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ok my 54 gallon planted tank received its 3rd lot of occupants last weekend. they are Bleeding Heart Tetras who now have Ich!!!!!!!!!!!! they seemed quite stressed opon bringing them home even after my upmost effort in making there trip home as stress free as poss. however now there sick and well i ghess infected he whole blinking tank and poss the 2 Ottos and the Clown Loaches ]:|]:| so im thinking now i will need to treat the whole tank? as the chance of catching the Tetras is zero as the tank is dense in plants. so im aware i will need to 1/2 dose due to the types of fish affected but what should i use to treat the tank that wont harm my plants? im soo never putting fish straight in there again, QT tank on the shopping list for sure. as its a lrg tank is there a good but affordable med that anyone can suggest? it cant contain any dyes as i dont want staining. and input appreciated

I used esha exit only a few days ago, it treated the fish very well, didnt kill the ottos, didnt kill the filter, and didnt stain the silicone blue.

I have ich again in my 55g. I use Ich Attack, by Kordon. It is all natural and is safe for cories and loaches. Also you wouldn't have to use only 1/2 the dose. I have suspicious panda cory deaths now, but when I used it a month ago before I got the pandas, no one died. I have cories and yoyo loaches. Good luck.
What else is in the tank? Raising the temp helps. I raised mine to 86F last time. This time I raised it to 84F and I have lost 2 of my pandas. Raising the temp helps speed up the lifespan of ich, if it is safe for all of your fish.
It didn't harm my plants or stain anything either. I have also heard that Kent's Marine RX-P is also good and safe for scaleless fish. It is ok to use in FW also. I couldn't find it anywhere. Another suggestion is Protozin. I have not used it before so I don't know about staining or if it is safe for scaleless fish. Someone else will have to put there input on that. Good luck! :%)

Last edited by GirlieGirl8519 at 14-Dec-2005 16:55

*Kristin*

Unfortunately here in Australia you can't find a lot of the good meds that they have overseas (medicines are restricted). The one I've used succesfully for ich with plants, loaches, otos, and corys present is Protozin. It's more expensive than the normal ich meds and not many stores carry them, but I believe it's the best available one here.

The bottle says to use half the dosage when loaches are present, but I've used the normal dosage with no ill effect on botia sidthimunki. You might want to start with half a dose just in case, then perhaps increase it to full dose gradually if your clowns seem to react ok to it. I did 1/2 dose on day 1, 3/4 dose on day 2, full dose on day 3, 1/2 dose on day 4, and another full dose on day 6. I probably could've done full doses on days 1,2,3,6 as recommended. I also changed 50% of the water before and after the treatment course (days 1 and 7). You can repeat the dose again if you still see it after day 7. In my case, the spots disappeared by day 4. Oh, I also raised the temp to 29C during treatment. This helps speed up the ich lifecycle.

BTW, Protozin did stain the filter sponge and the white suction cup on the thermometer, but not too badly. Small price to pay IMO.

HTH & good luck!

Last edited by upikabu at 14-Dec-2005 20:20

-P

I am in Vic south of Melb. I used Aqua Master Rapid White Spot Remedy. It is recommended for baby fish and scaleless fish. I think it can be used with Melafix as well. Extra things to do raise the temp slowly, turn the lights off, feed sparingly every second day. Do a good water change when you have finished 30% about every 3-4 days.

The most impotant thing to do is to read all the instructions very carefully and be patient.

Prepare and store the water inadvance.

Keep up the treatment for at least 2-3 weeks after you have seen the last white spot.

Carbon can be used if required when all the treatment has finished.

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ok, i have some Protozin on hand but its not enought to treat the course unless i dose as recommended for scaleless fish. so ok i use this (bit broke with christmas round the corner to buy more meds)
can my plants stand high temps for the 4 day course? how much will it affect them in that short a time?
and should i turn off all lighting for the 4 days or should i just turn on 1 20watt tube? how will a blackout affect my plants for 4 days?
and if after the 4 day course i have to treat again what state could my plants be in after say 2 weeks of high temps, meds and no lights?
i think i want to cry

If you use Protozin, you do not need to turn the lights off.

Use half dosage because of your Clown Loaches, but prolong the treatment régime.

Remove ANY AND ALL activated carbon from your filter while medicating, otherwise the activated carbon will remove the medication.

Protozin should be safe to use in your aquarium in accordance with the instructions. I've used it in the past with Otocinclus and Panda Corys, and they've come through it all bouncy and tickety-boo.

As for feeding, I recommend live Daphnia and Bloodworm if you can get it. I've discovered experimentally that if fishes are fed live foods in good quantity while being medicated, then the live foods help boost the immune systems of the fishes, and enable them to fight the disease that much more effectively. If you're worried about introducing any infections with the live food (which in my case is not a major worry because I'm fortunate enough to know the provenance of my source) then use live Brine Shrimp instead. Intersperse live feedings with a high quality flake and the results should be impressive!

Do NOT, by the way, mix Protozin with another medication. The result will be less than delightful.

In your case I would recommend following the day 1,2,3 then 6 régime stated on the bottle, then pause for 2-3 days, then commence a second 1,2,3,6 treatment course after that to make absolutely sure that the free-swimming larvae are all killed off.

Protozin does not harm plants. It may have some effect upon your biofilter, but it won't totally destroy it.

Once treatment has ceased, do NOT use any other medication in the same aquarium for a MINIMUM of 4 days.

Though this does not apply in your case, bear in mind that Protozin can NOT be used in any aquarium containing freshwater Rays (Potamotrygon species) or Mormyrids (Elephant Nosed fishes and related fishes such as Mormyrus, Mormyropsis and Marcunesias species). Those fishes need to be quarantined and treated with a different medication.

Combine your Protozin treatment with regular inputs of live foods, and your fishes should survive this disease onslaught quite happily.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

thankyou Calilasseia
i am going to treat them tonight as when i watched them tonight i can see they have been so iritated that they have rubbed on gravel and as a result have lost scales. they did eat flakes when offered and are swimming around ok. i noticed on one of them last night a tiny blk spot on his side? now i think its gone, but there are no obvious white spots. there is some raised white areas near one of there mouths but as they have rubbed scales its hard to see if its just scale damage or maybe Fungus? Protozin treats both Ich and Fungus so i ghess its not worth me delaying treatment by sitting here trying to see what it really is! im so mad this has happened
thanks for your reply

Cali, I read you said not to mix Protozin with any other meds. Would that apply to other ich meds? Or is it just that one. I am using Ich Attack and Melafix at the same time. I have lost 2 pandas and a rummynose this week. The panda deaths I relate to the high temp., but not sure about the Rummy. I was wondering if mixing the two meds had anything to do with it.
Sorry to butt in on your post lou lou, but didn't want to start a whole new discussion for my little question. Good luck getting rid of your ich.

*Kristin*

In your case I would recommend following the day 1,2,3 then 6 régime stated on the bottle, then pause for 2-3 days, then commence a second 1,2,3,6 treatment course after that to make absolutely sure that the free-swimming larvae are all killed off.

I am going to do this too. Good Idea...

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Cali,

Hi !
I think the reason Keith suggested turning the lights off, is it's a way of reducing stress when a fish is sick. As such, it's a valid suggestion no ?

ps - My otos are doing great in the 40, caught 6 of them hanging out today under some plants and watched them for 20 min. If they're still ok by spring, I'm going to try and get some ZEBRA OTOS !!!

The Amazon Nut...

Last night I started the 2nd round of treatment. Two died overnight and another needed to be euthenased this morning before work.

I suspect the deaths occurred prior to the administration of last night's dosage but I only discovered it this morning.




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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~