A case of Ick?

I've got a 29 gallon tank that has been cycled for over a month now.
I used two albino tiger barbs to cycle the tank. 10 days ago, I
picked up 6 bleeding heart tetra's and 3 young false juli catfish. I
know that's alot of fish to add at once but I've been watching my
levels and everything looks good. I acclimated all the of the fish
before putting them in my tank. Everybody seemed to be doing great.
The tiger barbs were a little freaked out the first day since they had
been the only fish in the tank for two months but were fine the next
day. On the second day, one of my catfish died. The next day, a
second one died and the third was missing. I moved all the
decorations and couldn't find him anywhere. I figured he jumped out
of the tank and one of my cats got him since there is a small opening
near the filter. 2 days later I find him floating at the top of the
tank. I brought the two back to the store (the fifth one didn't
surface until before the guarantee period) and they exchanged them.
All they had were full size false juli catfish so I got those. Come
to find out after talking with the LFS, those young juli's I got
bought just arrived the morning of the day I bought them. All the
stress of going from two tanks in one day is probably what killed
them. I was upset that the LFS didn't tell me when I bought them that
they were new or I would have held off.

After seven days of adding the new fish to my tank, I notice my
bleeding heart tetras have white spots all over there body and fins.
From what I can tell it looks like Ick. I've tried to get a picture
of the fish but I can't seem to get one that is clear enought. I went
down to the LFS and they recommend I pickup some Aquarisol
(http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...&N=2004+113521).
The instructions say to up the temperature in the tank to 85 degrees
and add 12 drops per 10 gallons daily until the Ich is gone. I
removed the filter cartridge and put in one that didn't have carbon in
it. I have a Marineland Visi-Therm Stealth 100 heater and I moved the
dial to 86 degrees but the temperature of the tank will not go above
82 degrees, even after several days. I even tried moving the dial to
88 degrees but still no change. I've been treating the tank with the
Aquarisol for the past three days. I did a 25% water change the
second day and added the Aquarisol after that. Over the past 5 days,
the tank has been cloudy too. I'm thinking that might be a bacteria
bloom because I added alot of fish at once.

I've already had 2 of the bleeding hearts die, one yesterday and
another one this morning. The barbs and the catfish are not showing
any white spots on there body or fins, just the bleeding hearts. I
would move the other fish to a different tank, but the only other tank
I have is an unheated 5 gallon.

Does this sound like Ick? Am I doing everything properly to clear it
up and hopefully save my fish? Any ideas on why my heater will not go
above 82 degrees? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Rodney

"Rodney M" wrote in message
...

I've got a 29 gallon tank that has been cycled for over a month now.
I used two albino tiger barbs to cycle the tank. 10 days ago, I
picked up 6 bleeding heart tetra's and 3 young false juli catfish. I
know that's alot of fish to add at once but I've been watching my
levels and everything looks good. I acclimated all the of the fish
before putting them in my tank. Everybody seemed to be doing great.
The tiger barbs were a little freaked out the first day since they had
been the only fish in the tank for two months but were fine the next
day. On the second day, one of my catfish died. The next day, a
second one died and the third was missing. I moved all the
decorations and couldn't find him anywhere. I figured he jumped out
of the tank and one of my cats got him since there is a small opening
near the filter. 2 days later I find him floating at the top of the
tank. I brought the two back to the store (the fifth one didn't
surface until before the guarantee period) and they exchanged them.
All they had were full size false juli catfish so I got those. Come
to find out after talking with the LFS, those young juli's I got
bought just arrived the morning of the day I bought them. All the
stress of going from two tanks in one day is probably what killed
them. I was upset that the LFS didn't tell me when I bought them that
they were new or I would have held off.

After seven days of adding the new fish to my tank, I notice my
bleeding heart tetras have white spots all over there body and fins.
From what I can tell it looks like Ick. I've tried to get a picture
of the fish but I can't seem to get one that is clear enought. I went
down to the LFS and they recommend I pickup some Aquarisol
(http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...&N=2004+113521).
The instructions say to up the temperature in the tank to 85 degrees
and add 12 drops per 10 gallons daily until the Ich is gone. I
removed the filter cartridge and put in one that didn't have carbon in
it. I have a Marineland Visi-Therm Stealth 100 heater and I moved the
dial to 86 degrees but the temperature of the tank will not go above
82 degrees, even after several days. I even tried moving the dial to
88 degrees but still no change. I've been treating the tank with the
Aquarisol for the past three days. I did a 25% water change the
second day and added the Aquarisol after that. Over the past 5 days,
the tank has been cloudy too. I'm thinking that might be a bacteria
bloom because I added alot of fish at once.

