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SO a couple fish of mine have ick and fin rot... is it better to remove the really sick ones and treat them separately (as well as treat the tank) or should i leave them all together and treat them all as a bunch.. leaving the really sick ones with the ones in the tank that look ok ( but still getting treatment) ??

just wondering
thanks
sean

You have to treat the whole tank. You kill them when their not attatched to the fish. It will take several days to treat.

-Vincent

Nasty problems, Sean. Treat the tank.

First thing to do is improve your water quality. It will help knock down the bacterial fin-rot. Frequent water changes with erythromycin, a broad spectrum anti-biotic, will help.

The second thing to do will be to treat for ich by slowly raising your tank temp to 82F. The rise in tank temperature will speed up the life cycle of the ich bug. Go here to read about it: ich.

Use a name brand medicine for ich and follow these directions, remember you are also doing the water changes for bacterial fin-rot:

Day 1. Do a 50% water change, dose ich med at 1/2 the recommended dose, dose erythromycin at 1/2 the recommended dose.
Day 3. Do a 50% water change, dose ich med at 1/2 the recommended dose, dose erythromycin at 1/2 the recommended dose.
Day 5. Do a 50% water change, dose ich med at 1/2 the recommended dose, dose erythromycin at 1/2 the recommended dose.
Day 7. Do a 50% water change, dose ich med at 1/2 the recommended dose, dose erythromycin at 1/2 the recommended dose.
Day 9. Do a 50% water change, dose ich med at 1/2 the recommended dose, dose erythromycin at 1/2 the recommended dose.
Day 11. Do a 50% water change, dose ich med at 1/2 the recommended dose, dose erythromycin at 1/2 the recommended dose.
Day 13. Do a 50% water change, dose ich med at 1/2 the recommended dose, dose erythromycin at 1/2 the recommended dose.



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Certainly do as Bob has recommended. Other things I would do as would be add airation and turn off the lights.
Turning of the lights will decrease the stress factor. Some people also add a stress coat during the Ich treatment.
When you have finished all this you will have to do a good filter cleaning. Finally try to establish how you got the Ich in the first place.
Added to Bob's suggestions I would continue for at least two weeks changing about 30% of the water every third day after all the medication treatment has finished. This will help in removing all the medications.
To prevent Ich entering the tank can be very difficult if you dont have a spare tank. I have a huge problem during the colder months as it comes through the water supply. That is the main reason why I store allmy water for one week before it goes into the tank.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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I recall having read from some where, that the white spots on the fish are either the cyst of the parasite or the deactivated dormant form of the parasite.(can't remember for sure) Usually raise the temperature will cause them to become activated and therefore can be treated effectively. You are really trying to aim to treat and kill the parasite than the white spots on the fish. Fin rot is usually a bacterial infection. Anti-biotics usually help.

Just my two cents worth.

Again, do as Bob suggested.
And best of luck with it.

R.E. turning the tank lights off to reduce the stress. Has anyone actually proved that light stress's the fish? Surely it'd be more stressfull for the fish to be plunged into darkness 24/7, surely this could mess up their "body clock" (if fish have a body clock) and cause yet more stress?

higher temperature and salt work best on ich. if in early stages, no medication is needed..there are a lot of factors involved though in this treatment like tolerance of salt specific to the sick fish etc..
Does salt effect bacteria as well?