What is "Ick"?

Question

Yesterday I noticed that my two Kissing Fish had little tiny white lookin spots all over them, I tried to catch them to isolate them but wasnt able to, and today, all my fish except one, are dead. Is this Ick and if so, what is it and where does it come from and how can you get rid of it?

Answer 1

I will gladly tell you exactly what Ich is :) When you know what it is, it is easier to treat.
Ich is a parasite (Ichthyophthirius multifilis), and people tend to just assume that anything on a fish is ich. However, it is very distinct and easy to identify. It is also very easy to treat; expensive medications are not required.
Ich is characterised by little white spots on the fish. It looks like the fish has been rolling in sand or salt.

Ich has 4 life stages. First, it is free-swimming, and it needs to find a host. At this stage, you cannot see it.
Second, it finds a host and burries itself under the fish's gills and scales. You still can't see it, but the white spots you can see - the white spots are cysts, that the fish's immune system forms around the parasite in an attempt to dislodge it. This is a stressful stage, as the parasites burrows and dislodges flesh and blood, which is feeds on. Fish will feel irritation, and you can see them sometimes scratching themselves on rocks (this is called flashing).
Third, when the parasite is full, it detaches itself from the fish and attaches itself to a leaf or piece of gravel, where it becomes encapsulated by a hard membrane.
Fourth, the parasite explodes into thousands of NEW free-swimming parasites which must find hosts.

Only when the parasites are FREE-SWIMMING, BEFORE they have found a host, can they be killed.

Ich comes from other fish that carry the parasite. When fish aren't stressed, they might have ich spot or two but they can combat the parasite and the parasite cannot take over. You don't really notice it at this time .When the fish is stressed, either from dirty water, a move, too cold, etc, its immune system drops and the parasites will take over. A lot of tanks likely have ich in them without ever showing up on the fish, same thing with petstores.

You can purchase medication from the petstore to kill Ich. However, these can hurt your plants, your shrimp and snails, your bacterial colonies, and may well end up killing your fish.

SALT treatment is just as effective, and much safer and cheaper. Buy some AQUARIUM salt (or Kosher salt), and treat the tank at a rate of 1 tbsp per 5 gallons. Disolve the salt first in a cup of dechlorinated water. You can increase the temperature to 81-82F. At this temp, the ich lifecycle goes by in about 4-5 days. To be safe, leave the salt in the tank for 2 weeks.

Then, you can start removing the water during your weekly water changes, and eventually the salt water will be removed.

I wouldn't get any new fish until the treatment is complete. Also, do a large (40%) water change before you begin treatment to try to get rid of some of the free-floating parasites and to clean the water.

Answer 2

It is Ick and it is a disease that is carried by other fish! You may have bought another fish and brought it to your tank or it can sometimes be brought in by the food. It also happens when the ph balance is off in the water! Try Wal-mart in the pet section! There is Ick medicine that turns the water blue for a bit and it should work! You can take a water sample of your tank to a pet shop and have it tested or just clean out the tank! The cleaning of the tank will be necessary before using the medicine!

Answer 3

Ick (also known as ich) is a small parasite that is fairly easy to get rid of. If you have a glass tank and you don't mind discoloring your water, use a copper based treatment such as Coppersafe; be careful, this will also kill anything in your tank that doesn't have a backbone such as snails or shrimp (it won't hurt your fish though). If you do have invertebrates and you don't want to remove them, I would use Maracide. Be careful, it's powerful stuff, if you have any scaleless fish (eels, loaches, catfish), use a half dose. When using any medication, make sure you pull the carbon out of the filter because it will remove the medication as soon as you put it in.

Answer 4

Ick is a parasite that gets into and sticks to the side of your fish. Go to the pet store and buy some ICK guard formula. It's easy to use according to the size of the tank. The biggest thing is changing the water after you treat the water.

Answer 5

I just lost a $25.00 fish to ick a month ago. It got it when the weather got cold and put stress on the fish. I went to the pet store to get treatment but they were sold out. I had to use non-iodized salt that they sold but eventually the fish croaked.
When I get another fish I'll stock up on anti-ick so I'll have when it gets cold. You may want to do the same.
By the way-the fish was alone so it could not have got it from another.

Answer 6

Ichthyopthirius multifiliis is a species of ciliate protozoa which parasitizes freshwater fish. The disease it causes is usually called ich or white spot, and becomes especially serious in enclosed areas, where it spreads quickly from one fish to another. Ich is the disease responsible for the most fatalities in aquarium fish and can cause notable damage to aquaculture.

Answer 7

Ick is a fungus that attaches itself to your fish and ultimately they'll end up dying from it. There is a common medicine that you need to poor into your tank to clear it up. Just go to the fish section and look for bottles that say Ick on them. It won't be hard to find. Just follow the directions and pray the rest of your fish don't die in the meantime while it's working it's magic.

Answer 8

Totally sterilize the tank before allowing any more fish to reside. Use chlorox solution and then rinse well after..
It would pay you to have treatment on hand in future. The substance to use is Methylene blue. Add drops to the water regularly to prevent white spot development

Answer 9

This certainly sounds like Ich, which is a protozoan parasite that infects stressed out fish.

Here is a great article on FishGeeks about ich and how to treat it.

http://www.aquaria.info/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=343

Answer 10

ich is a tropical fish parasite that starts as white spots by your description i would guess ich