case of ich!! help!! - Page 2

Tommy Gun · 02-08-2008, 10:32 PM

Hello again tropical1!

If it helps, here are some pictures of Ich that you can use for comparison:
http://www.fishtankforums.com/fishtank/ichpics

I also agree with cichlidgirl...you will not be able to see Ich when it is free-swiming; or in other words, unless it is on a fish, so what you saw floating in the water is probably not Ich. Additionally, the copper treatments should wipe out any planeria or other worm-like critters in your tank so you might want to do some more observing and researching until you figure out what that really is.

tropical1 · 02-09-2008, 09:05 PM

yeah i feel like a idiot now. i didi a little playing around with the tank to day and discovered that it was air bubbles i was seeing. i turned my 24" bubble stone off and no more of what i was seeeing. so as of today, my tank is clear of floating parasites and one of my fish's eyes is completely clear and the other looks soooo much better. so i woudl say about 2 more treatments and everything will be ok again. thanks so much for the help on this one guys.

cichlidgirl · 02-09-2008, 09:19 PM

You just cheered me up, that is just too funny. Glad to hear they are doing well.

Loman · 02-09-2008, 10:08 PM

The micro bubbles is actually a common problem - not sure why we did not mention that earlier

. I am glad that part of it is cleared up. I would still complete the treatment and give it some time. Patience is hard to learn but really important in this hobby. I can not recall if you stated what the water parameters in the tank are but with a fish having a cloudy eye and ick, I suspect there is a poor water quality problem adding significant stress to the fish. I would certainly check this and make sure ammonia and nitrite are 0 . Ultimately improved water quality is a huge benefit in many ways.

Tommy Gun · 02-09-2008, 11:20 PM

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discovered that it was air bubbles i was seeing

You should not feel like an idiot at all...air bubbles on the side of a fish can be very misleading and look exactly like ich.

I know that I am shooting myself in the foot, but believe it or not, the two fish in those pictures in the articles section are actually covered with air bubbles and not ich. In fact, if you look at the picture on top, you can see the bubbles falling off and trailing the fish as it is swimming along. In my defense though, I haven't been able to get my hands on a picture of ich that I can use without 'stealing' it from another website and don't want to risk offending anyone.

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so as of today, my tank is clear of floating parasites and one of my fish's eyes is completely clear and the other looks soooo much better

Does that mean you have turned off your airstone and kept it off? If so, make sure that you are doing something else to ensure there is enough oxygen in the water. Otherwise you fish could very well become stressed enough to develop a real case of ich...or perhaps even die.

I am glad you figured it out though!

tropical1 · 02-10-2008, 07:09 PM

no i just turned the stone off for about 15 minutes just to test it out. and it wasnt air bubbles on the fish, that was ich. it was air bubble floating around in the tank, looked as if it were another parasite, lol. glad its not. but yeah, i just treated again today and tomorrow when i get home form work i am gonna do a 20% water change and treat again. oh yeah, my fish has no more spots at all today and just one cloudy eye. so almost there guys, lol.

Tommy Gun · 02-11-2008, 06:37 AM

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and it wasnt air bubbles on the fish, that was ich.

Ahhh, sorry for misunderstanding you then. Now I really wish I didn't say anything about those pictures!

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so almost there guys, lol.

Forgive me if I should already know this, but are you still using the copper treatment and have you raised the water temp in this tank?

In any case, don't let up with the treatment you are using right now until at least a couple of weeks after the last white spot has fallen off your fish. In short, it is extremely hard, if not impossible, to make a large impact on Ich when it appears as a white spot on your fish without killing your fish as well. In fact, I believe it isn't much easier to treat the white spots right after they fall off either; meaning there is a good chance that each white spot will be able to reproduce and that can result in hundreds of new parasites stemming from one white spot. So what you are really doing is treating for the Ich that is still swimming in the water, which we cannot see and becasue of that, we want to continue treating for a period of time that is longer than it takes each white spot to reproduce and then for each of those new parasites to die either from the treatment itself, or because it cannot find a host. I believe the free swimming ich can only survive for no more than a few days; however, I think each white spot can hold out for a week or more before bursting into a bunch of new parasites so that may be why the advice should be to treat for more than a couple days or a week. In fact, the ideal situation would be to treat for a month or more and then utilize a quarantine tank for new purchases so that you can observe them rather than praying that they aren't going to spark off another ich episode in your display tank.

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i am gonna do a 20% water change and treat again

Like cichlidgirl said, be sure to vacuum your substrate well during your water changes because you may be able to remove some of the ich...or at least some of the white spots that have fallen off your fish and settled on your substrate before it can multiply. Again, ich puts a whole new spin on "the blind leading the blind", but every little bit helps!

cichlidgirl · 02-11-2008, 08:48 AM

water changes should also help with the cloudy eye issues now and in the future.

tropical1 · 02-11-2008, 07:22 PM

ok so what yall are saying is treat it for a couple of weeks after the last white spot is off of my pleco? if so thats what i will do. everyday that i come home form work he just looks so much better. the one eye that is still hazy is only half hazy now and he is getting back to his normal self being active again. there for about 4 days he wasnt moving very much, staying close to the heater, but no he is backj swimming around eating on stuff.

cichlidgirl · 02-11-2008, 08:35 PM

I would read your packaging on the bottle of copper meds to make sure that prolonged use it ok, some meds when used over a extended time can be damaging to both the fish and the cycle of the tank. What did the instructions say for normal treatment of ick in a freshwater tank? Did it have instructions for a second treatment as needed? How many of these treatments have you all ready done? If it does not specify i would only treat till the last visual sign is gone and if you wanted to do an extended treatment to be sure that it does not re surface i would switch to the salt method. If you do this make sure that you follow all directions for removing the copper from the tank before starting the new treatment. (I know that salt treatment in general will sometimes allow for other treatments and meds at the same time but im not sure if a copper based med should be allowed to hang around that long after initial treatment is completed.)Dont forget to swap in new carbon in your filter after you remove the copper meds .
CG