Ick - what does it look like??

[joules]

??? ???What is Ick and what does it look like? I just noticed that my fish have little white spots on them, is this what it could be? if so, what do I do? I am new to this fish world and still pretty confused!!!

 

[Gunnie]

Yep. It looks like someone sprinkled them with salt. There are many medications out there you can treat them with. Depending on what fish you have in your tank, ou may be able to just raise the temperature and add salt. Please post what fish are in your tank and how many look affected.

 

[Jon]

unless your fish prefer cold water like white clouds... raise the temp to 82-85 degrees... if your fish can tolerate it add 1 tblspn of salt per 5 gallons... less if you are concerend or if you have any scaleless fish

 

[joules]

what type of salt? ???

 

[Jon]

aquarium / marine salt. what type of fish do you have? make sure they are capable of dealing with salt

 

[joules]

i have 6 guppies (spots on 1) - 2 angel fish - 4 neon tetras (spots on all) - and 4 tetras (spots on 1) . I did a 50% water change tonight and that is when I noticed the spots - the water has been couldy and this is what i was told to do at the pet store. It seems to be only on this fish that I purchased 2 weeks ago. Does this make sense?

 

[Gunnie]

I'm not sure about the tetras, so just slowly raise the temperature to 85 degrees for now. I hesitate about adding salt because of the neons? Can anyone clarify this?

 

[joules]

looking at the instructions on my heater the temp only goes up to 82 on the high setting? Does the heat kill the ick? ??? ???

you guys are being such a great help - being a beginner - this stuff is confusing..........thanks!! :-*

 

[fish_r_friend]

heat dosent kill ich it icreases it life cycle sos that when the ich gets of your fish what ever teatment you are doing will kill the ich

 

[Gunnie]

I'm not sure about that.  Here's more information from another forum:

White Spot (Ichthyophthirius)

A parasite that we will all encounter whilst keeping fish.
As an adult it is embedded in the skin of the fish causing irritation, your fish will probably be glancing off rocks and plants to alleviate the itching.
The parasite will feed and grow on the blood and skin cells of its host for a few days until it is fully grown.
It then bores its way out of the skin and drops off into the substrate, it then forms a cyst which then goes through rapid cell division until about 1000 young are released into the water to start the whole process again.
The whole process takes just five days at 27C.
There are cases where the parasite actually lies dormant in the skin of the fish and will not emerge until it is ready, making eradication quite difficult.
The best time to kill them is when they are free swimming and looking for a host.
Treatment must be external and aimed at the free swimming stage hence the need to dose again after a few days, suitable cures are widely available.

We also have a disease section here on FishLore:

https://www.fishlore.com/Disease.htm

 

[joules]

Will Ich kill the fish? I cann't get any medication or salt until Monday when the stores open. We do not have Sunday Shopping here in Nova Scotia. Will that be too late? I have turned up the heat in the tank to 82. Is the salt only available in the pet stores? or can I get it somewhere else? I'd like to try to find it somewhere else if possible. I just read "ich an old cure for an old disease on this site and it mentions canning and pickling salt, does this seem right?

thanks again for all the help.

:-*

 

[fish_r_friend]

yes ich will kill the fish so i would try to find a pet store thats open to get some ich medication or aquarium salt about pickling salt i have no clue b/c i used the medication when my tank had ich

 

[Osiris]

Tetras and some scale-less fish don't handle the ich medications well, so, if you use it, add it to your tank at 1/2 of the recommended dosage.   

 

[EmpPleco]

I have a question about this whole thing --

If ick is a free swimming parasite (when it is looking for a host, that is the best time to medicate) then we do we quarantine ONLY the fish that are showing signs? When if that is true, it would not even be worth it to move the fish, because the entire tank has it.. You know what I mean? or am i talking out of my butt? LOL

 

[Jon]

You quarantine fish with ich because then if the parasite hasnt left the fish and formed a cyst yet you can avoid it spreading throughout your whole tank...

on the neon tetras i beleive they will deal with the salt fine... just add 1 tblspn to your next water change then only change out the water with freshwater after that to remove the salinity slowly

i beleive the angels would be fine with the salt and considering neons and angels have similar origins... both in south america in similar waters i would think salt would not be deadly to them

 

[jim55379]

I think that's a good point by jon. If I would have quarantined mine I may have saved my other fish in the tank (tigers) which were fine until the catfish spread the ick to them. I also noticed nobody answered his question about the new heaters that have temp incrrements on them and maybe only go to about 80. Mine temp doesn't have them but was almost maxed out and could only get about 83 degrees (100watt in a 20 gal).
good luck and try to read the "disease" section of the forum it may give you more info..

 

[joules]

Yesterday I put the medication in the tank for the ich, I have now lost the 2 angel fish and 2 of the guppies. I only put in half of the recommended dosage. the white spots are still on the neons and one of the tetras - how long before they fall off and the medication takes effect?

I have had the temp up in the tank to 82 since saturday, do i just continue to follow the directions on the medication?

Oh, this is so confusing!! :'(

Another guestion, what types of fish are scaleless??

thank again for all of the help.....

 

[Jon]

corie cats and fish that look slimy not with small scales... lots of catfish and loaches i beleive are also scaleless... when you look at them its pretty easy to tell.

 

[EmpPleco]

Joules,

If you gradually raised your temp up to about 84 or 85 (one degree per day) it would most likely persuage your ick parasites to release from the fish, and then the medicine could be more effective

 

[joules]

my heater only goes to 82, it only has 2 temp settings - normal and high. is this a good heater to have or should I purchase one that can raise the temp even higher?