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I have amano shrimp, one singapore wood shrimp and countless ghost shrimp in my 75 gallon that appears to have an ich infestation. UGH!

What's everyone's ich med of choice? I haven't dealth with this stupid parasite in an aquarium in years and I don't remember what I used. Also, my big problem is my inverts. Aren't ich meds toxic to them? I also have regular snails that I LIKE and don't want to harm, as well as malayasian trumpet snails.

I had planned to set up a QT tank to treat the noticably infected fish but on further reading I now understand the meds effect ich when it's not attached to the fish. So what happens to the fish with visible signs? They aren't done for, are they? So far this problem is at an early stage--only a couple of my hatchetfish and black neon tetras have been affected and they aren't too bad yet.

First increase your temp to 28degreesC or so. Do it slowly over a couple of days, trying not to do more than 3-4degrees in a day. Adding salt to the water is useless at this stage (IMHO) as the ich is already there. The salt is meant to be a preventative, not a cure. I'd try Tri-sulfur, as it generally says on the packet it's safe for scale less fish and the like, but i don't keep invert's, so i can't offer anything first hand, i'm sorry.

I also recall reading a thread on this forum some time ago that invoved using either hydrogen peroxide or iodine as the cure, and provided quite detailed information on dosing rates and procedure. Might be worth your while to do a search for previous Ich threads and have a read...

Best of luck!

Rid ich plus is a med available here in the states that's formulated for scaleless fish like clown loaches, don't know how it'll go with the shrimp but I'm sure you could call the company if no one else knows for sure. Your MTS should be fine, mine survived a dosing of maracide.

To use temp as a treatment for ich without using meds or salt (salt is generally bad for most plants espcially more delicate ones) you'll need the temp to be able to be @95F for a week...most fish cannot handle those temps which is why it's not reccomended. Anything lower tempwise will only cause the ich cycle to go faster but not to kill the paracite.

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Well, I don't really have any experience with ich or inverts, but I was thinking, maybe you could move your shrimps and snails to quarantine tank, and treat your main tank? This, of course, will only help if shrimps and snails can't actually be infected by ich (can they?), but from what I know about ich you will have to treat the whole tank as some of them might be in their second stage when they are no longer attached to the fish...

Okay, I hope I didn't make a complete fool out of myself...

I thought about doing that but I have many shrimp and I don't think I could catch them all. I just went out and got "Quick Cure" fast relief for Ich. Anyone ever use this stuff before? It's made by Aquarium Products and its active ingredient is Malachite Green and Formalin.

Don't use ANYTHING with malachite green or Methyl Blue for SCALELESS fish. Not in any dose, reduced or otherwise. They really don't like it, and you have a very high chance of killing them by using it. I suggest you try either of the two meds already suggested. They are both proven for scale-less fish. If you have added the malachite green based med already, i suggest you do a 40% water change to try and reduce it's concentration in the tank. Tehn, go and get another med and start treating with that. Don't forget to increase your temp, as the Ich is most susceptible to the meds when it is off the host. Increasing the temp increases the ich life cycle so it drops off the host sooner.

Well I've done three treatments now with the malachite green/formalin and none of my black neons are showing any signs of ich. Only one of my silver hatchetfish has any symptoms now and it's only one small spot. My shrimp, cories and ottos all appear to be in perfect health.

jester_fu, I'd already done two treatments by the time I read your recommendation so I decided just to finish with this stuff. So far I can't be happier with the results. Instead of doing 75 drops per treatment (for 75G) I did 55 drops per treatment. Not exactly half, but not a full dose either. I'm going to continue for another treatment or two just to make sure this stuff gets rid of all the free swimming ich.

Thanks for all your help everyone!

i read somewhere that after the spots disappear you should continue treatment for three to seven days to ensure all ich is gone from tank. otherwise, if you add new fish at a later date and they become stressed (have lowered immune systems)they will most likely get the spots and you will have to start all over again. just something i read. it was from some marine biologist, though. good luck.

im dealing with it too on a neon tetra. i have an apple snail. i wonder if rid ich (malachite green and formulin) is safe for her. im on day 3 of treatment.
littletank

littletank, I read the same thing so I treated the tank another 3 times. I'd be cautious of your applesnail. This stuff has cut my pond snail population in half. I know a lot of people don't like those little buggers, but I do so it was a bit annoying.

I don't see my MTS very often so I'm not sure if it affected their population yet. My cories, ottos and shrimp are all fine. Over all, raising the temp to 85F and using Quick Cure has produced very good results. The infestation wasn't that bad to being with so hopefully I got all of the free swimming parasites with the follow up treatments.

Here is a med that I have used a long time & is safe for my scaleless & plants. However I always remove my (very large)apple snails until all the meds are removed from the water. I have stopped trying to find a cure for all three.They say its safe for them & a week later -MY SNAILS ARE DEAD!!
The med I use is QUICK CURE-w/malachite green,formalin. I use this in HALF doses & for twice as long. Works everytime! I personally just got over an attack & caught it in time. All my fish survived! Love it!

Wal-mart also sells it for about 2-3 $$. Good Luck!