Ich case!

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 05 Sep 2004, 06:15

Came home from work tonight to see one of my clown killifish with ich. Honestly, I didn't expect these guys to live; I ordered them back in February/March of this year from Hawaii, and ended up with two males. Into the tank they went.

And no problems with them. Until tonight. I spotted the traditional white spots on one of the killis.

Tank Stats: water parameters as yet unknown.
29 gallon tank, very planted
Livestock: kuhli loaches, brochis cats, elegant cories, farlowella cats, and bristlenose plecos (2), banjo cats. Also the two killifish, and two female bettas.

So you can see that treating the tank is going to be difficult, with scaleless fish and all. However, I'm not intending to medicate. What I am wondering about is what caused the one killi to break out. Why haven't the kuhlis shown anything (yet)? Or the farlowella? The basically "weak" fish?

Water change schedule is twice a week, Monday and Wednesday, 40%-50% at a time.

Only recent change is that a newly acquired dojo loach died yesterday. Body removed, and a 45% water change done, since I wasn't sure how long the body had been in the tank. Cause of death unknown, but no spots or injuries noticed.

So why the killi only? Or am I counting my hopes still; am I on the bridge of an entire tank outbreak?

Post by **Barbie** » 05 Sep 2004, 06:37

Ich can be something that is seen in fish with weakened immune systems, or fish that are dealing with stress. If it was my tank, I'd do daily water changes on it of 30%, with careful gravel vacuuming, until any signs are gone. I've had good luck with that method.

If the fish isn't looking better within a day or two, raising the temperature to 82 or a bit higher, and adding salt at a dosage of 1 teaspoon per gallon can also help drastically. Hope this helps!

Barbie

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 05 Sep 2004, 07:18

Thanks, Barbie.

This past Feb, before I had the killifish, I had a school of 9 cardinal tetras. Bold and bright and sassy they were....they'd attack any snails they found, save for MTS!

They were in my 20 gallon tank with a molly and some croaking gouramis. Healthy as could be.

Then I left on a 2 day trip to San Diego, and when I came back, my cardinals were totally white with ich. No one else was affected at ALL. Not a single spot!

And these were tetras that survived mini-cycles, a huge plant die-off, a plant renewel, moving the tank from one end of the house to the other.....and then they died within two days of my return.

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 08 Sep 2004, 03:47

Gah....now the other killifish is spotted!

I'm upping the temperature....but I have sand instead of gravel, so vaccing it is kinda hard! But water changes all the way should help mostly, right?

Post by **Barbie** » 08 Sep 2004, 05:03

Are you showing any ammonia or nitrite in this tank? Is the temperature fluctuating? When you say water changes all the way, what exactly do you mean? What temp is the tank at now?

Barbie

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 08 Sep 2004, 05:11

No ammonia or nitrite as of my last test....I'll get another test in the morning.

Sorry Barbie, for the miscommunication.....when I mean "all the way" I was trying to say I don't really want to medicate the tank, but it looks like I'll have no choice left.

The temp right now is 80*F. I was told to raise it to 85*, and treat with Maracide for a week.

I think the temp might flucuate at night; I don't usually keep the heater on in the summertime, because room temp is nearly 85*F anyway, but it looks like I'll need to keep that heater plugged in all the time now!

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 08 Sep 2004, 15:22

Taratron,
I'm very sorry for your loss. I had this happen last January. The case my fish had came from new fish purchases(I was very upset with myself for not isolating).

Not using meds is a personal choice, but I can only relay my experience(or lack there of!) At first, I overused the meds and all at the wrong times. I learned that medicines used sparingly and at the right times can work. I'm not an expert, so I don't want to steer you in the wrong direction. But, it is important to know which stage of the illness you are dealing with because the medicines work, but only at certain stages of the illness(please correct me if I'm wrong, anybody). Also, find out what maximum temp your species can handle.

I have 3 tanks. The second tank, with Pristellas, got Ick. I caught it early and it was eliminated in 1 lifecycle. The third tank never got it.

I made sure to clean every implement I used when cleaning all three tanks. Especially the Python Clean and Fill(I can't lug anything more than 15 lbs). I ran a combo of water and Ick meds through after every water change. All live plants croaked. After the Ick meds were done, I used MelaFix to combat secondary infections.

I'm fortunate that I work at home and my tanks are in my office. I know most folks don't have this luxury. I thought I was going to lose all my livestock, too. I can tell you I'm currently looking at 8 healthy Aeneus cory and 3 Paleatus cory fry. The pristellas are also breeding. In retrospect, I probably could have done it without the meds. I ask myself often if I did the right thing by medicating. Please, please keep the faith and keep us posted.

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 14 Sep 2004, 23:45

UPDATE:

As of today, I've lost one farlowella, 2 golden dojos, and 1 kuhli loach to ich. The clown killifish have also died.

The remaining farlowella is coated with ich, and my brochis cats are as well. The elegant cories, dojo loaches, and whiptail cats seem unaffected. The albino BN fry seem unaffected, but with ich on a white fish, it's hard to tell.

The temp of the tank is now at 84*F. I added salt to the tank previously, but this stressed all my fish out tremendously.

I don't want to medicate. I really don't want to stress the fish out more. Been doing daily water changes of 40% for the past week now, and I still see ich all over the fish!

Short of malachite greening the crap out of this planted tank and losing all my loaches, what else can I do?

Post by **Barbie** » 15 Sep 2004, 01:51

Taratron are you SURE your ammonia and nitrite levels are 0? The ich should have been greatly reduced by now, and the increased temp and salt shouldn't have stressed them that badly. I would really bet there is a contributing factor of some kind. Can you test your pH, kH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate for me? You're carefully vacuuming over the substrate with every water change, right?

Barbie

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 15 Sep 2004, 01:53

With every change, yes, Barbie.....I can get another test done tomorrow at work.

Here's hoping.

Taratron · Post by **Taratron** » 15 Sep 2004, 23:20

Gah, you're right, Barbie! Apparently I'm in a mini-cycle....ammonia tested at .25ppm. Zero nitrite, and no test for nitrate.

Another 50% water change, here I come.............!

Post by **Barbie** » 16 Sep 2004, 04:53

Stop feeding the tank completely, and add media from an established tank. Keep just doing the 30% water changes. If you can get BioSpira, it wouldn't hurt, either!

Barbie