I've already had 2 of the bleeding hearts die, one yesterday and
another one this morning. The barbs and the catfish are not showing
any white spots on there body or fins, just the bleeding hearts. I
would move the other fish to a different tank, but the only other tank
I have is an unheated 5 gallon.

Does this sound like Ick?

Would need a picture. Ich is small white dots. Probably is, as it's the
most common ailment fish catch.

Am I doing everything properly to clear it
up and hopefully save my fish?

Quarantine is what is (was) needed to keep your fish well. The store
fish are more at risk as they are less hardy due to the transit and water
shock. Their weakness may allow any diseases to grow stronger, putting
your fish at greater risk.

Aquarisol is not particularly strong, and I've generally avoided it
because I don't like copper-based medications. Having said that, follow
the directions, keep the water clean and you'll probably be fine. Ich is
really not hard to cure, unless there are other underlying problems
(check your ammonia, nitrite levels). Weak fish might sucumb to it.

Any ideas on why my heater will not go
above 82 degrees? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

I've encountered this as well, and it was not a pleasant surprise.
Apparently heaters which are adjustable to the high 80s are becoming
harder to find. Discus breeders complain about this too.

For your application, the elevated temperature would have accelerated the
Ich life cycle (which only has one stage vulnerable to the medication),
though if it was kept hot enough, I think you could kill the Ich
eventually without medication. The old-fashioned cure was heat, salt and
water changes.

Research the life cycle of this parasite (ie: 3 weeks) and other
techniques to combat it, and hopefully someone here will have experience
with Aquarisol and give you dosing instructions. In the absence of
guidelines, I would water change by gravel vac, dose, wait 2 days and
repeat for several cycles, but you need more Aquarisol-specific advice.
--
www.NetMax.tk

Rodney

On Sat, 11 Feb 2006 17:34:18 -0500, "NetMax"
wrote:

"Rodney M" wrote in message
.. .

I've got a 29 gallon tank that has been cycled for over a month now.
I used two albino tiger barbs to cycle the tank. 10 days ago, I
picked up 6 bleeding heart tetra's and 3 young false juli catfish. I
know that's alot of fish to add at once but I've been watching my
levels and everything looks good. I acclimated all the of the fish
before putting them in my tank. Everybody seemed to be doing great.
The tiger barbs were a little freaked out the first day since they had
been the only fish in the tank for two months but were fine the next
day. On the second day, one of my catfish died. The next day, a
second one died and the third was missing. I moved all the
decorations and couldn't find him anywhere. I figured he jumped out
of the tank and one of my cats got him since there is a small opening
near the filter. 2 days later I find him floating at the top of the
tank. I brought the two back to the store (the fifth one didn't
surface until before the guarantee period) and they exchanged them.
All they had were full size false juli catfish so I got those. Come
to find out after talking with the LFS, those young juli's I got
bought just arrived the morning of the day I bought them. All the
stress of going from two tanks in one day is probably what killed
them. I was upset that the LFS didn't tell me when I bought them that
they were new or I would have held off.

After seven days of adding the new fish to my tank, I notice my
bleeding heart tetras have white spots all over there body and fins.
From what I can tell it looks like Ick. I've tried to get a picture
of the fish but I can't seem to get one that is clear enought. I went
down to the LFS and they recommend I pickup some Aquarisol
(http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...&N=2004+113521).
The instructions say to up the temperature in the tank to 85 degrees
and add 12 drops per 10 gallons daily until the Ich is gone. I
removed the filter cartridge and put in one that didn't have carbon in
it. I have a Marineland Visi-Therm Stealth 100 heater and I moved the
dial to 86 degrees but the temperature of the tank will not go above
82 degrees, even after several days. I even tried moving the dial to
88 degrees but still no change. I've been treating the tank with the
Aquarisol for the past three days. I did a 25% water change the
second day and added the Aquarisol after that. Over the past 5 days,
the tank has been cloudy too. I'm thinking that might be a bacteria
bloom because I added alot of fish at once.

I've already had 2 of the bleeding hearts die, one yesterday and
another one this morning. The barbs and the catfish are not showing
any white spots on there body or fins, just the bleeding hearts. I
would move the other fish to a different tank, but the only other tank
I have is an unheated 5 gallon.

Does this sound like Ick?

Would need a picture. Ich is small white dots. Probably is, as it's the
most common ailment fish catch.

Am I doing everything properly to clear it
up and hopefully save my fish?

Quarantine is what is (was) needed to keep your fish well. The store
fish are more at risk as they are less hardy due to the transit and water
shock. Their weakness may allow any diseases to grow stronger, putting
your fish at greater risk.

