[Q]

Hi,

I've been cruising this site for a little while now, but this is my first post.

Does anybody here have any experience with Kordon's "Ich-Attack" or "Prevent-Ich"? I've got a breakout that is just begining to show. From the product information it looks like they won't harm plants fish or invertebrates (and won't stain silicone). I had to order the the Ich-Attack online because nobody carries it around here, but I did find the Prevent-Ich, which I'm guessing is the same stuff at a lower concentration. I'll start with that until the Ich-Attack gets here. Any info would be appreciated. If there is none, I'll post my results.

Thanks

 

[little worm on a big hook]

All ich medication ive used is relatively the same. one thing i advise you to do in correspondonce with the medication is turn up the heat. i have treated tanks for 3 weeks using just the medication, and ive treated them for 3 days also with medication but turning up the heat too. try to get your temp. between 83 and 85 degrees and you will see the ich disappear. IME fish that are already looking like they are going to die from the ich will, but the less infected survive. hope this helps.

 

[Sir_BlackhOle]

I have used rid-ich before with success. I crank the heat up to about 86F and use half the recommended dosage with a light gravel vac and water change daily for a week. I have also had success with just turning up the heat to 86F if only one or two fish have it.

 

[Q]

I've already turned the heat up to 82 yesterday and I'm planning on raising up to 85 this afternoon. I didn't want to raise it too quickly. I started using the Prevent-Ich until the other stuff get's hear. We'll see how it works. It smells like pickle brine (garlic & dill). It put the fish into a feeding frenzy when I put it in. Hope it works because it's starting to get my loaches (poor guys). None of them have it bad yet, just a few spots. It isn't staining the silicone, so that's good.

 

[AndyL]

In reality most ich medications pretty unecessary...

I've always treated ich (and treated it successfully every time) using the heat + salt and w/c method.

Raising the temperature to 86F, daily gravel vacs (be thorough) adding a tsp of salt per gallon. Works as well (if not better) than most medicinal methods.

Some plants may be negatively effected by the increased heat & salt - but that's why we all have quarantine tanks to do these treatments in isn't it?

Andy

 

[Error]

I use this method on every disease that appears in my tank, and on the whole it is extremely effective:

- Raise temperature to 86-90 degrees Fahrenheit

- Daily water changes of 35-40%; twice or three times daily if no improvement is noted in the first few days

- Good, frequent feedings if the fish is eating

It usually works for just about everything. I also suspect that fish antibiotics are the biggest scam in this industry, and in my experience the dyes (malachite, methylyne, etc.) do more harm than good with ich.

 

[Q]

The treatment that I'm using ("prevent-ich" until I get the "ich-attack") is an herbal/organic treatment that doesn't have the chemicals normally associated with ich treatments. I suspect that it already has salt in it, so I don't want to add any additional salt. As for the quarantine tank, it's too late to move the fish now because the ich is in the tank, so I need to treat the whole tank. I'll keep you guys posted on how this stuff works.

As a side question, what does anybody think about ich being introduced via new plants? This outbreak didn't really start until a couple days after adding some new val. I've never heard any mention of quarantine for plants.

 

[little worm on a big hook]

i think ich is like algae, it is everywhere. temperature drop is what makes it noticeable as this stresses out the fish and makes them more sucseptible(sp?) to it. just keep doing what you are doing and it will be gone in a few days and your fish will have a higher tolerance of it.

 

[AndyL]

Ich is always present in the aquarium (like streptocaucus in humans) it just requires the fish's immune systems to weaken to cause an outbreak.

There is lots on qt / disinfection of plants, do a search. Common methods involve bleach or pottasium permanganate.

Andy

 

[Q]

I've been using the "prevent-ich" for five days now and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. The "ich-attack" hasn't shown up yet. The temp is at 86 degrees, daily water changes of 50% and a heavily planted tank that's been set up for 14 months. I've still lost 4 emperors in the last 2 days. I'm now wondering if the ich is a secondary infection and the emperors have some kind of bacterial infection. They seem to be doing the worst. The fish that have died had only 5-10 spots on them, but they also had blood showing near their fin lines like they were hemorrhaging. Does this sound familiar to anybody? Also, what's the difference between ich and velvet? The parasites that I can see are white and can be seen scooting around on the sides of the tank and chasing the fish.

 

[JanS]

Hi Q.

Anything that's white and scooting around the tank isn't ich or velvet....

It sounds like a whole other ball game to me.

 

[Q]

I finaly found some more info. It looks like it's skin flukes. They're usually mistaken for ich. Does anybody know of a good treatment for parasites that won't kill plants, loaches, cories and ottos?

 

[georgiadawgger]

I finaly found some more info. It looks like it's skin flukes. They're usually mistaken for ich. Does anybody know of a good treatment for parasites that won't kill plants, loaches, cories and ottos?

Oh no!! I had to fight this with some rainbowfish I got from a crappy fish store (anyone in Auburn/Opelika please steer clear of Tropiquarium). I got some M. praecox and some G. incisus from them and they had just about everything from developing ick (I assume stress and weak immune system), worms, and a bacterial infection. This was before I went to high-priced plants so I mainly had Anubias spp. Basically I used high heat for the ick...once that went away, did a massive water change and used a combination of melafix and maracyn-two. Needless to say they were just weak fish. However, I did find that for some species WITH scales you can do outpatient surgery and physically remove worms with tweezers or use a q-tip dipped in a strong salt solution.

Good luck and let us know how things go!!

 

[Q]

Well things are not going good... The "prevent-ich" never seemed to help slow down the ich and the "ich-attack" I ordered (express) never even showed up. I ended up treating with Jungle Labs "Tank-Buddy" products. I used the parasite clear first and then treated with ich clear and finally fungus clear. Everybody seems to be doing fine except for the emperors. I really think that the ich was a secondary infection that got them when they were weak. All of the emperors are showing signs of hemorrhagic septicemia and are bloated. The ich is pretty much gone except for a couple spots on the emperors, so I'll keep treating for a few days after it's gone. There are 6 of the original 13 emperors left and I expect they won't make it through the weekend. I never figured out what the heck was swimming around in the tank that looked like ich, but the parasite clear took care of it.

Remember to always QT. This is a perfect example of why you should.