Ich - Best Treatment - Clown Loaches

[tanglovers]

Hi All,

I picked up some traded in clown loaches recently and noticed a couple of them have ich today. They are all still eating, acting fine other then a little rubbing.

I do not yet have a means of QT effectively so they are in a display type tank. Other inhabitants are 7 geophagus tapajos, a small stingray pup (motoro) and a fly river turtle.

What is the best means of treating this tank?

If I recall a salt dose and I beleive all inhabitants can handle this without an issue. How much / gallon?

Thanks!

 

[synspilus guy]

Kordon's which you can get at petsmart. Not the organic just get the regular stuff. Its very effective and safe. Clown loaches show signs of ich before the spots come. Their color fades. By then they have had it for 2 to 3 days already. Its safe for scaleless fish, although I'm not sure about your ray. I would go to a good fish store and ask them what to use. Loaches are pretty hardy and cheap! I would be careful with the ray. I haven't used it in a long time but I do recall it having warnings on the bottle about other fish. Not sure if it was rays but I would research before hurting an expensive fish like that. Salt and heat do work but there are different strains of ich. I've dealt with some that a couple of weeks of a LOT of salt and high heat would not kill. I'm talking 1 tablespoon per gallon of salt and about 90 degree water.

 

[aclockworkorange]

Check out quinine. Safe for scaleless fish. I've used it on my loaches. It's also the treatment recommended for ich that's resistant to the old heat/salt method. I figure, why not just skip to it and start as soon as possible before the ich is bad? Crank the heat go speed up the ich life cycle once you dose, they are killed when they are in their free swimming stage.

Good luck!

 

[tanglovers]

Is the quinine safe for rays then too?

 

[aclockworkorange]

I've heard it is, I used it in a tank with an Elephant Nose (one of the most sensitive fish you can keep, they actually use them to test tap water quality in some places) and he is alive and well to this day.
If you're really concerned, ask a ray expert over on the ray section. They may refer you to the heat and salt method, which I'm not a big fan of, but it does work with some strains of ich. You could try it. I believe the standard dose is a teaspoon or two per gallon. Crank heat to 86ish.

 

[aclockworkorange]

Kordon's which you can get at petsmart. Not the organic just get the regular stuff. Its very effective and safe. Clown loaches show signs of ich before the spots come. Their color fades. By then they have had it for 2 to 3 days already. Its safe for scaleless fish, although I'm not sure about your ray. I would go to a good fish store and ask them what to use. Loaches are pretty hardy and cheap! I would be careful with the ray. I haven't used it in a long time but I do recall it having warnings on the bottle about other fish. Not sure if it was rays but I would research before hurting an expensive fish like that. Salt and heat do work but there are different strains of ich. I've dealt with some that a couple of weeks of a LOT of salt and high heat would not kill. I'm talking 1 tablespoon per gallon of salt and about 90 degree water.

Large clown loaches are NOT cheap. Over 6" I have seen them go for upwards of $80 each.

 

[Brian_Indiana]

I used to use medication, now I only use heat and salt.

 

[synspilus guy]

Large clown loaches are NOT cheap. Over 6" I have seen them go for upwards of $80 each.

I'm aware of that. I've traded in large clown loaches to a lfs in the past and they gave me good money for them. They still don't cost as much as stingrays.

 

[squint]

People who use UV pretty much never worry about ich again. But more and more people have been using it as a treatment for infected tanks and report success.

Unlike medications, heat, and salt, it can be used indefinitely since it can't hurt the fish. Ich treatments often kill the fish before the ich does.

With extended UV use and good biosecurity practices, you can often eliminate ich from a tank instead of always having a subclinical infection just waiting for the next outbreak to wipe out the tank. Once the ich is exterminated you can stop using the UV if so desired.