I guess I'm gonna have to invest in a 10 gallon quarantine tank and
put any new fish in that. I would really hate to put my other fish at
risk again.

Aquarisol is not particularly strong, and I've generally avoided it
because I don't like copper-based medications. Having said that, follow
the directions, keep the water clean and you'll probably be fine. Ich is
really not hard to cure, unless there are other underlying problems
(check your ammonia, nitrite levels). Weak fish might sucumb to it.

After using the Aquarisol for about 6 days and after reading/listening
to the advice of others, I tried using Quick Cure for 3 days. That
didn't seem to help either. I ended up losing all 6 of my bleeding
heart tetras by the third day of using it. Every morning I would wake
up and find 1 floating until they were all dead.

The weird thing is, my two catfish and two albino tiger barbs are
showing no signs of Ich and seem healthy. I quit using any kind of
treatment. I put a new filter in with carbon (wanted the carbon back
since my water was really cloudy and that helped clear it up). I'm
going to wait a couple of weeks before adding any new fish to my tank.

I still have the temperature running at about 83 degrees. I'm going
to gradually bring this back to 76 starting today. I wonder if I
should

Thanks for your help.

Rodney

"Rodney M" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 11 Feb 2006 17:34:18 -0500, "NetMax"
wrote:

"Rodney M" wrote in message
. ..

I've got a 29 gallon tank that has been cycled for over a month now.
I used two albino tiger barbs to cycle the tank. 10 days ago, I
picked up 6 bleeding heart tetra's and 3 young false juli catfish. I
know that's alot of fish to add at once but I've been watching my
levels and everything looks good. I acclimated all the of the fish
before putting them in my tank. Everybody seemed to be doing great.
The tiger barbs were a little freaked out the first day since they
had
been the only fish in the tank for two months but were fine the next
day. On the second day, one of my catfish died. The next day, a
second one died and the third was missing. I moved all the
decorations and couldn't find him anywhere. I figured he jumped out
of the tank and one of my cats got him since there is a small opening
near the filter. 2 days later I find him floating at the top of the
tank. I brought the two back to the store (the fifth one didn't
surface until before the guarantee period) and they exchanged them.
All they had were full size false juli catfish so I got those. Come
to find out after talking with the LFS, those young juli's I got
bought just arrived the morning of the day I bought them. All the
stress of going from two tanks in one day is probably what killed
them. I was upset that the LFS didn't tell me when I bought them
that
they were new or I would have held off.

After seven days of adding the new fish to my tank, I notice my
bleeding heart tetras have white spots all over there body and fins.
From what I can tell it looks like Ick. I've tried to get a picture
of the fish but I can't seem to get one that is clear enought. I
went
down to the LFS and they recommend I pickup some Aquarisol
(http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...&N=2004+113521).
The instructions say to up the temperature in the tank to 85 degrees
and add 12 drops per 10 gallons daily until the Ich is gone. I
removed the filter cartridge and put in one that didn't have carbon
in
it. I have a Marineland Visi-Therm Stealth 100 heater and I moved
the
dial to 86 degrees but the temperature of the tank will not go above
82 degrees, even after several days. I even tried moving the dial to
88 degrees but still no change. I've been treating the tank with the
Aquarisol for the past three days. I did a 25% water change the
second day and added the Aquarisol after that. Over the past 5 days,
the tank has been cloudy too. I'm thinking that might be a bacteria
bloom because I added alot of fish at once.

I've already had 2 of the bleeding hearts die, one yesterday and
another one this morning. The barbs and the catfish are not showing
any white spots on there body or fins, just the bleeding hearts. I
would move the other fish to a different tank, but the only other
tank
I have is an unheated 5 gallon.

Does this sound like Ick?

Would need a picture. Ich is small white dots. Probably is, as it's
the
most common ailment fish catch.

Am I doing everything properly to clear it
up and hopefully save my fish?

Quarantine is what is (was) needed to keep your fish well. The store
fish are more at risk as they are less hardy due to the transit and
water
shock. Their weakness may allow any diseases to grow stronger, putting
your fish at greater risk.

I guess I'm gonna have to invest in a 10 gallon quarantine tank and
put any new fish in that. I would really hate to put my other fish at
risk again.

Aquarisol is not particularly strong, and I've generally avoided it
because I don't like copper-based medications. Having said that,
follow
the directions, keep the water clean and you'll probably be fine. Ich
is
really not hard to cure, unless there are other underlying problems
(check your ammonia, nitrite levels). Weak fish might sucumb to it.

After using the Aquarisol for about 6 days and after reading/listening
to the advice of others, I tried using Quick Cure for 3 days. That
didn't seem to help either. I ended up losing all 6 of my bleeding
heart tetras by the third day of using it. Every morning I would wake
up and find 1 floating until they were all dead.

