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I recently purchased three small clowns to eat the snails out of my 65g hex (the clowns will be moved to a larger tank in the future).

In the past Ick Guard II worked wonderfully as an ick treatment for my clowns (other clowns, in 72g tank. Within two days symptoms were eased.

This time, I have been treating for 7-10 days and no improvement.

The clowns are playful and eating, but they are just coated with ick.

The only thing I am doing differently than what I did with the other clowns is to add Bio-Coat or Bio Stress (? it is yellow and I threw the bottle away recenlty) water conditioner rather than Aqua Plus. I know that water conditioners can cause havoc with ick treatments like CopperSafe, but what about Ick Guard II?

I have not tested water since the ick treatment began. If you need my numbers, I'll supply them tomorrow.

Any suggestions? For anyone who may remember my ick/clown loach battle last Feb/March, all I can say is: "Please do not let me go down that road again:

rasboramary

A few questions first.

Are you using any carbon at all?

Did you raise the temp a little?

Turn the lights off?

Is it posible thatb the treatment is well passed the used by date?

Finally you could have reintroduced it again via the water or did not kill it all the first time.

Here is some ich info
[link=Ich info]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/General%20Freshwater/59949.html?200507090755" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link]

[link=My Betta desk top tank]http://photobucket.com/albums/b209/keithgh/" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link]

[link=Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.]http://www.fishprofiles.com" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link]

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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have u tryed quick cure it worked for my bettas and they are happy and heathy now . and it is very cheep to its like 3 bucks

I have studied, studied, and studied some more the subject of Ick. I have successfully cured it (and managed to keep my clowns alive for almost a month while learning that my water conditioner was neutralizing CopperSafe!). I obviously need to learn more, because this time "it ain't workin'"

I have done water changes. I have raised the temp to 82 (but no higher, I am afraid for my angels and tetras). I put the lights on from 6PM to 10PM (is that too much? I never heard of reduced lighting to help Ick, maybe you are on to something there).

I am beginning to wonder if the meds are "past due" as you mentioned, as I can come up with nothing else.

Now, for the person who wrote about their Betta (sorry, I can't remember your name!!). Is the stuff you used safe for scaleless fish?? Does it contain any copper or is it a formalin based med?

They still do not look good 2-nite, but are just a playin' and a eatin' away.

This makes me sick. I don't want to leave them to die!!!!!!!!!!

my clowns used to have minor ich on them...all i did was use half the dosage of med...raise the temperature and make a 20% water change everyday for a few days even after the ich is gone..anyway...good luck!

Quick Cure is basically the same as Ich Guard II. No reason to switch. The Ich Guard should be working, it has worked very well for me when I've used it. Are you running any activated carbon or anything that would pull it from the water? Conditioners shouldn't affect it as it has a very different chemical composition. It could be expired. If you're treating accoring to the directions on the bottle you should be seeing improvement by now. Are any new spots popping up or are they just not going away? You might want to dose with melafix, as the white spots are actually not the parasite at all, they are little wounds as a result of the parasite burrowing into the skin. Melafix could speed healing and also prevents secondary infection like columnaris, which is very common with ich.

What kind of tetras do you have? Most can take higher temperatures. To treat ich with temperature alone you need to raise it above 85F, usually between 85-90. Your clown loaches can certainly handle such temperatures, just make sure you increase it slowly.

Post your numbers up just in case.

I am sorry. I am working on a huge case at work (law firm) and have not had time to do water testing (Yes, hit me now, I could have done it in the time it took me to log on tonight).

I am starting to think that maybe the ick wounds are still there, as you mentioned. I always have PimaFix and MelaFix on hand so will begin treating tonight with those.

My temp stays at 80 to 82. Right now it is 82. I have 3 ANgelfish, 5 Red Serpae Tetras and 4 Pristella Tetras.

Do you think they could handle 85? I know the loaches won't mind.

I know I am being lazy about this, and saying that work is getting to me is a cop out, but this week is just really really bad for me. I will have all weekend at home, though, if things go well.

Yes, I am now officially an "irresponsible pet owner" and I hate that monikker!!!!!!!!!

I know I am being lazy about this, and saying that work is getting to me is a cop out, but this week is just really really bad for me. I will have all weekend at home, though, if things go well.

Yes, I am now officially an "irresponsible pet owner" and I hate that monikker!!!!

First of all stop being so hard on yourself! We all have busy times when maintenance slacks off a bit. Don't worry about it, it sounds like you're doing fine.

My temp stays at 80 to 82. Right now it is 82. I have 3 ANgelfish, 5 Red Serpae Tetras and 4 Pristella Tetras.

Do you think they could handle 85? I know the loaches won't mind.

They should all be fine, the angels and loaches won't mind at all. The tetras may be a little stressed by it but they'll be ok, especially since it's a short term thing. Increase surface agitation and aeration while you do it as the increased temperature will lower dissolved oxygen. I would raise the temperature to about 86-87, just go slowly and make sure aeration is good. The ich parasite is incapable of reproducing at around that temperature so if there is any ich left in there it should just die off.

If you're increasing temperature, I would run some fresh activated carbon on the tank to pull the remaining medication for the first 24 hours, raise the temperature by only 1-2 degrees on the first day, then the remaining 2-3 the next. After that you can remove the carbon, just treat with a bit of melafix if you want and make sure the water is very clean.

Thank you Trys! I really appreciate your kind words. It just bugs me when people buy pets then don't follow through with their responsibilities. I am normally one of the most conscientious pet owners a person could ever meet, I just fell off the wagon this week is all. So, yes,then I am hard on myself.

I have begun to raise the temp and hopefully this will work. Thanks for the input about the angels and tetras. I thought about moving the tetras to another tank, but wonder if that would be more stress than the warmer temps ??

I always have good aeration in the tank, and have taken steps to increase aeration and water agitation.

My main questions now: How long should the temp stay at steady 87 or 88 before decreasing again?

THanks again for your kind words.

Keith: What an awesome betta desktop! How big is it? You have decorated it beautifully!

Wait a couple of days after all of the spots have fallen off, I would give it about 4 days then decrease the temp. slowly back to the usual 82. I would just leave the tetras, they should do alright.

Good luck.

rasboramary

Thank you for the comments about my Betta Tank.

I have updated My Profile with all the details about the tank.

Basically it is a 31lt 20x12x12ins

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
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