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After 15 yrs of aquariums, I finally got ICH!!

Hawkman2000

Hawkman2000

Members
15 years and never had an ich problem. Guess time caught up with me. Apperantly it killed my Elioti before I even noticed it was present.

I read through a previous thread that is now closed (Ich in my 150), and I am now crankin up the heat. I added a little more salt, but the salt I use is Seachem American Cichlid salt. It actually has more trace minerals than salt. I might pick up some salt tomorrow, but I am worried about my juvi ABN.

Has anyone ever lost a BN from salt bathing.

BTW, its a SA/CA tank, firemouths, cons, a juvi JD.
 
hollyfish2000

hollyfish2000

Members
Use kosher salt
I didn't lose my BN the first and only time I had ick.
Make sure you have good oxgenation when you crank up the heat.
Sorry. this sucks
 
Hawkman2000

Hawkman2000

Members
Cranked the heat up to 89. Also added another heater. Gunna pick up some salt a little later, but it sounds like the heat will be all I need.

Also turned up the bubbles. Already had 1 stone and a powerhead hooked up to Rena 400. I had to hook the venturi on the powerhead up to the air pump because its to deep. Turned the air all the way up.

Thanks to all.
 
W

WendyFish

Members
Here is the excerpt from my fish log from how we treated. We were going on vacation right after this, so we were really, really conservative in trying to make sure we got rid of it, hence the relatively long duration at higher temps.

The other thing we did was to change water a lot in the beginning, in hopes that by frequently vaccuuming the sand, we would get more of it out of the tank when it fell off the infected fish.

10.31.2011
Detected ich
Added 7tbsp aquarium salt
Ran diatomic filter
Heat up to 86 degrees

11.3.2011
70% water change
Heat up to 87

11.4.2011
Heat to 86
60% water change
Heat to 87

11.6.2011
60% water change
Heat to 89 for the day (we were home to observe them and make sure they were ok at this temperature, but it was no problem)
Heat to 86 in the evening

11.9.2011
Temperature to 84

11.10.2011
Temperature to 82

11.11.2011
Temperature to 80

After the ich fell off the infected fish, it did not reemerge.
 
Hawkman2000

Hawkman2000

Members
Tony said:
Be careful not to make fish soup, bro. ;)

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I'm gunna turn the heat down a little during the day, then turn it up in the afternoon and evening.

Also added melfix and a black light. Might help.

They seem to be fine with the heat. Actually, I'm kinda jealous. Its like a Jacuzzi with all those jets and bubbles and warm water. I wonder if I could fit into a 46b, lol.
 
hollyfish2000

hollyfish2000

Members
Careful with the melafix. It's not supposed to, but it can reduce oxygen levels and do other negative things, from anecdotal reports. And it won't help with ick. I'd not use it and keep things simple with salt, heat and bubbles.
 
Hawkman2000

Hawkman2000

Members
Looking a touch better.

I added the melafix because a few of them are scratching.

Actually, this could work out pretty well. I just finished rinsing and boiling some paving sand my friend had left over from a job. I'll wait for 2 or 3 days after the ich is gone, do a thorough gravel cleaning, and change it out for the sand.
 
W

WendyFish

Members
hollyfish2000 said:
Careful with the melafix. It's not supposed to, but it can reduce oxygen levels and do other negative things, from anecdotal reports. And it won't help with ick. I'd not use it and keep things simple with salt, heat and bubbles.
Click to expand...

I can attest to this. After a few days with the heat high, aggression got going and a lot of fish were missing scales. We added melafix to mitigate possibility of infection and they were breathing hard within the hour. Took a big water change to set them right. I'm not sure it harmed the O2 but suspect it coated their gills or some vital breathing apparatus enough to cause distress.

The heat strategy is definitely key. Ideally, keep it at the level where it won't spread to new fish, and after long enough it will die because it can't find a host.
 
Hawkman2000

Hawkman2000

Members
I've kept the heat up at 88 allong with 20% water changes daily with 1 tbs of salt per 5 gal of water changed. Very little improvement so I got some Ickguard. 24 hrs. after first dose and have a little more improvement. The infected fish are much more active after the Ickguard treatment.
 
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