whats wrong with my clown loach?

Question

i bought some fish two weeks ago off the internet!
ive had my tank set up for 5weeks.
my fish have ick/ich.
i know for a fact it isnt because of poor water conditions!!!
they were most likely sent to me with ick/ich.
my water is crystal clean, and ive done regular water changes!!!
anyway, ive been treating them for ick/ich with some treatment i bought. i didnt really notice a change, untill today! ive treated them 3times now as the intructions state i should do it every other day! my mollies and platys were acting strange and had the white spots over them, but today there acting normal and dont seem to have as many white spots on them, my 2 clown loaches had it the worst, they were covered in it, one of them also had a moss type fungus on him but he died yday. i cant find him tho! but my other clown loach still seems to have the same amount of white spots on him, do you think this treatment im useing will cure him? or is he on hes way out?

Answer 1

Ich is a parasite on your fish. It's not in the water all the time, but can be brought into a tank by various means. The most common is with infected fish or the water they are in. It's not easy to treat ich on loaches as most better medications need to be used at half strength for loaches. The salt and heat method is far superior for treating these guys because of their sensitivity to most ich medications. Since loaches spend most of their time on the bottom of the tank, they are often the first fish hit when ich hatches from the gravel. Careful water changes including a complete gravel cleaning will help this but only if done daily.

The fungus you saw on your other loach of course isn't ich. It's just that, a fungus. Fungus does live in the water most of the time and does attack injured or sick fish, such as your fish that are fighting ich. You can use a variety of fungus medications but they, like ich medications will need to be used and 1/2 strength on loaches. The salt needed to kill ich will also kill most common fungii. Two for one and much more gentle on the fish.

MM

Answer 2

Well, since nobody told you how to use the heat method, here it is:

If you have already tried medication without results, there is another way to cure ich. The other approach is to actually destroy the organism with heat, and can be combined with the salt treatment, 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 temperature 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 (the life cycle of the parasite is 7 days).

Do not discontinue treatment when the spots go away. This is critical, because we know that the parasites 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.

Good luck. Get that temp up....

Answer 3

First off poor waterconditions themselves do not cause ich. Ich is in the water naturally. When a fish becomes over stressed or injured, this is when ich will attach the fish. You will need to treat your tank for close to two weeks for ich to leave the tank.

Fungus is not ich. It is a different beast. Ich can look like a fungus once it has taken over. If you are treating for the right ich, it will treat them however you need to be sure what you are treating for, ich or a fungus?

Read the other answer, if the ich does not look like what I said it is a fungus and is treated differently.

Answer 4

The sad truth about loaches is that they are pretty hard to treat. They don't deal well with chemicals at all because they have no scales. You could possibly think you are curing them, but hurting them more in a different way. I'd move your loach to a different tank if at all possible while you treat your other fish. As for treating your loach for ick, the only thing that I have heard of as effective is giving him half stregnth or weaker dosage of medicine. Good luck!!

Also make sure you don't use aquarium salt!! This hurts them.... just remember that they have no scales.

Answer 5

My fish once had Ick/Ich and I used Interpet Aquarium Treatment (Anti White Spot) from my local aquatics. They also do an Anti-Fungus. It's always worked well for me :)

Answer 6

sounds like ich or a fungus to me. i bought the fungus clear from tank buddies at walmart and it cleared up fungus in my tank pretty well.