Fish Ick for two weeks.?

Question

I have tried eveything I can think of. I have been treating the Ick with Quick cure for nine days, took out my carbon for my filter, raised the temp to 83 degress, added 4 tsp. salt to my 10 gallon tank, and my fish (dwarf gouramis-2) have only gotten worse. Now they just sit at the top of the tank, motionless. This has been such a frustrating ordeal. Can anyone help me? PH is 6.9-I have not tested for nitrates, hardness, or nitrites. Tank is heavily planted and was set up 3 months ago with a two week fishless cycling period.

Answer 1

The good news is you can clear the ich from the tank, the bad news is it will badly damage or kill your plants. You could remove the plants to a fishless container for 2-3 weeks and save them though. More on that later.

Quick Cure certainly should have cleaned up the ich if any typical medication was going to do so. Other medications you can get contain similar active ingredients and most likely would be no more effective, so in this case I would suggest the heat / salt method of treatment. To save your plants remove them before you start.

You need to raise the temperature to above 88F. 90F is a good target temp. Even higher won't hurt as the gourami can easily take the temperature into the mid 90's, but higher won't help much either. Do this slowly, about 1 degree per hour or so. Scoop out a few cups tank water in a glass or bowl and add enough salt to bring the total in the tank to 1.5 teaspoons per gallon. If you have done no water changes since adding the 4 teaspoons, add 11 more to the glass. Add this salty water back to the tank a little at the time, over the course of 8-10 hours Keep the tank at this temperature and salinity for 10-14 days or for 4 days after you see the last white spot on a fish. When you do water changes, which you should often, add back only enough salt for the new water going in the tank. This will clear the ich given time.

If you feel your fish don't have much time and need a fairly radical treatment you can try a salt dip. Know in advance that this is stressful to the fish and could possibly kill them so consider carefully before using this treatment. Using 1 quart of tank water, add 2.5 tablespoons of salt and then add the fish. Leave the fish for as long as 15 minutes but watch for signs of serious distress. Remove the fish when you feel it can't take anymore. This will cause many of the white spots to fall off the fish and off his gills. Discard this water and replace the missing tank water with fresh dechlorinated and salted water. If it doesn't kill the fish he will be in much better shape within a day. Your call, pretty risky the first few times you do it.

For the plants, a 3 week period in a heated container with no fish should leave them clear of ich. Keep them at about 80 F and change 100% of the water as often as possible, daily isn't too often.

Hope that helps and if you have any questions please feel free to email me.

MM

Answer 2

Believe it or not, fish can stand temperatures bordering 100 degrees! The bad thing with hot water though, is that it doesn't contain a lot of dissolved oxygen. But hot water also can destroy particles of ich virus in the water. Your fish should be fine. Gouramis are labrynthe fish and they breathe at the surface. Stting your tank aroud 90 degrees farenheit. Checking for ammonia and nitrites would help greatly! Toxins like ammonia and nitrite irritate fish and can slow the production of the necessary slime on fishes' scales. That slime helps protect against diseases like ich! So if your ammonia or nitrite levels are high, do a 1/2 water change.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

Answer 3

shop treating them for a on an identical time as after the spots are long gone. they could nevertheless be contaminated even in spite of the incontrovertible fact which you won't be able to see it. because of the fact the spots are going away you recognize they are getting extra appropriate, only make helpful they are each of ways extra appropriate till now you place them back... you may additionally take care of the huge tank to kill any ich that maintains to be in the water.

Answer 4

DanielleZ is right. Adding all kinds of additives along with medicines will keep the medicines from working properly. 83 isn't high enough to do any harm to the ich parasite. Temperatures need to exceed 90

Ich takes time however you do need the right medicines to treat the tank with. Start over with the proper medicines leave the salt out and remove your carbon.

Answer 5

First off, does the directions say to add salt or increase the temperatures? Many ich medicines do not require raising temperatures and do not work well with salt. You need to choose how you are going to treat the fish. Ich parasite takes in most cases 2 weeks to clear up.

Also, what type of ich do your fish have? White spot? Velvet or cotton? Using the proper medicines for the specific parasite is also a key point to treating.

Figure out what type of ich you are treating and use the proper medicines. DO not do a water change, add salts or raise the temperature unless the directions say to do so.

Answer 6

I would say "Let NATURE takes it's way"

Answer 7

I have you tried cleaning out your tank and fresh cycled water