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hi..and yes..this is an ich problem....im wondering, does anyone ever tried ich-x by hikari??? coz...i didnt say how long the treatment should be??? another thing, in ur opinion, should i treat the entire 20g tank (all water parameters are ok, and just changed 25% water yesterday) with ich medicine or should i remove just those afflicted??? as far as im concern, i should treat the whole tank...but im looking for other opinions on this matter..thx

Hi Tankie

With parasites, I would suggest treating the main tank. Otherwise, you'll have two tanks with ich. There is a method of curing ich by moving fish from one tank to another daily, but it requires several tanks and is alot of work.

I've not used Ich-X and I know it is fairly new on the market. It claims to use a less harsh form of malachite green. I do see that it has formalin in it (5% or so). Formalin is a gas and therefore, you should not turn the heat up as some may recommend with ich treatment. Higher temps = less oxygen and so does the formalin gas. Combining the two could mean trouble for your fish.

I could not find anything on whether it is safe at full strength for scaleless and sensitive fish. Sensitive fish include characins like tetras. When in doubt, use at half strength for a few hours before adding a little more to see how they deal with it. With formalin in the water, you are likely to see the fish respirating more heavily and maybe hanging out near the filter outflow or bubbles. However, if you see them gasping excessively and darting about, then do a large water change as suggested by Hikari in the instructions. Make sure temp is identical. Even a drop of a few degrees can bring on chilling and more ich.

Have you checked parameters? What is ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH doing?

Have fish become chilled recently that they have caught ich? Have you added new fish or plants recently that could have carried it in?

the parameters r fine... nh3, no2=o, no3=less 5, ph=7. its the new platies(2) i added...i dont have quarantine tank..so i just acclimated them and added them to the main tank...i didnt see at 1st that they have ich...its just after 2 days that i discovered they have it. and so, i decided to treat the entire tank just in case for i know..that once its the water, its only time till others will be infected. lesson of the day "get quarantine tank".
on that note: went to my lfs today, and saw the tank where i took the platies, its back on "nfs" status..they discovered ich in there as well..so...too bad for me, i just harbor the problem.. hope things will be better.. btw, regarding ich treatment...how long do i have to treat them??? i hear 10-14 days, others, just a few days, wich really is the right one??
thx

Use this as a guideline Tankie. I would treat for up to 7 days after the last spot is gone.

Here is the lifecycle, which is what you need. Understanding it is important to treatment. It is very likely there were "swarmers" in the water from that lfs tank. Read the article to understand what this means.

[link=http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/profiles/disease/freshwater/ich.html]http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/profiles/disease/freshwater/ich.html" style="COLOR: #C000C0[/link]

thx a lot cori

Let us know how they do.

I should have mentioned that if any fish has ich and you watch them a while, you should see them rubbing against objects. Do you see this?

no...i havent seen them scratching...the ich started in the caudal fin area...both platies i took from my lfs have it (the tank from whcih i took them is now in quarantine in the lfs for the same problem).

Have you dosed the med yet? If not, you may not want to. If they are not scratching at all when you observe them for 5-10 minutes straight, then it could be an infection. Pimafix would be better for that, if not Fungus Clear Tank Buddies. But, you may need to dose the latter at half strength if you have cories or tetras.

ive started...cory...coz..when i found out that ich dropped off from one of the fins of the platy...i knew i have to do sumthing...and the next day...the white spots on the other one also disappear..so...b4 it multiplies..i started the treatment.