why do my oscars have ick and how can i treat them? i put some aquarium salt and melafix in the tank and raise

Question

please help me

Answer 1

Your oscars have ich because they are stressed or unhealthy in some way. Either the water quality is bad, their diet is not complete, they just moved, the tank is too small, etc.

Aquariuam salt is the best treatment. How much did you put in? 1 tbsp per 5 gallons is a good amount. It will take up to 2 weeks to completely eradicate the ich at about 78F, so you can raise the temp to 80F; but not any more than 81F, or it gets dangerous for your fish.

Once you're treating them, you have to address the problem. I suggest you do some reading up on oscars. They need 60 gallons of water per fish, as well as a diverse diet consisting mainly of cichlid pellets, as well as earthworms, shrimp, and some beefheart. They need clean water, so do weekly 30% water changes.

Answer 2

Increase the salt to 2 tablespoons per 5 gallons as you really need about 3% salt solution to be effective against ick. Otherwise yes just increase the temp to 88-90 F and do water changes every other day (cleaning the gravel while doing this) and clean the filter as well. Ich can run it's life cycle in the filter media as well as in the gravel. Treat for 2 weeks after you see no more spots and you will be fine.

As to why they have ick... because ick was brought into the tank some time in the last few weeks. Either with new fish or from another tank. If they are fairly new fish it probably came with them from the pet store. Stress did not do it, poor water quality did not do it. Nothing and I mean nothing causes ick except one particular parasite (Ichthyophthirius multifilis). Any fish can and will get ick if the parasite is in the tank, no fish will get ick without the parasite in the tank. Period. End of story. Tons and tons of bad info about this floating around and it is all wrong!

Answer 3

Depending how bad the ick is it could take up to a week to go away. Melafix is good and works. Just follow the directions on the bottle.

If for some reason the Melafix does not work for him you may want to try Life Guard. It treats a variety of illnesses.

Answer 4

Melafix is for bacterial infections. Ich is not a bacterial infection. Salt will work against ich, but generally you need a lot of salt. Also I don't know how much salt oscars can take. You really need an anti-ich med.

PS- Note that raising the temp will speed up the ich's life cycle. Anti-ich med target the free swimming stage of ich's life cycle. Don't raise the temp until you add the med, or you'll make things worse. Also keep in mind oscars should be keept in temp below 77F.

Answer 5

Treat with salt and raise the temperature slowly to 87F. Keep treating for two weeks after the last visible parasite drops off the fish.

Melafix can mess up the aquarium cycle. But its too late now, so keep up the frequent water changes while treating.

Answer 6

i had good results with QuICK Cure. its one drop per gallon everyday for three days, then change the water 20%-50% then do the treatment for one drop per gallon for another three days, then wait it out. too much medication is bad for your fish. the local pet store had great products. before using any medications. quarantine your fish into a "hospital tank" or different tank, do a 25%-50% water change in your community tank, and take out the carbon filter, carbon will remove all the medication from the water. hope this works. good luck!

Answer 7

that's no longer adequate. bypass get some Mardel CopperSafe. It kills Ich in one day and lasts for as month. the only situation it could kill is snails. you are able to save your carbon in with coppersafe till that is under 5 days previous. different Ich remedies are a discomfort interior the butt given which you have use them for numerous days striaght till each and all the stages of the parasite hatch. Coppersafe kills them in one shot.

Answer 8

change the water in the tank, double check to make shure

your filter is working properly. also, you might want to check

the P.H. you can get the test kit at any swimming pool

supply store. the reading you want should be 7.0


then see your vet.

Answer 9

go to the pet/fish store and get the treatment they need. i had a fish with ick and i didnt notice it til i got home from work and by the time i got back from the pet store he was dead

Answer 10

one medication i like to use is called Clout, its pretty good but strong so don't over dose it. i would change my water before using this medication since you already have some in there...