Ich Help Please!

Hey guys! This is my second post here so I am sorry if this isnt the right place for it. So my problem is ich, I have gotten it in one of my tanks (out of three, so far atleast) I watched videos and read a lot of article about it and most of them say that it usually spreads pretty fast but I havent seen any spreading since I noticed it yesterday in only 2 fish. I pay very close attention as well so I know that the white spots just came up yesterday. Right now I have all my fish in an 8 gallon quarantine tank with a sponge filter and an air stone and some things to hide in also with no light because they seemed pretty stressed when I got them from the tank. I have a heater in my aquarium (fishless) right now that is trying to get up to 94 degrees to make the ich reproduce and then hopefully die off since there are no hosts for them to get onto. My quarantine tank with the fish also have a heater but it is a preset one that I can not turn up so I will be getting another one once I can get the meds to treat them... which brings me to the whole point of this post. I was going to do what Cory tells you to do and get the trio med combo. Well my paycheck did not get filed this week so I did not get paid and wont get paid for another 2 days. I have Fungus Clear made by JUNGLE. But am very hesitant to use it. I guess I would like to ask a couple of questions I have and would also like any input.

1. Is Ich and Stress Ich the same thing? If not, then is there a separate treatment for stress ich? Water parameters have not changed at all for weeks, but this is a new tank within the past couple of months. But has been cycled for at least 2 months due to the fact that all the sponges and everything was moved over from their previous tank. I am not sure what could have caused any type of stress due to the fact that there has been no changes.

2. If it hasnt gotten any worse and hasnt spread to any other fish since yesterday then does that mean its not ich? Also, theres only one spot on one corydora and only three spots on a tetra. Would ich be more? Are white spots a sign of something else?

3. Is there anything else I should be doing before medicating them?

4. Has anyone used Jungle Fungus Clear before? If so, experience please?

5. Should I wait to do anything until I can order the trio, or should I do this and then also still get the trio and do that?

6. I lied in question number 1. I did change something, I added in my ottos without doing a quarantine due to the fact that my ammonia was going up because of all the die back of my newly planted tank. Which the ottos have done a great job of cleaning up by the way. The tank has been great for the past month since I got the ottos.

7. Could the ottos have infected them with Ich if it:
A. Is not on any of the Ottos
B. There was no sign of it throughout the last month that I have them until 2 days ago, could Ich be dormant for that long?


Sorry for all the questions guys, if you cant tell I am freaking out a bit. I just love my fish and want to help them as much as I can. Any stories or experiences, knowledge, anything at all is welcome!

Parameters:

20 Gallon Long

Nitrates 40

Nitrites 0

Ammonia 0

Ph 7.0

Gh Soft

Kh Low

Temp: 78 F

Occupants:

Corydoras

Otos

Tetras

Clown Pleco

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Jungle fungus clear wont do much good for ich as ich is a parasite. The jungle ich medicine works well, as we found out in our house, but also stains the silicone something fierce.

Ich lives in the substrate and water column except when it attaches to a host, which is the white spots you see. Don't know if there is a lot you can do except see if it is worse tomorrow. I suggest ich-x as it should be fine for the scale-less fish and invertebrates, if you treat with meds.

 

I have never used meds on an ich case in my tanks. I slowly raise the temps so the parasites can’t live and add aquarium salt to the tank as they can’t live in that either. Then do a thorough gravel vacuuming 1-2 times a day until it’s been 5-7 days since you’ve seen an ich spot on any fish. It’s the safest and cheapest and most effective way. There are tutorials online for the heat and salt method. It’s the absolute best.

 

I have never used meds on an ich case in my tanks. I slowly raise the temps so the parasites can’t live and add aquarium salt to the tank as they can’t live in that either. Then do a thorough gravel vacuuming 1-2 times a day until you 1-2 days after you see the last ich spot on any fish. It’s the safest and cheapest and most effective way. There are tutorials online for the heat and salt method. It’s the absolute best.

Not going to argue with that, certainly. I prefer the no-med route as well.

 

Jungle fungus clear wont do much good for ich as ich is a parasite. The jungle ich medicine works well, as we found out in our house, but also stains the silicone something fierce.

Ich lives in the substrate and water column except when it attaches to a host, which is the white spots you see. Don't know if there is a lot you can do except see if it is worse tomorrow. I suggest ich-x as it should be fine for the scale-less fish and invertebrates, if you treat with meds.

