ich/ick

what is an easy way of getting rid of ich fast? I have a green tiger barb that is covered in it and anthter just starting to show it. I have a lot of shrimp and snails so most meds are out of the question. I know salt helps with it and with preventing it, it just takes awhile to work. Although preventing it would have been easier, I had been negligent to adding salt to my water changes because I have been doing 50% once a week trying to get rid of my tannins, but I think that stressed the fish out too much and now she has ich. I don't have a heater or anthing yet for the tank because were it sits its at a constant 79 degrees on its own with a fluctuation of only a few degrees at night when my a/c works better.

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Permalink Reply by 2apes2gp667wr on August 16, 2011 at 4:02pm

Get a heater & increase your water temperature to 86° for 3 days. Do smal water changes each day, say 25%. Ich cannot reproduce at 86° so basically you are just stopping their reproduction and waiting for them to release from your fish while taking them out of the water column with the water changes. Don't bother with salt as it will hurt your plants and the temp increase will take care of the ich. I have used this method before and it worked great. You can flat out kill ich at 90°, but you run a serious risk to your fish so I would advise against that unless you have higher temp fish like discus.

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Permalink Reply by Hmoobthor on August 16, 2011 at 5:38pm

quick med will help you.

i use it to treat my ick from my rummys and shrimp are still fine. get a heater....ick is due to cold temp because your fish are tropical

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Bingamon on August 18, 2011 at 8:31pm

Does ich or can ich get worse before it gets better? Most the barbs that had it are completely cured of it or have one remaining spot but one female it looks like everything from my others has gone to her. She went from having maybe 5-6 to dozens covering her. I havent tried any Meds yet cause I found some fry in my tank using my log as cover and I don't want to risk killing them so I have just been turning up the heat a degree every few hours as to not shock and kill them.

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Permalink Reply by Shane Church - Churchhealzimpact on August 18, 2011 at 8:45pm

Yea, dont add salt to the tank...will murder your plants. You could do quick salt baths...get a gallon pitcher with tank water in it and put four times the recommended dose of aquarium salt in it...net her out and let her sit in there for 20-30 minute or so. Then just pour the water back in the tank (one gallon of salty water wont do too much to a much bigger tank. Won't hurt, thats for sure. Next best thing is to raise the temp. It will shorten the non-parasitic form's life span the higher temp you go.

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Permalink Reply by Martin Seel on August 18, 2011 at 8:51pm

the life cycle of it is

it's on your fish

falls off when ready to multiply

multiplys in the substrate

swims up and gets the fish again

then repeats

get a heater

turn your temp to 28degrees C not sure what that is in F lol

vacum the substrate really well every 2 days for 2 weeks

and that will sort it out I just had to do this with my mates tank

the lack of heater is your problem and it was a silly mistake

my mate caused his by doing water changes with cold water btw

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Bingamon on August 18, 2011 at 9:13pm

I never got a heater cause my water never dips below 80 degrees. And it wasn't until I did a water change too that I had a problem. It effected only my female barbs so I'm not sure if I caused the stress or if it was a mix of me and the males chasing them that caused it weakening thier immune system. How hot can tiger barbs tetras and platties take? My plan was to go up to 86 degrees f.

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Bingamon on August 18, 2011 at 9:36pm

grr I just went to feed all my fish and the tank in my daughters room the betta is all covered in ich too!!!! I know why with this one it is my fault. since I din't know about the ich in my other tank when I transfered some plants I transfered the ich... this is kinda frustrating. O well I'll just make a trip to the store tomorrow and get some meds for that tank. and turn up the heater.

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Permalink Reply by Shane Church - Churchhealzimpact on August 18, 2011 at 9:51pm

yea man, make sure you take the carbon out of your filters when you medicate. Also, walmart has a really good brand thats like 3 dollars called "Ick-Away"...is has the malachite green as active ingredient but worked for me perfectly when i treated the angels (along with water changes, vacuuming and raising temp). Good luck bro!

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Permalink Reply by Shane Church - Churchhealzimpact on August 18, 2011 at 9:51pm

Oh and 86 is good to go, just do it like 2 degrees an hour ish and you shouldnt have an issue with any of them.

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Permalink Reply by Martin Seel on August 19, 2011 at 5:09am

when was the last time you added fish to both tanks ?

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Bingamon on August 19, 2011 at 12:35pm

About a month ago in my largest tank and I'd say about a week maybe 12 days tops in my daughters tank. But I got some new plants in a day or two before the ich showed up.

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Bingamon on August 21, 2011 at 2:58pm

ok so ich is just about beaten in my tanks. I got these tablets from petsmart that are called ich gaurd. I was a little weary about being only $3 a box, but It worked. only downside is it turned all my silicon and clear suction cups green. lol but it kind of fits the planted tank theme better.