Treating ich in a planted aquarium with sensitive fish

[duanes]

One of the largest problems with ick, is secondary infection (even after it is cured), that is, because when an ick cyst erupts, it leaves a lesion on the fish, and that open sore can easily become infected with bacteria. The elevated temps used to hasten the ick cycle, are just what some of those infectious bacteria thrive in.
Here is a fish that arrived with a bad case of ich.

I used only salt as treatment, no extra heat, to other meds.
a little over a week later

Most meds are toxic metal salts, these osmotically crush the ick cell walls as they young ick hatch, and work the same way as NaCl does, I just see salt (NaCl) as the least toxic of them all, which is why it is my preferred treatment choice.
One of the popular alternative meds are Malachite Green.
Malachite green - Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malachite_green

 

[GermanDude]

I had to fight ich twice and I never lost a fish.
First of all, siphon your substrate, or bare bottom, raise your temperature gradually to 86- 88 Fahrenheit and add Salt (NaCl), about 0.5 % concentration solved in water.
Keep it that way for two weeks, but do at least one 50% wc and siphon again.
Resalt while refilling!
It is important to maintain it for two weeks, even if there are no more spots visible.
But do it at first sight of white spots, fish get the weaker the longer you do nothing.

 

[Leo1234]

I think I lowered the water enough to add salt without it coming into contact with the roots of most of the plants (lowered water level to put less stress on heater), though if the heater doesn't have much of an effect on it in general I should probably avoid the hassle of trying to figure out where to plug it in

how long should I take to raise the salinity?

 

[GermanDude]

Hi,
adding all the salt at once could weaken the useful bacteria.
I would split it in three parts, every 4 to 6 hours.
The eggs of the parasites could survive in the roots, they are pretty hardy.
You can not kill the stadiums of what you see as white spots.
Raising the temperature speeds up the reproduction cycle and the parasite is just vulnerable at a certain time.
Its faster metabolisms decreases its chance to develop properly and get attached to more fish again.
The salt increases the production of the fishes slime coat(s), which is helpful to get rid of the parasites faster.
It is important to watch your fish, because higher temps reduce the amount of solved oxygen in the water.
Rising surface agitation may prevent shortage of oxygen but keep a close eye on your fish.
Feed high quality food during treatment, containing vitamine c ( some fish food lacks of it)
If there is no improvement within four or five days, your parasite is possible resistent to heat and using remedy is mandatory.
Sorry for my limited language skills, I am out of english lessons for many years.
Good luck!

 

[GermanDude]

Forgot to mention, if you put your plants in a tank, free of fish for two or better three weeks, at normal tropical tank temperatures, the parasites will starve.
The main tank needs to be treated anyway.

 

[Leo1234]

Update: So I've been treating the aquarium with the ich medication. I ended up not using the heater as I was still a bit worried about temperatures (we had a heat wave and that probably warmed my aquarium anyways)
the larger 2 barilius ardens and 1 smaller one are left. they have almost fully recovered if not fully (have to check when I get home)

none of my other fish ever got affected by the ich. I was asking around and apparently barilius and Opsarius are super sensitive to ich and a few others had their whole school die in 1-2 days of getting ich

lost 1 Barilius ardens and all 4 Opsarius pulchellus. none of my other fish ever showed discomfort or signs of ich, though I treated the aquarium to be on the safe side. it sucks to lose so many as my remaining barilius are scared since there are so few of them, but I will eventually get some more (and quarantine them)

 

[duanes]

Both the species you lost, are rheophilic species, they coming from fast flowing streams, although I haven't kept personally those, I like to keep rheophillic cichlids, and find rheophillic cichlid species tend to be more sensitive to ick infections, because in nature they aren't subjected to assaults by ick the way fish in slower moving waters are, and have less immunity.
Although young ick are motile, they basically get washed down stream by fast flowing waters, where fish are easy pickens to latch onto, before the get a chance infect fast water types.
In a tank without strong current, these fish may be sitting ducks.
If you try them again, a tank with fast flowing water, and tank mates with a similar propensity to a rheophillic environment as opposed to calmer water species.

 

[Leo1234]

Both the species you lost, are rheophilic species, they coming from fast flowing streams, although I haven't kept personally those, I like to keep rheophillic cichlids, and find rheophillic cichlid species tend to be more sensitive to ick infections, because in nature they aren't subjected to assaults by ick the way fish in slower moving waters are, and have less immunity.
Although young ick are motile, they basically get washed down stream by fast flowing waters, where fish are easy pickens to latch onto, before the get a chance infect fast water types.
In a tank without strong current, these fish may be sitting ducks.
If you try them again, a tank with fast flowing water, and tank mates with a similar propensity to a rheophillic environment as opposed to calmer water species.

that makes sense. My powerheads are a bit old and aren't the best quality I've seen
I have a bunch of powerheads in there, but I am looking to upgrade to better ones as the flow, while seems good, isn't at the point I want it at. Any suggestions for a good powerhead for a 150 gallon fast water tank? the footprint is 5ft long by 2ft wide

 

[duanes]

I use pond pumps of 1200 GPH (sometimes 2400 GPHor even 3600), because I usually have more than 1 tank per sump, the latest pumps used have been Laguna, but have used Mag Drive and others. If more aeration and surface agitation is required I'll add a venturi to the outflow
I control flow with ball valve going for maximum surface agitation.


Venturi added below

 

[skjl47]

Although young ick are motile, they basically get washed down stream by fast flowing waters, where fish are easy pickens to latch onto, before the get a chance infect fast water types.
In a tank without strong current, these fish may be sitting ducks.

Any suggestions for a good powerhead for a 150 gallon fast water tank? the footprint is 5ft long by 2ft wide

Hello; Perhaps I have missed something in this discussion about succeptability(sp) of fast water species compared to still water species. What I get is the swift water species are not as easily infected due to the current so likely have not developed any natural immune reactions compared to still water species.
What I do not get is how flow makes much difference in a closed system. Maybe if the filtration is fine enough to trap the newly hatched parasite? Maybe the flow prevents or hinders the parasites ability to latch on? Anyway the closed system part is what seems the problem. In the wild the parasites are swept along and the volume of water is so great that many likely ill never make contact with a fish. In a closed system they get many chances the next time they pass thru the tank???