Thanks for the reply! Okay, so I noticed the ich yesterday and nothing has changed today still going into tonight nothing has changed. It is only on one corydora and one tetra and its only a total of 4 spots between the two. Therefore, I am now kind of thinking it might not be ich. Or are you saying it is to soon to tell? I have quarantined them out of the main display tank so I can dose them and not stain everything. I am going to get ich-x within the week but I just want to make sure that it wont be to long for my fish or if I should try to use this Jungle Fungus and see if that helps or if thats doing more harm than good.
Thanks in advance!

I have never used meds on an ich case in my tanks. I slowly raise the temps so the parasites can’t live and add aquarium salt to the tank as they can’t live in that either. Then do a thorough gravel vacuuming 1-2 times a day until it’s been 5-7 days since you’ve seen an ich spot on any fish. It’s the safest and cheapest and most effective way. There are tutorials online for the heat and salt method. It’s the absolute best.

Using just heat and salt? That sounds great to me as well. I would much rather do that then use any meds, I try my hardest to not have to use any chemicals which is why I am so hesistant about this. I will look that up. Is there a specific video you suggest? & Thank you for the help.
Also, salt is okay to use on scale-less fish? Sorry guys this is something I have not dealt with yet!

 

This sticky might help answer your questions:

ICH (ICK) Life Cycle and Natural Treatment | Freshwater Fish Disease and Fish Health Forum | 153206

 

ta

This sticky might help answer your questions:

ICH (ICK) Life Cycle and Natural Treatment | Freshwater Fish Disease and Fish Health Forum | 153206

Thank you !

 

You can turn the temp to 86. The heat all by itself will work unless you have some super ich that needs a higher temp to kill. So, adding salt is another way to kill ich which you can try. don't overdo the salt, remember that when you add salt it never evaporates or gets suck out via charcoal in the filter. When you do water changes only some salt is removed. if you do a 24 percent water change, maybe 10-15 percent of the salt is removed.

I recommend rid x, it stopped ich in my tank earlier this year without hurting my scaleless fish.

 

You can turn the temp to 86. The heat all by itself will work unless you have some super ich that needs a higher temp to kill. So, adding salt is another way to kill ich which you can try. don't overdo the salt, remember that when you add salt it never evaporates or gets suck out via charcoal in the filter. When you do water changes only some salt is removed. if you do a 24 percent water change, maybe 10-15 percent of the salt is removed.

I recommend rid x, it stopped ich in my tank earlier this year without hurting my scaleless fish.

I have actually taken the advice of all of you and follow the instructions of one of the links sent up above and I am going to increase the temperature to 85 for two weeks, gravel vac out the dead ich, and feed with a homemade garlic juice that I just made more of. I try my hardest not to have to use any chemicals in my tanks or try to mess with my fish at all actually and today was not a good day for us. I panicked and listened to things I read and moved them and was getting ready to do a whole trio of meds because I have never had any major problems in my past 8 months so like I said I panicked when I shouldve just taken a moment to breath and asked my various forums to see what everyone does in this situations. Anyways, they are at 82 degrees now with the light off relaxing in their home, theyre going to stay at that temp until morning when I will work them up to 85 for the next two weeks without any use of anything,
Sorry for the book I wrote just happy to finally be a little at ease since I found out about this yesterday. Thanks for the advice I will keep an update, I have everything written down and am going to record for future use. Since I am planning on doing this for awhile and going to school for Marine Biology writing notes has become my new best friend!
Again thanks for all the help everyone!

 

It's needs to be at least 86F. Don't let it drop under that for the treatment period.

 

Thanks for the reply! Okay, so I noticed the ich yesterday and nothing has changed today still going into tonight nothing has changed. It is only on one corydora and one tetra and its only a total of 4 spots between the two. Therefore, I am now kind of thinking it might not be ich. Or are you saying it is to soon to tell? I have quarantined them out of the main display tank so I can dose them and not stain everything. I am going to get ich-x within the week but I just want to make sure that it wont be to long for my fish or if I should try to use this Jungle Fungus and see if that helps or if thats doing more harm than good.
Thanks in advance!

Using just heat and salt? That sounds great to me as well. I would much rather do that then use any meds, I try my hardest to not have to use any chemicals which is why I am so hesistant about this. I will look that up. Is there a specific video you suggest? & Thank you for the help.
Also, salt is okay to use on scale-less fish? Sorry guys this is something I have not dealt with yet!