The weird thing is, my two catfish and two albino tiger barbs are
showing no signs of Ich and seem healthy. I quit using any kind of
treatment. I put a new filter in with carbon (wanted the carbon back
since my water was really cloudy and that helped clear it up). I'm
going to wait a couple of weeks before adding any new fish to my tank.

I still have the temperature running at about 83 degrees. I'm going
to gradually bring this back to 76 starting today. I wonder if I
should

Thanks for your help.

Rodney

That's the trouble with many of these meds, if the fish are too far gone,
it can push them over the edge (and tetras don't have a lot of stamina to
start with). Letting the tank cool back to 76F and stabilize sounds like
a good idea. If after a month, you don't see any sign of Ich, then you
are probably clear. The bugs need hosts to survive, and that's usually
sick stressed fish.
--
www.NetMax.tk

Rodney M wrote:

snip
Does this sound like Ick? Am I doing everything properly to clear it
up and hopefully save my fish? Any ideas on why my heater will not go
above 82 degrees? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Yes, it sounds like ich. Aquarisol is very hard to use. If I were
you, I'd do two big water changes to get rid of the copper and switch
to something simpler like 1/2 strength Quick Cure.

My Visitherm Stealth goes to 86F without a problem. Heat above 85F
often kills ich, or at least speeds up ts lifecycle so it's more
vulnerable to medications. You may not have enough wattage if your
house is really cold.

On 11 Feb 2006 18:16:58 -0800, "Altum" wrote:

Rodney M wrote:

snip
Does this sound like Ick? Am I doing everything properly to clear it
up and hopefully save my fish? Any ideas on why my heater will not go
above 82 degrees? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Yes, it sounds like ich. Aquarisol is very hard to use. If I were
you, I'd do two big water changes to get rid of the copper and switch
to something simpler like 1/2 strength Quick Cure.

I tried switching over to Quick Cure but I didn't help. I lost of 6
of my bleeding heart tetras. Two of them were dead before I started
using it and the other 4 died by the third day of using the Quick
Cure.

My Visitherm Stealth goes to 86F without a problem. Heat above 85F
often kills ich, or at least speeds up ts lifecycle so it's more
vulnerable to medications. You may not have enough wattage if your
house is really cold.

II'm thinking my problem is due to the heater only be rated for a 30
gallon tank and mine is a 29 gallon. I should have bought a heater
with a higher wattage. On a good note, Marineland did offer to send
me a new heater free of charge, which was very nice.

Rodney

Rodney M wrote:

Any ideas on why my heater will not go
above 82 degrees?


The higher the difference in temperature between your tank and the room
it's in, the faster it loses heat. So, to maintain a high temperature,
your heater will spend more time on than it does for a lower
temperature. When it's on all the time, that's the highest temperature
you'll be able to get. Unless you wrap your tank in a blanket, or put in
a more powerful heater.

--

Pete Becker
Dinkumware, Ltd. (http://www.dinkumware.com)

When it's on all the time, that's the highest temperature
you'll be able to get. Unless you wrap your tank in a blanket, or put in a
more powerful heater.

--

Pete Becker
Dinkumware, Ltd. (http://www.dinkumware.com)

Or increase the temperature of your room!

I beleive your heater problems have been answered. But as for your ich
problems, I would be carefull with too much salt with catfish. Also I
cannot stress the importance of good water quality, you may have to do
daily 20% water changes (with proper conditioners). Good bio filtration
is a must, but this takes time. Seeding your tank with aged gravel from
a friend or an aged sponge filter (they work great) can also help. I
have used "medicated wonder shells' for years on my aquarium
maintenance route with excellent results (they also help with cloudy
water, but do not replace good water quality management). You can
obtain them at
http://americanaquariumproducts.com/...mProducts.html
Carl

wrote in message
oups.com...
I beleive your heater problems have been answered. But as for your ich
problems, I would be carefull with too much salt with catfish. Also I
cannot stress the importance of good water quality, you may have to do
daily 20% water changes (with proper conditioners). Good bio filtration
is a must, but this takes time. Seeding your tank with aged gravel from
a friend or an aged sponge filter (they work great) can also help. I
have used "medicated wonder shells' for years on my aquarium
maintenance route with excellent results (they also help with cloudy
water, but do not replace good water quality management). You can
obtain them at
http://americanaquariumproducts.com/...mProducts.html
Carl


I've seen this web site. These are your own product, aren't they? I
understand the time release functionality you are trying to get, but it's
not clear what else is in there or how it works. Clever to design
something which reduces your visits.
--
www.NetMax.tk