Worst nightmare

I always knew this day would come.

I got a silver spotted ancistrus last week, finished quaranteen with no
visible signs of anything, moved it into the 90g tank. Couple days later, 3
bala's are covered with ich, one pictus cat is disasterously covered with
it, and some of the other inhabitants have it on their tails (as feared, one
of the clown loaches included). Majority of the tank inhabitants don't show
any signs. Guess some of those silver spots weren't natural coloration.
I've never seen a fish so covered as the pictus cat, I feel so sorry for
him, there's not a spot on his body that doesn't have a white dot.
So now the chore begins, treating a 90g tank for ich with multiple breeds
and sizes of fish, including multiple scaleless fish.

To start, I've gradually increased the tank temp to 82, added 1 tbsp per 5g
salt as prescribed. Change the micron filter daily.

Anyone had success with just elevated temps and salt, or does it always
revert back to having to treat the tank?

Cheers

On 2003-11-10, D&M wrote:
Anyone had success with just elevated temps and salt, or does it always
revert back to having to treat the tank?

I've had two ich outbreaks in the past year or so in my 30gal tank and
the temp treatment did wonders - I didn't even touch the salt. I upped
the heater to the 82-84 range and left it there until everyone looked
better. Took a week or two maybe? Don't remember exactly.

I'd definitely give the temp and salt a shot. Seems like the way to go.

--
Ross Vandegrift


A Pope has a Water Cannon. It is a Water Cannon.
He fires Holy-Water from it. It is a Holy-Water Cannon.
He Blesses it. It is a Holy Holy-Water Cannon.
He Blesses the Hell out of it. It is a Wholly Holy Holy-Water Cannon.
He has it pierced. It is a Holey Wholly Holy Holy-Water Cannon.
He makes it official. It is a Canon Holey Wholly Holy Holy-Water Cannon.
Batman and Robin arrive. He shoots them.

D&M wrote:

To start, I've gradually increased the tank temp to 82, added 1 tbsp
per 5g salt as prescribed. Change the micron filter daily.


Might want to run a diatomic filter 1x a day too, if you have access to
one...

82 deg F might not be high enough. Make sure to add additional
aeration!!!

-Donald
--
"When you've lost your ability to laugh, you've lost your ability to
think straight." -To Inherit the Wind

"D&M" wrote in message
...
I always knew this day would come.

I got a silver spotted ancistrus last week, finished quaranteen with no
visible signs of anything, moved it into the 90g tank. Couple days later,
3
bala's are covered with ich, one pictus cat is disasterously covered with
it, and some of the other inhabitants have it on their tails (as feared,
one
of the clown loaches included). Majority of the tank inhabitants don't
show
any signs. Guess some of those silver spots weren't natural coloration.
I've never seen a fish so covered as the pictus cat, I feel so sorry for
him, there's not a spot on his body that doesn't have a white dot.
So now the chore begins, treating a 90g tank for ich with multiple breeds
and sizes of fish, including multiple scaleless fish.

To start, I've gradually increased the tank temp to 82, added 1 tbsp per
5g
salt as prescribed. Change the micron filter daily.

Anyone had success with just elevated temps and salt, or does it always
revert back to having to treat the tank?

Cheers



My first outbreak about a year ago was in my 77 g community tank. I tried
elevating the temp to 82 and added salt as you are doing and it did not work
or at least after 7 days there did not seem to be much effect. I ended up
using Quick Cure at half dosage and the ich was gone before the 3rd
treatment . At that time I treated every second day with a water change in
between. Now I treat days 1, 4 7 and 11 and complete the treatment
regardless of whether the symptoms disappear or not. Good luck.

Rick

If you can get your hands on old-formula Maracide, use it. It works
wonders if used correctly.


--
Victor Martinez
Send your spam he
Email me he

"D&M" wrote
I got a silver spotted ancistrus last week, finished quaranteen with no
visible signs of anything, moved it into the 90g tank.

If you got the fish last week, the quarantine period can't have
been completed. Three weeks is a reasonable time, some
would say four or more.

To start, I've gradually increased the tank temp to 82, added 1 tbsp per 5g
salt as prescribed. Change the micron filter daily.
Anyone had success with just elevated temps and salt, or does it always
revert back to having to treat the tank?

