How long -- this ick?

[asginpg]

Well, I am facing my first bout of ick. My tank went into a mini
cycle when I added some fish; then the temperature dropped due to an
unfortunate accident. I managed to get over the cycle with multiple
water changes. However, my clown loaches did not like the combo of
stresses and developed some white spots on their tails and began
flicking on the rocks. I treated immediately with 1/2 dose of Mardel
Coppersafe and turned the heat up slowly to 81 degrees. It has been 5
days since noticing the ick and I want to know when I will see the
tail end of this plague.

I can see the ick floating on the tank and it appears on the glass as
well. I hope I am only seeing dead ick bodies and not living
organisms. The clown loaches have continued to show more and more
spots and now they are covered (though a friend tells me it is not a
bad case) and other fish are flicking and showing a few spots as well.
My poor farlowella has spots on his fins and is either swimming all
over the tank or sitting in the bubble wall.

The only good thing is that the fish (except the farlowella) all are
eating and "appear" healthy other than the flicking movements. If
this is a normal ick fight I will just continue. Should I be seeing
an improvement by now?

[Geezer From Freezer]

If I was you I'd replace 50% of the water everyday (with temp matched water)
and vacuum the gravel.

Also turning the lights off and covering the tank with a sheet is supposed to
stop the free floating
ick from finding a host - allegedly!

[Rick]

"asginpg" > wrote in message
om...
> Well, I am facing my first bout of ick. My tank went into a mini
> cycle when I added some fish; then the temperature dropped due to an
> unfortunate accident. I managed to get over the cycle with multiple
> water changes. However, my clown loaches did not like the combo of
> stresses and developed some white spots on their tails and began
> flicking on the rocks. I treated immediately with 1/2 dose of Mardel
> Coppersafe and turned the heat up slowly to 81 degrees. It has been 5
> days since noticing the ick and I want to know when I will see the
> tail end of this plague.
>
> I can see the ick floating on the tank and it appears on the glass as
> well. I hope I am only seeing dead ick bodies and not living
> organisms. The clown loaches have continued to show more and more
> spots and now they are covered (though a friend tells me it is not a
> bad case) and other fish are flicking and showing a few spots as well.
> My poor farlowella has spots on his fins and is either swimming all
> over the tank or sitting in the bubble wall.
>
> The only good thing is that the fish (except the farlowella) all are
> eating and "appear" healthy other than the flicking movements. If
> this is a normal ick fight I will just continue. Should I be seeing
> an improvement by now?


increasing the temp. to 81 degrees does little other than to slightly speed
up the ich lifecycle. You need to treat the tank more than once. I use Quck
Cure or Rid Ich and treat on days 1,4.7 and 10 doing a 40-50% water change
in between treatments. Normally you will see marked improvement by the 2nd
treatment and may in fact not see any signs of ich however it is important
to treat for the full cycle.

Rick

[Geezer From Freezer]

Rick wrote:

> increasing the temp. to 81 degrees does little other than to slightly speed
> up the ich lifecycle. You need to treat the tank more than once. I use Quck
> Cure or Rid Ich and treat on days 1,4.7 and 10 doing a 40-50% water change
> in between treatments. Normally you will see marked improvement by the 2nd
> treatment and may in fact not see any signs of ich however it is important
> to treat for the full cycle.
>
> Rick

I've heard good things about QuickCure. Also I agree about treatment method
above.

[asginpg]

Thank you for all of your help. I treated the tank vigorously as
suggested then had to head off for one week. Very bad timing, but DH
did a fairly good job in my stead. Just before I went, the two clown
loaches died, and perhaps coincidentally all of the other tank
inhabitants perked up. I have cleaned and treated the tank again and
there is no sign of ick. The medication suggests keeping up treatment
for a month, which I will do.

Now the question. I really did get attached to the clown loaches and
would like to purchase two others. How long should I wait before
doing so. Will it be safe after one month of treatment?