I would check to see but most scaleless fish don’t tolerate salt very well. That one could be separated and treated in a quarantine tank however and you can treat the main tank without dangerous meds.

I have actually taken the advice of all of you and follow the instructions of one of the links sent up above and I am going to increase the temperature to 85 for two weeks, gravel vac out the dead ich, and feed with a homemade garlic juice that I just made more of. I try my hardest not to have to use any chemicals in my tanks or try to mess with my fish at all actually and today was not a good day for us. I panicked and listened to things I read and moved them and was getting ready to do a whole trio of meds because I have never had any major problems in my past 8 months so like I said I panicked when I shouldve just taken a moment to breath and asked my various forums to see what everyone does in this situations. Anyways, they are at 82 degrees now with the light off relaxing in their home, theyre going to stay at that temp until morning when I will work them up to 85 for the next two weeks without any use of anything,
Sorry for the book I wrote just happy to finally be a little at ease since I found out about this yesterday. Thanks for the advice I will keep an update, I have everything written down and am going to record for future use. Since I am planning on doing this for awhile and going to school for Marine Biology writing notes has become my new best friend!
Again thanks for all the help everyone!

You don’t want to raise the temp more than 1-2° per hour so I would slowly raise it as you go. You need it to be 86° to make sure the ich can not survive. The white spores need to be vacuumed out before they can spread in the the water so when you see a dot missing from someone start vacuuming.

 

I would check to see but most scaleless fish don’t tolerate salt very well. That one could be separated and treated in a quarantine tank however and you can treat the main tank without dangerous meds.

You don’t want to raise the temp more than 1-2° per hour so I would slowly raise it as you go. You need it to be 86° to make sure the ich can not survive. The white spores need to be vacuumed out before they can spread in the the water so when you see a dot missing from someone start vacuuming.

okay I currently have two heaters in there right now and am going to not use salt because I can already tell that the spots are getting lighter? if thats possible? They are way less noticeable already. I think I caught it real quick . But my problem now is that I have a 100 watt heater and a 50 watt heater in there and its only at 82 without much of a rise since last night (even though I set the heater to 84 last night since I started late I figured I could finish the last two degrees when I woke up this morning but I have not raise it yet because according to my other thermometer the temp isnt even at 84 degrees yet, its still at 82. Any suggestions? Again, I am going to buy a new heater but I have to wait till tomorrow to do so and I want to get their treatment started before that. Does anyone know if 150 watts worth of heater will work for a 20 gallon long aquarium to get it to 86 ?

 

okay I currently have two heaters in there right now and am going to not use salt because I can already tell that the spots are getting lighter? if thats possible? They are way less noticeable already. I think I caught it real quick . But my problem now is that I have a 100 watt heater and a 50 watt heater in there and its only at 82 without much of a rise since last night (even though I set the heater to 84 last night since I started late I figured I could finish the last two degrees when I woke up this morning but I have not raise it yet because according to my other thermometer the temp isnt even at 84 degrees yet, its still at 82. Any suggestions? Again, I am going to buy a new heater but I have to wait till tomorrow to do so and I want to get their treatment started before that. Does anyone know if 150 watts worth of heater will work for a 20 gallon long aquarium to get it to 86 ?

Not adding the salt will not do much beyond making your fish uncomfortable in warm water. The salt needs to be in there to help kill off the free floating droppers off. Heat alone simply won’t do it. I would definitely look for a more powerful heater if yours isn’t doing the job. Sorry I am so late in responding. How has it been going?

 

You need to complete at least 1 treatment. Ich is a nasty parasite that can spread to the gills and the eyes, and it can kill fish.
Salt is i treatment. Aquarium salt can add electrolights to a fresh water tank and its not bad unless you have salt sensitive fish, catfish, loaches, snails...

Raising the temperature to 86 degrees or more is another treatment. it speeds up the life cycle of visible ich, and prevents invisible baby ich from attaching to a host, UNLESS you have a super ich strain that is resistant to the tempurature.

Ich X save my fish when ich accured in my tank earlier this year. It did not harm my loaches or pleco either.

I recommend that you get a digital thermometer if you dont have one. I recommend raising the temp to 86 as long as you have fish that are tolerant, and as long as the fish seem ok with it. and leave it at 86 until the last visible ich is gone for 10 days. And also use Ich X. I would not add salt with the clown pleco and ottos.