If you have the fish (and plants) that are okay in high temperatures than you
can try that with some caveats. You may need to add extra aeration as warm
water holds less oxygen than cooler water. Remember that the animals are
under stress as it is and their gills are probably under attack from the parasite,
further reducing their ability to get oxygen. Just increasing the temp a little, say
to 82F will not kill the ich but will speed up it's life cycle. This may or may not
be desirous. To effectively kill ich you need a higher temp, I have found 86F
to be effective although I've read of a strain in Florida fish farms that lived
in temperatures up to 90F.
I have found that ich can easily be treated by heat and daily water changes
in a quarantine tank. No other medication, including salt, is required.
In an established tank, with a mixture of fish and plants, it's more problematical
and one solution most definitely does not fit all, but in most cases, a proprietary
remedy, used properly, will do the trick.

http://www.aquamaniacs.net/ich.html

--
Graham Ramsay
You might be a Bright:
www.the-brights.net

I got a couple fish that can't tolerate high temps, would probably stress
them out to much any higher and they'd end up getting ich.

I was actually looking for a rental UV as xmas isn't here yet, so can't
treat myself to one.

Tripled the airflow into the tank, got the powerheads blasting with airlines
attached, which the fish love (they're all in the powerhead right now
playing, even woke the sleeping clowns up). Got the pumps on full blast into
the airstone, lots of water surface activity.

I broke down and added the ole faithful aquari-sol, usually safe for
anything. Hardly have to add any to the water.

Feeding good doses of frozen bloodworms, plankton, and beefheart, spoiling
them. Lasts 2 minutes in the tank.

"Donald Kerns" wrote in message
...
D&M wrote:

To start, I've gradually increased the tank temp to 82, added 1 tbsp
per 5g salt as prescribed. Change the micron filter daily.


Might want to run a diatomic filter 1x a day too, if you have access to
one...

82 deg F might not be high enough. Make sure to add additional
aeration!!!

-Donald
--
"When you've lost your ability to laugh, you've lost your ability to
think straight." -To Inherit the Wind

If you got the fish last week, the quarantine period can't have
been completed. Three weeks is a reasonable time, some
would say four or more.

I go 7 days with a couple platties (as I got hundreds of them) for testers.
Only thing I've been watching for is the common diseases/parasites that are
noticable in that time period. Unfortunate for me, the platies were to
healthy, still don't have ich. I'd imagine there's other diseases that have
a longer gestation period, but felt sorry for the poor ancistrus locked up
with a couple platies in a 10g for longer than a week.


If you have the fish (and plants) that are okay in high temperatures than
you
can try that with some caveats.

What are caveats?

This may or may not be desirous.

I like that word.


To effectively kill ich you need a higher temp, I have found 86F
to be effective although I've read of a strain in Florida fish farms that
lived
in temperatures up to 90F.

There was a strain of ich brought up from florida last year with some clown
loaches, wiped out 100 tanks at a local store. Got into their sump system
(wiped out 1/2 our tank as well) Hagen tried to kill it with no avail, they
ended up having to use acid to kill it.

I have found that ich can easily be treated by heat and daily water
changes
in a quarantine tank. No other medication, including salt, is required.
In an established tank, with a mixture of fish and plants, it's more
problematical
and one solution most definitely does not fit all, but in most cases, a
proprietary
remedy, used properly, will do the trick.

I'm starting with the simple, less stressful appoaches right now, my
experience from my last few bouts with ich is the more agressivly you attack
it, the higher loss in fish.

I have definitely had success just raising temp and adding salt. Give it a
few more days and I'm sure everyone will be fine. It really depends on how
healthy the fish are. IMO adding Ich meds is a complete waste of time and
money.

HTH

Regards
Cam


"D&M" wrote in message
...
I always knew this day would come.

I got a silver spotted ancistrus last week, finished quaranteen with no
visible signs of anything, moved it into the 90g tank. Couple days later,
3
bala's are covered with ich, one pictus cat is disasterously covered with
it, and some of the other inhabitants have it on their tails (as feared,
one
of the clown loaches included). Majority of the tank inhabitants don't
show
any signs. Guess some of those silver spots weren't natural coloration.
I've never seen a fish so covered as the pictus cat, I feel so sorry for
him, there's not a spot on his body that doesn't have a white dot.
So now the chore begins, treating a 90g tank for ich with multiple breeds
and sizes of fish, including multiple scaleless fish.

To start, I've gradually increased the tank temp to 82, added 1 tbsp per
5g
salt as prescribed. Change the micron filter daily.

Anyone had success with just elevated temps and salt, or does it always
revert back to having to treat the tank?

Cheers