Treating Ich With Scaleless Fish - Please Help

[Deborah Hamilton]

I have ick in my tank. Not showing spots yet ,just scratching. I have both scaled and scaleless fish. I read turning up the water and add aquarium salt. Wont the salt harm loaches and eels. Does anyone have ideas on what to do with out harming my scaleless fish
Please help

Not sure if this is posting. New here

 

[Fashooga]

You don't want to use salt with scaleless fish. You can do the heat treatment by just increasing the heat to 86 degrees slowly, like turn up 2 degrees every hour. You will need to do frequent water changes every day for about a week at least.

Option two is to medicate. You can use products that focus on ich. I like Korden Rid Ich (I'm not paid by them, just based on experience). You treat, wait 24 hours, water change and treat. Rinse and repeat for at least a week. It shouldn't affect your scaleless fish but I would double check the labels first.

 

[Deborah Hamilton]

Would rather do the heat treatment. All the ick meds out there are hard on scaleless fish I am told. Also would you know if I need to do lot of gravel vacs to clear up a cloudy tank along with water changes daily

 

[Fashooga]

You would need to remove about 25-35% of the water, some people do 50% water changes. It just depends on how bad it is. Heat temperature does take longer some times so expect this to take some times.

As for the cloudy tank what color is the cloud?

White = Bacteria bloom
Brown = Dust.

 

[Deborah Hamilton]

Thank You a whole lot

 

[Deborah Hamilton]

It is a white.looks like little white particles floating around . Thanks

 

[Fashooga]

Can you get a picture of it? It's not cloudy just white stuff floating around? Does it look like somebody dropped milk into the water?

How old is the tank?

 

[Deborah Hamilton]

Its a newer tank maybe a month old.

 

[Nataku]

Little white specks (kinda look like mold spores meets a snowflake) that will settle to the bottom or get pushed around by the filters are ick coming off the fish if you've turned the heat up. This is why its important to do water changes during ick treatmwnt - so you vac your substrate to get out the ick that has come off the fish.

 

[Fashooga]

It’s possible that your fish are stressed and have Ich cause they’re stressed from the tank. A tank that is a month old isn’t quite ready.

What are your current parameters?

 

[Adriifu]

Okay, but white particles that just float in the tank are probably debris from the substrate. It really just looks like you've got a bacteria bloom, which will eventually go away after water changes. Have you even seen white specks on the fish, or was it always in the water?

If you want to treat this for ich (just in case), then raise the temperature to 85-87 degrees for a week and continue with 30% water changes every day until it clears up. Don't add any salt.

What are your water parameters?
What's the tank size and temperature?
What fish are in the tank?

 

[Deborah Hamilton]

No white spots on the fish. I know what ick is and have been told ich(which is what they are doing ) is still ick

 

[Deborah Hamilton]

Its a 45 gal plex corner tank. It has catfish, betta ,gromies, and alge eaters. Dont know peramiters. I have had the temp at 79 because of ich with no spots

 

[Adriifu]

Its a 45 gal plex corner tank. It has catfish, betta ,gromies, and alge eaters. Dont know peramiters. I have had the temp at 79 because of ich with no spots

I honestly think this is just a bacteria bloom. Fish can scratch themselves against surfaces for a number of reasons, not just because of ich. It's very uncommon for ich to float in water rather than stay on the fish. Raise the temperature just in case, but be aware that this could possibly be nothing at all.

 

[Deborah Hamilton]

Thank All of You for your help. Greatly appreciated . Will raise the temp and gravel vac as well as water changes.

 

[OnTheFly]

I honestly think this is just a bacteria bloom. Fish can scratch themselves against surfaces for a number of reasons, not just because of ich. It's very uncommon for ich to float in water rather than stay on the fish. Raise the temperature just in case, but be aware that this could possibly be nothing at all.

Agree, I've never had a case if ich I can't easily observe on the fish.