case of ich!! help!!

tropical1 · 02-07-2008, 04:40 PM

hey guys and gals, i am just starting out again after about 6 years and starting over witgh the knowledge part too. i have a 30 gallon for about 3 months now and over the last week my pleco algae eater got ich. well today makes the third time i have trated the tank this week to cure it. it looks like its gettting better, i had it bad enough to see it floating around like salt in the water. well its still there a little and was wondering if i should do a 20% water change tomorrow and treat again? not too familiar with ich, this is the first time any of my fish ever got it. please help.

trust-e-man · 02-07-2008, 04:57 PM

Hi there and welcome to fish tank forums. Im sorry to hear that you fish has ick its no fun to have sick fish. To help treat it raise the temperature to 80-84 degrees that will help kill off the ick. Pluss add some aquarium salt to the tank im not sure on the measurements on how much to use but i think its around a table spoon per ten gallons. Something like that its been awhile since ive had to deal with ick. Hope other people get in on this thread to help you out and good luck with your fish.

tropical1 · 02-07-2008, 07:44 PM

i went to my local pet shop and they gave me something called coperstone or something like that to treat the water with since its only my algae eater in there. just wondering if i should do a water change also with treating the water.

Loman · 02-07-2008, 09:02 PM

tropical1,
I am not familiar with that product. I would 1 - follow the label directions and 2 - Understand the full effects of this med before using it. I really get concerned when people pour some miracle cure that the person at the LFS suggested. Some LFS staff are great and very knowledgeable, some are otherwise inclined and will suggest whatever makes them the most money. The best advice on these type things is to understand what exactly the med is and do some research on the positive and negative aspects.

tony · 02-07-2008, 09:19 PM

I stopped using coppersafe, when i was told it was not very safe at all. Not a long term thing you want to use. And im pretty sure that coppersafe is meant for a once a month treatment to keep your tank free of ich, repeated doses of coppersafe can be dangerous. Preferred use would be in a quarantine tank once a month. Ive also been told that coppersafe is bad for biological filtration.

When my tank got ich i used maracide. Its an every other day treatment for at least five days i think. I used it for a week and a half and my tank was ich free. After it was gone i did a 25% water change every 2 days for a week to get rid of the medication. I didnt want to take a chance on any long term effects of the meds. Oh you also have to take the charcoal out of your filter when you use maracide cause it will soak it up. But once your done throw the coal back in your filter. Hope this helps.

Oh one more thing you cannot use more than one of those treatments at a time.

Tommy Gun · 02-08-2008, 10:06 AM

Quote:

they gave me something called coperstone or something like that

Just make sure it isn't coppertone!

Just kidding. Welcome to the forum!

If it hasn't already been mentioned, keep in mind that some copper-based medicines may result in making sure that you will never be able to keep inverts in your tank again....and trust me, as soon as you can't keep inverts, you will want to!

There are some much easier and much safer methods of dealing with this issue anyways:
http://www.fishtankforums.com/fishtank/ich

tropical1 · 02-08-2008, 07:16 PM

yeah the girl i talk to when i go there is very knowledgable and help me alot. it has worked well actually. 3 treatments and its pretty much gone out the water. m algea eater still has just a few spots but eyes are still hazy. i hope he clears up soon, i want to add some more fich, he is all i have right now. anither thing, would adding fish be ok now that the ich is not floating around anymore? or should i wait till its completely off the algae eater too?

Loman · 02-08-2008, 07:29 PM

ich can be very difficult to eradicate. It is a parasite that has a definite life ccyle and in one stage attaches to the fish which you see as white spots. When it is free swimming in the water it can not be seen. I would certainly wait. P3ersonally I would want to be completely free of all signs for a couple weeks minimum. I would wait a couple (2) of months with no signs at all before adding any delicate or expensive fish

tropical1 · 02-08-2008, 07:46 PM

well i saw what appeared to be little salt like granules floating along with little worm parrasites. the girl at petco siad it wa the ich i saw. the meds she gave me cleared the water right up but the fish still has a few spots.

cichlidgirl · 02-08-2008, 09:03 PM

Ick will not look like worms. It sounds to me like you have another parasite in your tank , possiably planeria worms ?. If they are tiny almost microscopic white thin worms that will attatch to the glass and wiggle around then that is likely planeria. They live in the gravel bed and feed off of excess food in the gravel. I would recommend doing large water changes often with vacumuming your gravel at the same time. the vacuming is very important. This should clear out the worms food source and also remove many worm and ick that are in the free swimming stage. I would do all this and then treat with the salt treatment described here on this site for ick cures. Continue the large water changes and vacuming while you are doing the salt ick cure. Many parasites cannot live in the slightly salt environment, turning up the heat on your heater to 85 will also increase the breeding cycle to clear it out faster. I would not get anymore fish until you have cleared this problem up. Certainly not any special expensive fish. Hope this helps.