What are the effects on the fish from having ick?

Question

I recently got a 30 gallon fish tank and found out that my fish have ick – one of them must have come from the store with it and has infected my whole tank. I have been treating them for 4 days now and most of them have cleared up but one fish is getting progressively worse. The spots on his body are mostly gone – but he has cloudy white covering his eyes. Does he need to be removed from the tank or can I leave him in and keep treating the entire tank for ick? I don’t know if this matters but it is a fresh water tank – the infected fish is a tiger oscar – African cichlid. What are the effects on the fish from having ick?

Answer 1

Effects of Ich -- Ich are parasites. They feed on your fish's tissues, weakening the fish. The white specks you see are cysts formed by the fish's flesh where the parasites have burrowed into them. When the ich detach to go lay eggs, they leave open wounds in your fish which can easily become infected. When the eggs hatch the new ich attach themselves to your fish and the cycle repeats over and over. Minor cases of ich can easily heal and leave your fish none the worse for wear, but continued infestation will always eventually lead to death, and since your fish and the ich are both trapped in the confined space of your tank, this is always the case, unless you get rid of the ich.

Cloudy eyes are a sign of bacterial infection caused by a weakened immune system and/or poor water quality. There are medications for bacterial infection, but the best way to treat it is to keep the water conditions PERFECT and give your fish a chance to fight it off himself. If you choose to medcate, you should isolate that fish in a separate tank so you don't inflict the medication on all the other fish as well.

Ich medications are also very hard on your fish and not always effective. I treated my new tank for ich that came in with the new platies a month ago with absolutely no chemicals; every single fish survived (and stayed feisty and playful throughout) and no signs of ich have returned since then. I used this heat/darkness treatment:

1) Turn the heater in your tank up a couple of degrees Farenheit or one degree Celsius each hour until the temperature reaches 86F. This is the minimum for the heat treatment.

2) Continue to turn it up at this slow rate and watch your fish for signs of erratic swimming, spasms, etc. Your target temperature is 91F, which will weaken and kill most of the ich parasites. If your fish react badly, turn it back down to the last temperature at which they behaved normally, as long as it's hotter than 86F. Mine didn't have any problem whatsoever with this temperature, but platies like warm water. You could do some research on your fish to see if they're sensitive to heat like that.

3) When the tank is warm enough, cover it with something to keep the light out. I used a blanket. Others use tarps or cardboard, etc. Leave this on at all times except when you're changing the water. You can feed the fish right after the water changes, then put the cover back over the tank.

4) Do a 25% water change DAILY until the end of the treatment. This will thin out the freeswimming young adult stage parasites in the water and keep water quality really high so that the fish don't contract secondary infections. Warm your new water to match the temperature in the tank each time you add it to the tank so you don't shock your fish with temperature changes. I used a Python and just put my hand in it until it felt the same as the tank before I switched the nozzle to Fill.

5) Vacuum your gravel thoroughly that first day to thin out the eggs that have been laid down there. You should probably be vacuuming your gravel weekly anyway -- your oscar is too large a fish for a 30G tank by itself and since you have other fish in there as well I have to assume you're probably overstocked. Vacuuming the gravel will help keep ammonia and nitrate levels down for healthier fish in the first place.

6) After the 3rd full day (counting from when the temperature first reached at least 86F), turn the tank heater back down to 86F, again going in 1 or 2 degrees per hour increments. This temperature is the minimum for the full treatment because ich will only breed at temperatures lower than 86F.

7) After the 10th full day (counting from when the temperature first reached at least 86F), take the cover off and turn the tank heater back down to its usual temperature, again going in 1 or 2 degrees per hour increments.

And you're done!! Some of the fish may be too far gone by now so keep an eye out. Remove dead fish as quickly as possible so that their decay doesn't lower your water quality. I saw an immediate improvement in my fish after a single day, but it is vital that you continue the treatment for the full 10 days because you have to be sure that every parasite in the tank has completed its full life cycle without the chance to lay new eggs. If you leave any alive when you turn the temperature back down, they will eventually reinfest your tank.

Answer 2

Mainly stress, and possibly secondary infections. When the ich parasite burrows into the fish to feed on the fish's flesh and blood, it causes severe irritation and weakness in the fish. Whenever a parasite detaches, this leaves an open wound in the fish, opening the door to variou secondary infections like finrot and fungus.
A healthy fish can readily overcome ich, but not all fish are healthy enough to. If they were stressed beforehand, malnourished, recently purchased or moved, this can contribute to the general poor health of the fish, causing it to possibly die.

Adding salt to the aquarium, about 1tbsp per 5 gallons, can help boost immune system and also kill ich parasites (personally, I prefer to use salt than ich meds, as salt is just as effective but much less hard on the fish. It will also help stop secondary infections.

You can also add some Stress Coat, which helps the fish produce a thick mucus layer which protects it.

For future reference, oscar fish are not african cichlids, they are south american and can thus not be kept with african cichlids. They are also BIG fish that need a minimum of 60 gallons per fish as adults.

If you have a suitable hospital tank, it would probably not be a bad idea to move him. Just make sure he has lots of plants, and you can also try buying some dried almond leaf on e-bay. It has antibacterial and blackwater (which means it taints the water brownish, making the fish feel more secure) properties.

Answer 3

After 4 days, all your fish should have recovered. For that particular fish that have cloudy white mucus covering it eyes. Remove it to other tank. Treat it with antibiotic(Tetracyclin). Add some salt. Temperature should be around 29-30' F. Should fully recover in 5 days. There is no serious effect if your fish is caught with ick.Its a mild disease if treated early.

Answer 4

The problem with any illness is that it weakens the immune system and makes the fish susceptible to other diseases.

I would remove this fish and quarantine him in another tank.

The long term effects if it is treated correctly are minimal to a fish and they can live long and healthy lives after the treatment ends.

Answer 5

I would remove him and treat him in another tank while continuing to treat the other tank.Also ick medicine works better if the carbon cartridges are removed because the carbon removes the medicine from the water.

Answer 6

The Oscars are South American fish.

Answer 7

little white spots