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ich is spreading in my molly tank! i think it was over stocked. anyway i can't seem to get rid of the ich. it keeps comeing back. so tday is the last standing! the tank is getting a 75% water change + salt + higher temp. please let me know what to do!

DON'T do that drastic of a water change, it will send the tank into a cycle...

Go to your lfs instead and get "the ich" meds, (can't think of the name give me a second...treat your tank, and keep treating it. What has happened is that you've treated it to help, then they live on the substrate of your tank, once you quit treating, it comes back...or something like this...go get some meds, and treat the tank, it will be easier on the tank and on you....

hml



This is what Babel said on another site Follow the directions for treating exactly. Do not stop treatement simply because the dots "went away". Raising the temp of the tank a few degress is likely to help speed up the life cycle making it easier to eliminate.



Last edited by emma at 17-Dec-2004 15:02

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

Rid Ich from Kordon seems to be good. You should be able to get it at any local fishstore. I know PetsMart has it.

Last edited by fishnewbie at 17-Dec-2004 15:13

Would it be at all possible for you to quarantine the fish that have ick in another tank and treat them in it. That way you can hopefully keep the ick out of the infectious stage so spores aren't able to look for new host fish. Also i think a 75 % water change might be a little drastic. I'd do about a 30% change hopefully you'll be able to vaccum up alot of cyst in the gravel if any exsist before they divide into spores. Raise the temperature of your tank and continue to treat with Rid ick + as directed.

Let me vouch for Rid-Ich -- it's swatted down every Ich outbreak I've ever had in 16 years of fish-keeping, without my ever losing a single fish to Ich. (Wish I could say as much about the other fish diseases I've had to cope with over the years...)

One note of advise when treating fish for ich, is a question of do you have any catfish in the tank. If so, you should move them out of the tank, or treat the tank with half the recommended doses, and twice as long as the recommended time. The reason is, most catfish are scaleless and will absorb the ich meds into their skin, and this will usually kill them rather quickly.

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There is always a bigger fish...

right now i have super sulfa in the tank try to see if that will help. n.e way all the fish have ich in the tank and i have two problems.
1.i am going away soon and i need this problem solved.
2.i have in a seperate tank that is holding 10 mollies that i have just gotton from my shippment and i need to do something with all of them. i am leaving for a week and when i get back i will be starting 2 new ten gallons for the mollies. i need any and all suggestions

well i seem to have stop the ich in my molly tank . thanks to super sufla.

This was a pretty good article. While not everyone agrees with the treatment regimen, please read it for an understanding of the ich lifecycle. When ich keeps coming back, it's because the lifecycle isn't understood and dealt with.

[hrefhttp://www.aquamaniacs.net/ich.html[/href]

Meds are only effective during the parasites free-swimming stage when it's looking for a host. For this reason, when the first few spots show up, it is with urgent necessity, that you should dose. Thousands are in the water looking to attach to a fish. Infection follows.

I would follow Kordon's recommendation for treatment plan, as opposed to someone else's version of it. It seems these folks have modified the Kordon plan, if I recall (didn't read it as it is late).

One word about prevention. If ich didn't come in with new fish, then the fish got chilled. If the tank is not near a source which can rapidly drop the temp several degrees in a short time, then it is a good idea to evaluate your water changes. Always know the water temp in the tank before replacing water. Make sure the new water coming in does not alter that temp, more than +/- 1F. This means if you do a 20% water change, your new water can probably be off by +/- 2F or more and not alter the temp. I've used this target since day 1 and have never had a case of ich in any tank. Ditto for velvet.

Overcrowding can also be a contributor, but I believe chilling causes temp stress, which is the biggest contributor.

Last edited by Cory_Di at 18-Dec-2004 23:36