Ich! Please Help!

[Grovite17]

Just came home from our six day vacation.

All my fishies are still alive and I had my flatmate looking after them.
With some hot temperatures my tank had quite the algae bloom over our holiday.

Spike has ich. I'm so worried and not sure what to do. He's an unhappy little fella. The dots aren't completely covering him but he is off food and had his dorsal fin tucked in close. I suspect this has been going on the whole six days we were away. I had noticed one tiny bit on him just before we left but my partner assured me not to over think and stress because it honestly could have been an air bubble at this point.

I feel so bad for leaving, they were in good hands with my flatty but she wouldn't have been able to notice that sort of thing.

I am not anywhere near a pet store and I do not have aquarium salts. I do however have a cycled five gallon and Epsom salts. I purchased a bubbler just before we left but haven't installed it yet.

We can't lose spike. He's our original and has so much life left to live. He's a tiger barb.

There is so much conflicting info on the internet regarding epsom/table salts and I don't want to hurt them. Please tell me is there a way to save him and eradicate the tank of ich? I had our newest fishies on their own for 10 days before introducing them with the oldies.

 

raise your water temp to 28 digress and use an ich treatment for 3 days

 

[Grovite17]

raise your water temp to 28 digress and use an ich treatment for 3 days

Thank you for your reply. I've already begun raising the temperature however I am not near any pet stores to obtain ich treatment. Do you know about the aquarium salts vs Epsom salts?

 

[Initiate]

Try to cure the tank with heat. Turn the temp up to about 86 over a day or two. For epsom salts do daily baths with a teaspoon in a gallon of water in a bucket for 10 mins too long in there will kill him.

 

[Grovite17]

I've been doing tank maintenance all evening

Levels were ammonia .25 nitrite and nitrate both 0 then did a 10% water change.

I tried to clean off a bunch of the algae but didn't go too crazy as not to stress out the fishies too much.

I took out the decos to give them a good scrub and noticed the driftwood had tons of little white dots on it. I'll post a pic. I've left that out for now. Any ideas what it is?

 

[Grovite17]

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[DoubleDutch]

Cause of the stage it is in I would use a med like Paraguard immediately.

Heathtrearment takes to long in this case.

 

[Redshark1]

Heat + Ich meds immediately for me.

I've cycled to the shop before now even though the LFS was over the other side of the hill.

If Chris Froome can do it...

 

[DoubleDutch]

Heat + Ich meds immediately for me.

I've cycled to the shop before now even though the LFS was over the other side of the hill.

If Chris Froome can do it...

That combination might kill this very ill fish.

 

[86 ssinit]

Those white dots on the drift wood could be snail eggs. Do you have snails? As said by others high heat get that tank up to 86-88 degrease. Never used Epsom salt.

 

[Grovite17]

Tanks already up there guys!

Spike is still swimming thankfully.

Yes looking in good spirits but he is definitely a sick fishy.

What's the verdict on Epsom salts?

Would I dose tank or bucket?

 

[86 ssinit]

I never used Epsom salt are there other fish in tank?? Are they affected if not I would go with the bucket for the one fish. But first give it a day at 5ne high heat see how it looks tomorrow.

 

[Grovite17]

That combination might kill this very ill fish.

I've asked the online groups if anyone in my area has spare medication. I'm kicking myself right Now. I was literally thinking the weekend before last I should grab some to have on hand... and I didn't.... why do you think both heat and meds would kill him?

 

[DoubleDutch]

I've asked the online groups if anyone in my area has spare medication. I'm kicking myself right Now. I was literally thinking the weekend before last I should grab some to have on hand... and I didn't.... why do you think both heat and meds would kill him?

The parasite makes breathing less easy by affecting the gilltissue. Heath will cause less oxygen in the water what will worsen that even more. Some meds ask to raise the temp but I'd choose for one kind of treatment.

 

[CanadianJoeh]

Just a quick side-not, you cannot treat with both heat treatment AND meds. It can kill your fish. You must pick one.

I'd recommend Paraguard.

For heat treatment, raise the temperature not more than 1 or 1.5 degrees every 12 hours. Ich cannot survive at 86 degrees or above. In 4-5 days you will see a reduction in white spots, and in 2 weeks it should be gone.

Takes longer than meds though.

 

[Grovite17]

Thank you everyone so much for all of your help! I've been in front of my tank all morning trying to help these little guys.

ICH (ICK) Life Cycle and Natural Treatment

After reading this article I am feeling much better that I've been able to be proactive. I have lost fish in the past to this disease however that was many years ago when I was 12-13 trying to care for a 25 gallon off nothing but pet smart advice

I gave spike an Epsom salt bath, he loved it and it actually reduced the white spots quite a bit, as far as killing the parasites I have no idea if it will work but Epsom salts were a god when I was in vet med because it draws out infection. So I reckon it won't do any harm. I've done a 20% water change with a gravel vac and am currently sitting at 29 degrees C so one more to go. Spike was off of the flake food last night (and possibly longer, returned home yesterday) but he couldn't resist a bloodworm bath so at least he's got some nutrients in him now. Some of the others are starting to display the scraping behaviour but have no other obvious signs of the disease.

I tried putting in the bubble deco I got but it was dropping what looked like sand grains from inside it's crevices. The fish were LOVING whatever it was dropping but I removed it since I have no idea what it is. Going to give it a good soak and scrub and try again later. (Has plastic tubing so I don't think I can boil it)

Other than that I think it's just a waiting a hoping game. I will give him another bath this evening to help keep him comfortable. Although after all of that he is currently swimming around almost like his old self instead of hiding so I think hes feeling a bit better.