tan.b

just noticed my head & tail light tetras have ich. cant see it on any of my other fish. i dont have a quarantine tank. the temp is already at 80F as i was told that would speed up cycling and i've kept it at 80 to prevent the fish getting ich when they joined the tank : :P. what do i do? will test water after i bathed the kids and got them in bed, but on saturday they were perfect (zero ammonia, nitrite and 10 for nitrate). i have some "king british white spot control" med i have left over from when my guppies had it a while ago. however, bit more complicated now i think, as i have shrimps and a pleco i love to bits. it doesnt say anything about these on the instructions. it just says "use half the dose for sharks loaches and other sensitive or light scaled fish". can you please have a look in my signiture at the 28 gal which has the head & tail light tetras in and advise whether i use full dose, half dose or not at all. if i can catch the shrimp i can put them in the another 28 gal tank....its just catching them may not be as easy as it sounds!!! and are my other fish all tough enough to handle it? the ingredients for those who may not be familiar with this particular brand are malachite green, acriflavine and quinine sulphate.

is it rose or butterfly that use 80F and water changes rather than meds? if so, whats the routine i need to erradicate ich? can it be stickied somewhere as its very useful treatment for ich if only i could remember it!!!

any advice is welcome as always!!

many thanks

Tan

tan.b

ok, tested water, and its the same as saturday: zero ammonia and nitrite and 10 for nitrate, so the water quality is ok. what do i do now? medicate? change water..if so how much and how often?

Tan

tan.b

well...its getting late and i'm off to bed! didnt want to leave the fish with ich though and concerned it'll spread to the other fish when it leaves the host, so i took the plunge and used the med. it said 3 capfuls, so i used 2, so not a complete blast. hope shrimps etc are alive in morn . the med didnt say it would harm them.......but didnt say it wouldnt either

really really hope meds dont affect plecs.

fingers crossed

tan

sue

Hi tan.b

my head and tail light tetras have just got over having whitespot and i used king brittish whitespot remover i used the full dose as it said and i have a red tail black shark and pleco in the tank aswell got rid of whitespot and shark and pleco are well. goodluck hope it works with yours as good as it worked with mine. sue

Butterfly

Tan nudge the temps up to about 82 or 83 and leave it for 14 days. do frequent water changes (about every other day) because warmer water has less oxygen.
Carol

tan.b

thats just what i wanted to hear!!! thank goodness for that!!! having fish is like having kids....you have to make health decisions and never know if you made the right one!!!! - we have something called nhs direct in the UK and its a phone line for health queries when you just dont know what to do or who to call set up by the government....fishlore is like a fish version!!!

well, i managed to catch the shrimps this morn (still alive and as flighty as ever!) and moved them into the other 28 gal with the scissor tails (was gonna get some shrimps for there anyway! so thats one sensitive creature i worried about out of there and have been frantically looking for mrs (def think he is now a she - not a bristle in sight and shes 4cm long now!!) bristlenose this morn as couldnt find her last night. anyway, i found her busy cleaning the gravel under the filter, so she's at work as usual! and was just deciding whether to move her into the other 28 gal too, but thought i'd log on here first!! the time diff is so annoying sometimes!!! i thought i'd get a reply while i was asleep!!! well if your pleco survived the exact same treatment, mine should be fine. dont want to stress her out by moving her backwards and forwards as that tank is her home with the log etc. the shrimps i'm not attached to and they can stay in the other tank anyway.
thanks so much for your help!
Tan (happy again now!!)

tan.b

am i glad to see you butterfly!!! you're always there in my hour of need with the answers i need!!!
will increase temp. wasnt sure how high i could go and didnt want to frazzle them!!! it'll be very tropical in there!!
how much water do i need to change? 10% 20% 50%??
i will write this down in my fish info folder so i dont keep asking you the same questions!!!!
and do i keep the bubbles (airstone and filter bubbles) going or not? the bubbles are good for the fish, but are they also encouraging the ich?

thank you lots!!!!!!!!!!!1

much appreciated
Tan

Butterfly

I would do at least 20% and yes the bubbler is good for them. The heat will make the ICH go through its life cycle faster and die. It can't live at that temp. The fish will be fine with the raised temp, water changes and the bubbler is a good extra. sorry i wasn't here when you needed me I had to work today and now I'm unwinding with FishLore I love it!
Carol

tan.b

you were there when i needed you!! i dont expect an instant reply!! the time dif usually means i get replies the next day!! and you had the very answers i needed!! much appreciated!! will get on with the water changes. i'd left the bubbles on, so thats good. they're not bothered by the high temp. as active as usual! none of my other fish have caught it either....horay! wonder why just the H&tail light tetras got it? they've been in there a while now .
thanks very much for your help! you've saved an entire tank ful of fish!!
tan

Butterfly

Who know why one certain fish gets ICH and the others don't I've often wondered that but your good friends heat and water changes will take care of it just about everytime
Carol

tan.b

fish are full of mysteries!

les

OK Tan, your problem with Ich sounds terribly similar to mine (posted here a few days ago also).

Any idea how your fishes got the Ich ?

My guess for the Ich on my clown loaches was the fact that they were new 48 hrs new, and I turned the heater off one night ... and then .. next morning .. Ich infestation on the loaches !!

Butterfly

ICH is in the tank all the time. Anything that stress the fish can lower their immune system and voila' now they have ICH. sometimes we don't even know the sressful events have happened.
Clown loaches are notorious for getting ICH. That is the number one thing they get and they get it very eaily.
Carol

les

Wouldn't the meds if run for the full duration kill off all the Ich in the tank that are in the free swimming stage ?

Butterfly

It will kill most of them, the meds are only effective at a certain stage of growth.
Ich is just one of many things that live in an aquarium. When in proportion they don't hurt anything. Like cold germs for you, as long as your are healthy(rested, eating well etc) you don't catch the cold even though the germs are always there. BUT if you get over-tired, not eating right , etc. now your system is wide open for the germs to invade your body and make you sick. Am I being confusing?
Carol

les

Actually, you made yourself quite clear, thanks Doc !

Butterfly

Glad I could help Les
Tan how are the fish today?
Carol

tan.b

hi everyone!! good news....the ich has gone completely..horay!! will keep temp up for a while longer though just to be sure.
bad news....two of the H&T light tetras has fin rot! so put some melafix in today. i have no labyrinth fish so should be ok. noticed the anal fin has gone completely and is black at the base one one of them, and on another the top fin is some what deteriated and split in 2. got the fish off my sister a while ago. will ask her how old they are....maybe they're just old and thats why they're falling apart suddenly? all the other fish are fine (thank goodness)!
Tan