fish are experiencing osmotic stress and it will help balance the ions in their bodies.

I use salt and heat, but if the infection is far along I also sometimes use a product containing formalin. Salt and heat will take care of it though. No need to use a hospital tank and start over imo but if you already did that's fine too. Just make sure you cook the main tank at 84 degrees, salt it, or bleach it.

 

[CarpCharacin]

I have no idea what is in that jungle ick cure stuff. I have learned from personal experience that formalin malachite green works the best to get rid of ich. It is sold as Kordon Rid Ich plus. It works much better than any herbal treatment.

 

[ECW]

Hit it with a formalin/malachite green combo!

 

[bandicoot]

Thanks every one. I treated the tank with the heat and salt, I thought I lost my Sail-fin but apparently he is a zombie... I'm thinking I might have to sadly put him down, but he is eating and moving around, just lays on his side at night or on his back.

I have spent the last day and almost a half trying to find something other than the Jungle fizzy tabs or the Jungle liquid ickcure. but where I live is highly lacking in fish places or proper pet stores. I can find fish out the wazoo here but not much in the way of meds for them. I might try Phoenix next. (that is quite a drive lol) But I have covered almost 300 miles round trip trying to find something that would work with no luck yet.

My father inlaw who has been keeping large tanks for years gave me something for the ick last night, he said it was something he used for years. I'm hoping my Father inlaw's blue goo works. He said it has Methlene Blue? (spelling?) and some other stuff. He wont tell me, says he will leave the recipe for me when he passes. (that scares me lol) I will wait a few days before trying that if the heat and salt don't work. Is there anything I could use for the clouded eyes and secondary infections?

Thanks again,
Jess