Ich on only one species

The last 2 weeks I've been dealing with ich on my Red Phantoms.... unfortunately one died from it already, but it was weak from an unknown parasite it dealt with a couple of months ago.

Anyway, has anybody ever experienced this before? None of the other fish are or seem affected at all. Any thoughts?

 

Sometimes one species of fish is just less hardy or is more suseptible to the disease.

 

Yes, it happens to me pretty regularly. I group fish together in quarantine that are going to the same tank, and often one species will show spots while the others don't.

The fish that aren't showing spots are either uninfected or they have a low level infestation. Ideally, the parasite lives off but does not kill it's host. It's possible for a fish to be infected but not show spots. A healthy fish can keep things in check. That's why I am finishing a heat treatment in the 55 - my quarantine heater broke and I was not able to complete the treatment (I treat all new fish for ich while in quarantine), and yet I threw the fish in the show tank anyway. Well, the 2 chanchito cichlids, which I've had for a while now, got ich. The loaches, barbs and tetras (more of which is what was added) all were spot free, but the chanchitos were not looking good. 2 weeks later all is well, and the heaters will be removed tomorrow.

 

Strangely enough, these fish I've had since last May. The only thing I can figure is, they were the only shoal to survive in tact after the city added extra alum to the water supply and killed about half the tank.... it may have weakened their immune system.... not sure.

 

Theoretically they could have been infected since then. And yes, the stress could have weakened them, tipping the scale in the parasites favor.

 

Of the five I have left, four are infected to some degree, but only one is not eating.

I've been using Kordon Ich Attack to treat them and slow the progress of the parasite, but it is a slow process. I don't want to do the temp treatment, at least not yet. When my new tank comes in I will be rinsing/cleaning out the existing gravel (with tap water) for use in the bigger tank and quarantine the Red Phantoms in my 20 gallon until they get better.

 

The heat treatment is the best treatment out there. It speeds up the life cycle of the parasite.

 

I agree, the heat treatment is best and should be used first. Some people are afraid of temp changes, but it's really only a concern when the water is too cold. Fish that like cold water can survive fine in warm water, but fish that like warm water do not do well in cold water.

Meds ought to work very quickly, IME within days. By work I mean rid the fish of the spots. Have you completed a treatment as per the directions yet?

With the heat treatment, because the warmer water speeds up the life cycle it can get worse before it gets better....but by a week there should be no more spots left.

 

The med treatment I'm using is a herbal-based medication and not chemical. It has gotten generally good reviews, hence why I'm trying it first. It's not hard on the fish like chemical-based meds are.

The last time I had dealings with ich I used the heat treatment and all the fish died except one. This time it is only on just the Red Phantoms, which is why I am going the route I'm taking.

 

Sooooo, have you completed a treatment yet?

 

Not yet. I only started it less than a week ago.

 

If one treatment doesn't do it, I would switch to another med.

 

This med is different. It takes up to 5 weeks to complete the treatment for more resistant strains of ich. But I don't think it'll take that long with my fish as it looks like the ich is clearing up, but slowly.

 

5 weeks? I've never heard of such a thing

 

I wanted to try it because I wanted something that wasn't going to be hard on the fish.

 

Huh. If you are getting into several weeks of treatment, then I'm sure there's a point where the 3 or 4 day treatment might not be as harsh.

 

Exactly. I figured it wouldn't cause extra stress and that's exactly what I wanted to avoid since there's only a few fish visibly infected, and this med kills the free floating parasites as nearly as effective as the chemical treatment.

You could almost think of it as a "fourth" method to ridding your tank of ich.

 

No, I meant that the shorter but harsher treatment might be better than a drawn out milder treatment. Just because it's organic doesn't mean that it's a walk in the park.

It's still considered a med.

 

Kordons made for sensitive fish, hence why the that pro alone outweighs the cons. Not many meds can be used on fry and scaless fish, kordons one of them. I have used it a few times, it worked within 2weeks. Raising the temp helps.