Dealing with ich for the first time..

Hey guys, seems some of my cardinals tetras got ich over the last week or so. Three of them died this past Monday. I raised the temp to 75 from 71 and added salt on Monday to alleviate the fish and help start process of getting rid of the ich. Yesterday the temp read 81.7 and I did a 80% water change as well. My nitrites were at 160ppm when I tested yesterday which totally surprised me but it had been almost 7 weeks since my last water change. None of the other fish in the tank have spots yet but I have noticed one of my yoyos scratching himself on the substrate and glass which I read could be an symptom of ich as well. I have ich x arriving today..

Questions I have now, should I continue to raise the temp to 82-84 range to combat ich naturally? I have 5 gold laser and 5 three line cories and not sure how they would handle the higher temp range. Think the other species should be fine in that range. Should i bother adding salt with having cories in the tank? I had removed my heater from the tank about 5 months ago, during the last 2 months tank had been around 69-71.8 range for the most part without the heater. Could the lower temps cause ich outbreak? I first noticed the ich on the cardinals after nearly 3 days of lights being turned off to combat algae issue, could that have caused ich by stress etc? My guess is the high nitrites most likely cause the ich but any advise would be appreciated.

 

Hey guys, seems some of my cardinals tetras got ich over the last week or so. Three of them died this past Monday. I raised the temp to 75 from 71 and added salt on Monday to alleviate the fish and help start process of getting rid of the ich. Yesterday the temp read 81.7 and I did a 80% water change as well. My nitrites were at 160ppm when I tested yesterday which totally surprised me but it had been almost 7 weeks since my last water change. None of the other fish in the tank have spots yet but I have noticed one of my yoyos scratching himself on the substrate and glass which I read could be an symptom of ich as well. I have ich x arriving today..

Questions I have now, should I continue to raise the temp to 82-84 range to combat ich naturally? I have 5 gold laser and 5 three line cories and not sure how they would handle the higher temp range. Think the other species should be fine in that range. Should i bother adding salt with having cories in the tank? I had removed my heater from the tank about 5 months ago, during the last 2 months tank had been around 69-71.8 range for the most part without the heater. Could the lower temps cause ich outbreak? I first noticed the ich on the cardinals after nearly 3 days of lights being turned off to combat algae issue, could that have caused ich by stress etc? My guess is the high nitrites most likely cause the ich but any advise would be appreciated.

Higher temperatures always help with ich, raising the temperature to the mid 80s for a certain period of time will not hurt the fish. I have treated ich with salt and higher temperatures with cories before and it does not affect them at all.
However for your yoyo loach it might not be ich, but might be flukes.

 

Low temps don't cause ick. High temps speed up the life cyle making it easier to treat. Lights can be a stressor and turning lights off is one way to help relieve stress. No it does not stress them. Poor conditions in the tank do cause stress and stress make fish susceptible to illness. If you are going nearly 2 months between water changes and are letting nitrates reach 160ppm you should expect stressed and diseased fish.

 

Higher temperatures always help with ich, raising the temperature to the mid 80s for a certain period of time will not hurt the fish. I have treated ich with salt and higher temperatures with cories before and it does not affect them at all.
However for your yoyo loach it might not be ich, but might be flukes.

Low temps don't cause ick. High temps speed up the life cyle making it easier to treat. Lights can be a stressor and turning lights off is one way to help relieve stress. No it does not stress them. Poor conditions in the tank do cause stress and stress make fish susceptible to illness. If you are going nearly 2 months between water changes and are letting nitrates reach 160ppm you should expect stressed and diseased fish.

Yea figure it was the nitrite most likely causing ich. I did do test strips in between and they were showing between 40 and 80 so figure it was ok at that time. The last WC before this one I had gone slightly over 2 months and water tested at 80ppm. At this point do ya suggest I try to get rid of the ich with the high temps or should I medicated with ich X. No other fish has died since the 3 cardinals on monday.

 

In my experience Ich doesn’t just ‘appear’, regardless of any stressors, it is introduced. Have you added any new fish or plants over the last couple of weeks? Can you provide some pictures of the affected fish?

I'm thinking it could be something else related to the elevated nitrates and/or keeping them as low as 69F which is way too cool for cardinals.

 

Here is a resource that will answer some of your questions: Treatment of the Ick Parasite

 

In my experience Ich doesn’t just ‘appear’, regardless of any stressors, it is introduced. Have you added any new fish or plants over the last couple of weeks? Can you provide some pictures of the affected fish?

I'm thinking it could be something else related to the elevated nitrates and/or keeping them as low as 69F which is way too cool for cardinals.

I did add a new fish in bout 25 days ago , visibly it looked fine but the store did appear to have issues keeping some stock alive. From what I gather on the web seems there's no consensus wether ich is introduced or always on the fish. Still only seen visible spots on 4 or 5 cardinals, rest of tank seem to be acting normal for the most part

Here is a resource that will answer some of your questions: Treatment of the Ick Parasite

Thanks for the link. Still not sure if I should stick it out with keeping temp above 82 or started with ich x medication. Any suggestions?
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Or if you want to avoid chemicals, you could use a cattapa leaf on top of the higher temp. Granted the tannins will drain into the water but it is worth it. It has worked for me.

 

It looks like Ich or could be epistylis I can't tell from those pics. If it's Ich you have two options, to treat with heat or with meds. If you're treating with heat the temperature needs to be 86F (30C) at a minimum. Personally I prefer to treat with meds, since there are some heat resistant strains of Ich. In that case you can keep the temp where it is at around 80-82F.

 

Here's better pics I think of one of the cardinals affected. Also lost 2 or 3 more today. Think I'll started ich x tomorrow.

 

Ime if a disease that looks like that is wiping out your fish it is not likely to be ich but rather epistylis. But I am not diagnosing your fish bc I can’t tell from the photos. I would recommend reading about the two diseases. For epistylis it is best to do an oral antibiotic along with a malachite green treatment like IchX for the water. But again, I cannot tell from your photos. Start treatment with IchX and see if you may need to add an oral antibiotic

 

I would use ich x. If you use Ich x, you do not need to add salt or raise the temp to 86. Each one of those is a different treatment, Ideally you would choose only one of the three along with water changes.
I would keep the tank at 80 permanently. That temp is good for all of the species that you mentioned.
If your Nitrates have reached 40 ppm You need to make efforts to bring them down.
If you are using a camera, you can take better fish pictures by putting the camera lens right on the glass. I am a photographer, but I still struggle to take good pictures of my fish, dont feel too bad.