Community Tank with Ich (Ick) with Lace Synodontis

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amberanneb
Posts: 3
Joined: 26 Sep 2017, 08:12
My cats species list: 1 (i:1, k:0)
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Location 1: Canada
Location 2: Britich Columbia

Community Tank with Ich (Ick) with Lace Synodontis

Post by amberanneb »

I am in Canada and need help!!!!

My 20 gallon community tank has Ich, I started treating by slowly rising the water temperature from 72℉ (24℃) to 80℉... I also added a dose of API Ich Remover, however I forgot that it needed to be a half or quarter dose because of my Featherfin synodontis (Lace Catfish as its know here), I immediately did a 50-75% water change and treated it with water conditioner, have I done more harm than good or will I hopefully have saved my cat from any harm?

In the 2 years with my tank its never been infested and my cat has survived two tank upgrades (10->15->25 gallon) and a 3 hour drive to move, I don't want to loose it.
Viktor Jarikov
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Re: Community Tank with Ich (Ick) with Lace Synodontis

Post by Viktor Jarikov »

Welcome to the Planet!

IMHO and IME, catfish take medications pretty much the same way as other scaled fish. Just watch your fish closely, when treating. For instance, if your syno wasn't scratching itself at all or not much before the addition of the med but started scratching violently after, then it likely means that the medication is irritating its skin and the dose needs to be reduced. Same if the fish gets lethargic or has difficulty breathing as in starts breathing very rapidly or going for the surface, swims funny, was hiding but doesn't hide anymore, any significant deviation from the usual behavior...

Make sure your diagnosis is correct and it is ich.

If it is ich, it doesn't occur out of nowhere. Ich is ALWAYS present in any tank but is kept in check by a healthy fish's strong immune system, kind of like the pathogens that cause common cold in people are always present in our respiratory systems but are kept in check by a healthy person's immune system.

When fish is stressed, its immune system weakens and the ever-lurking ich raises its ugly head. The most common causes of stress are ammonia or nitrite in the water, insufficient oxygen, bullying / fighting, wrong or unstable pH and water hardness, wrong water temp, nitrates (not to be confused with nitrites), wrong lighting, some other disease / pathogen, to which ich is a secondary or even tertiary outbreak, etc.

I used to treat ich too with Rid-ich or temp+salt until I learned that clean, right water and absence of stress is all that's needed for any fish to recover from ich, unless the outbreak is very severe. That goes for any new fish that arrives in your nice and healthy tank. If the ich burst out in your existing tank and stock, that means that there is a source of strong stress, which needs to be found and eliminated. Otherwise the ich will not dissipate on its own... obviously.
Thebiggerthebetter
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amberanneb
Posts: 3
Joined: 26 Sep 2017, 08:12
My cats species list: 1 (i:1, k:0)
My aquaria list: 1 (i:0)
Spotted: 1
Location 1: Canada
Location 2: Britich Columbia

Re: Community Tank with Ich (Ick) with Lace Synodontis

Post by amberanneb »

Thank you :) I did add some new fish on Friday and 72 hours later I noticed. The fish that are affected have the signature “grain of salt” spots on them and one fish has it bad and it looks like plaque (I initially thought it was a fungus). I’ve had this tank for almost 2 years and have had no issues until this incident.
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