How do I cure ick?

Question

I tried quICK cure and Ick Guard. None of them are working. I have two Panda Oranda's, one Pearl Scale goldfish, one feeder goldfish and one normal goldfish. How can I cure it as soon as possible?

Answer 1

Go to your local pet store or walmart and purchase Melafix. Follow the directions on the bottle and also raise the temperature of the tank and the problem will definitely go away. Dont forget to do regular water changes of 40% until the problem goes away.

Answer 2

Since you have already tried the medicine approach without results, you will need to try the second approach.

The second approach is to actually destroy the organism with heat, and can be combined with the salt treatment below, but not with meds. The data that was studied (including a report by the Southern Regional Aquaculture Center) suggests that most strains of Ich cannot reproduce at temperatures above 85ºF. To use this treatment approach, slowly (no more than 1 or 2 degrees per hour) raise the temperature to 86ºF, while maintaining strong continuous surface agitation to oxygenate the water. This is extremely important because water holds less O2 at higher temperatures. (This is why meds should not be used in conjunction with high temp – most Ich treatment products also reduce oxygen levels. Less available oxygen, combined with the respiration difficulties an infected fish is already faced with, could be fatal.)
The adjusted temperature should be maintained for approximately 10 days, or a minimum of 3 days after all signs of the parasite have disappeared. Do not discontinue treatment when the spots go away. This is critical, because we know that they are visible only as a white spot (trophont) on the body of the host, and not during the reproductive or free-swimming stage. We also know that trophonts on the gills are impossible to see.

During this treatment, add one teaspoon of salt to each gallon of water. This will help the fish breath and increase their immune system. Goldfish are always helped by some salt in their water and this will not cause them any problems.

Answer 3

First make sure that it is ick, and then make sure your fish are getting really high doses of oxygen, clean the filter, change a third of the water, and a sauna thing works great, raise the temperature, pathogenic organisms multiply, and then use medication such as Maracide, or Coppersafe, and Maracyn-Plus to prevent secondary infection from bacteria, raise the temp and increase the oxygen level by 2 degress F, 4C, raise the temp up over a couple of days, don't feed your fish for 3 or 4 days, it took about 8 days to see the ick disapear on the skin, I lowered the temp, started feeding and I gave some extra vitamins, then in another 8 days change a third of the water again and add some conditioner, good luck I hope all goes well, my heart goes out to you, make sure you change the water right away though.

Answer 4

Copper is really the only tried and true method of completely riding your tank of ich, but I would never dose it in a display tank. If your tank is free of invertebrates, your best bet may be to raise the temperature up to 80-81 degrees, and start a hyposalinity treatment. I believe that temperatures above 78-80 degrees will speed up the parasite's life cycle. Ich will also struggle to survive in lower salinity, so I would suggest slowly lowering your specific gravity down to 1.010. This should be done over the course of a few weeks, so the fish can adjust without causing more stress. Be sure to use a refractometer to test salinity, as hydrometers are just not accurate enough. Hopefully the lower salinity will kill the parasites attached to the fish, and the higher temperatures will cause any ich already present in the system to die more quickly. It's not full proof, but many have used this method successfully. You could also let your display tank run fishless for 4-6 weeks. This will kill all of the ich in your tank, since it has no host to feed off of. Regards

Answer 5

Get a uv sterilizer it will break the life cycle of the parasites and it will also kill algae blooms and make your tank crystal clear.

Answer 6

Unfortunately, there is only one way to treat ick: keep trying medicines and do them for a long amount of time. Try asking Petco or Petsmart employees.

Answer 7

They make some tablets that dissolve in the tank and medicates the water this has always worked for me . I bought it at pet care.

Answer 8

go on the froogle and search for fish meds