First Time Ich Infestation - How To Medicate With A Scaleless Fish?

[sheehanje]

Looks like I have an ICH problem in my newer 55 gallon. Stock is Blood parrot, 4 yellow rainbow fish and 4 new guinea rainbow fish, and a synodontis ocellifer. I'm obvious worried about medicating the Ocellifer because he's scaleless.

I'm assuming this is ich, I see some white spots on the caudal tail of the yellow rainbow fish. Community is acting normal at this point. I did see the Blood Parrot "scratching" a few weeks ago, but he hasn't since - but nevertheless with the addition of white spots, I'm assuming ICH.

I unfortunately don't have a proper quarantine tank - my kids cracked the 10 gallon I used to use.

What would be proper treatment course of action for a 55 gallon with a synodontis in the mix?

 

[Fishy McGee]

Ich-X is a good product to use, even for scaleless fish!

 

[danhutchins]

Looks like I have an ICH problem in my newer 55 gallon. Stock is Blood parrot, 4 yellow rainbow fish and 4 new guinea rainbow fish, and a synodontis ocellifer. I'm obvious worried about medicating the Ocellifer because he's scaleless.

I'm assuming this is ich, I see some white spots on the caudal tail of the yellow rainbow fish. Community is acting normal at this point. I did see the Blood Parrot "scratching" a few weeks ago, but he hasn't since - but nevertheless with the addition of white spots, I'm assuming ICH.

I unfortunately don't have a proper quarantine tank - my kids cracked the 10 gallon I used to use.

What would be proper treatment course of action for a 55 gallon with a synodontis in the mix?

I know you didn't ask but are you planning to put the blood parrot in another tank? They get quite large and aggressive. Just don't want you to wake up one morning with dead fish.

 

[sheehanje]

Here is a pic. Sorry, these guys are hard to capture because they move fast.

I know you didn't ask but are you planning to put the blood parrot in another tank? They get quite large and aggressive. Just don't want you to wake up one morning with dead fish.

No. I just want a single in the 55. I've kept them before in a 75 gallon. This is a fairly good stock. The synodontis is out of sight most of the time and the rainbow fish are fast enough to evade. I worry more about my plants. Luckily I got one with a pretty good disposition.

Going to look for ich-x in the morning. Here is a pick of a couple rainbows. They are hard to capture with the camera.

 

[Bmh4796]

Definitely ich.

I used apI super ick cure and it worked like a charm. I have Amano shrimp, a pleco, and corydoras and they all seemed totally fine during the treatment, but I treated at 2/3 strength. Some say to treat at a half strength. I am not familiar with the fish you are worried about, though, so don’t take my word for it. Just thought I’d share my experience.

There’s a heat and salt method too. I tried that but it didn’t work and it’s s long slow process. I don’t think I’ll ever trying that again after the great success I had with the blue stuff. I raised the temp to 86 and added some air stones during the treatment and be sure to do exactly as the directions say - 48 hours and the Vaccuum etc.

 

[richiep]

My king British treatment says to half dose on scale less fish as well

 

[sheehanje]

Today I've noticed no spread of white spots. In fact, I see hardly anything. I think I'll hold off on treatment for now, but was able to get ich-x just in case.

 

[richiep]

Don't old off the parasite drops off the fish goes into the substrait and it starts again now is a vital time to kill it before they find a new host

 

[sheehanje]

Don't old off the parasite drops off the fish goes into the substrait and it starts again now is a vital time to kill it before they find a new host

Watching a video on ich-x they said sometimes what looks like ich isn't and to wait for it to spread.

 

[richiep]

That's your decision all the best with it

 

[sheehanje]

Well - I decided to treat the tank after all. I'm on my second treatment, and unfortunately I realized that I shouldn't be using ICH-X together with Seachem Prime because prime contains sulfinate or sulfoxylate. Not sure what the consequence of this will be, but I am going to stop treatment immediately until I can find a conditioner that doesn't contain these chemicals. Hopefully there no lasting harm to my fish.

 

[richiep]

According to seachem they say that you shouldn't use ich-x with prime for 48hrs after dosing new water with prime, after 48hrs they say it is safe to do so as prime stops working allowing to use it

 

[sheehanje]

According to seachem they say that you shouldn't use ich-x with prime for 48hrs after dosing new water with prime, after 48hrs they say it is safe to do so as prime stops working allowing to use it

Yes, but part of using ich-x is changing 1/3rd of the water every day. So I gotta find something else to treat the new water with.

I just got an official response back from Hikari:

Thank you for taking the time to contact us and for your support of our products. Use of a sulfur or sulfinate-based water conditioner can cause an unexpected drop in dissolved oxygen leading to issues for your fish. We suggest an immediate 50% water change and discontinuation of Ich-X treatments until such time as you have a compatible water conditioner available.

The HikarI Customer Service Team

So, yeah - definitely a no-no. I'm going to go look for something compatible tonight and do a water change. I did notice some of my Rainbows were hanging around near the top of the aquarium this morning