Ick Disease: Diagnosis, Prevention and Treatment?

Question

Some of my fish contracted Ick disease I think, because my fish have white salt grain size spots on their fins and body. But they don't seem affected by the spots, no rubbing against rocks, nothing. Recently, I treated the tank with medication, called Super Ick Plus. It came in a vile and I put the appropriate amount of drops in the tank. How long does should it take before I should consider new medication or another dosage? What medication works the best and where can you buy it, does it rid Ick disease from the tank ?

Answer 1

Treatment of Freshwater Ich, Ichthyophthirius.
It is believed that ich is present in all aquariums. Fish that have the disease exhibit small white dots about this size of a grain of salt. It is very contagious and it is fatal.
The best protection is a healthy tank with water changes done weekly or every other week with a gravel vac in the amount of 20-25% of the tank volume. Ich thrives in temperatures between 55-70°, making gold fish extremely vulnerable. Heating a tank to 72-73° is not too warm for gold fish and the susceptibility to ich will be dramatically reduced. A sound practice in fish keeping is to keep new fish in quarantine 4-7 days before adding them to your tank. The stress from being shipped from the wholesaler to the retailer, the stress of living in the retailers tanks which may be overcrowded and poorly maintained and the stress of being bagged up and taken to your home can weaken a fish and make it most vulnerable to ich and other ailments. Rather than introduce a sick fish to your aquarium, it is better to quarantine it until you know it is healthy.

When sound fish keeping practices are not enough, fortunately ich is also very easy to cure. Freshwater ich should not be confused with marine ich, Cryptocaryon irritans. Salt will weaken freshwater ich, obviously marine ich, being in salt water already, this is obviously not the same treatment.

First step:
20-25% water change with gravel vac. Most likely your poor water conditions contributed to the outbreak of ich.
Second step:
Raise temperature (no more than 1° per hour) to 85°.
Third step:
Add aquarium salt (not table salt) in the amount of one rounded tablespoon per 5 gallons. If you have scaleless fish such as loaches, catfish and "algae eaters", reduce that to one rounded teaspoon per 5 gallons, as they don't tolerate salt well.
http://www.aquariumpharm.com/en_us/productCategory.asp?categoryname=WaterConditioners
Fourth step:
After 24 hours, a second 20-25% water change. Add more salt. If you took 5 gallons out in the change, put another rounded tablespoon in.
Adjust for your situation.
Fifth step:
Wait 24 hours.
Sixth Step:
A third water change of 20-25% and replace salt removed.

If this does not cure the fish, and no signs of improvement show up yet, you may want to use a commercial ich curative, all of which require removal of the carbon from your filter, or the carbon will filter out the medication. You can continue with the cleaning process and maintain salt levels. Brackish water fish such as mollies need to have some salt in order to maintain good health. Most other fish benefit from a little aquarium salt as well.

One of the most common is copper sulfate medications like Aquarasol http://www.aq-products.com/APpro/aquarisol.htm
In more extreme cases, Malachite Green is very popular.
http://www.aq-products.com/APpro/quickcure.htm
In the case of scaleless fish such as loaches and catfish, a formaldehyde based Formalin
http://www.aq-products.com/APpro/formalin.htm
Be extremely careful with Formalin doses, many are super concentrated containing 37% formaldehyde, as 1 teaspoon treats 90 gallons.
Some are pre-diluted like Formalin-3, where the dosage is 1-2 teaspoons per 10 gallons. Formalin will kill the bacteria in your filter that break down the waste,
http://www.novalek.com/kordon/formalin/index.htm
Some products contain a combination of these medications. Read the labels and know what you are putting in your tank.

Good Luck

Answer 2

I cannot speak for the brand of fish medicine that you chose, but one for fish without scales would be advised due to your loaches. My personal preference is Ick Guard (2 is for scaless fish), and Quick Cure. Increasing the temperature is an old trick that can speed up the life cycle of the Ich. Most Ich medicine kills the parasite in its free swimming stages. That is why the white spots are not going to instantly go away. It could take up to a week or longer to successfully treat a bad case. The medicine itself could have an affect on the good bacteria within your tank as well. That is why it is highly recommended to do water changes throughout the treatment. Between the Ich, temperature change, and the medicine, your fishes behavior is going to be off. 80 to 82 should be fine, but I wouldn’t go a degree higher. Go out and get a regular aquarium thermometer. They are very cheap. The sticker ones are nice looking, but this situation is why they are a pain. I know this is not a magic solution, but all you can do is wait. Keep up the water changes preferably before each treatment, and moderate your feedings. Ich can be a pain, and I have lost several fish to it (both fresh and saltwater). Don’t forget to sit down and figure out how it was introduced to your tank. 99% of the time it is when you add a new fish or plant. Some people recommend quarantining a fish before introducing to their main aquarium. I’ve never found it practical with the species you mentioned, or smaller show tanks. Good luck…

Answer 3

That does indeed sounds like ich. Some fish are more prone to showing symptoms of irritation such as scratching, rubbing and difficulty breathing than others and it also depends to some degree on the level of infestation. Super ich plus is a reasonable treatment for ich, but like all ich treatments will take days to show a significant improvement and as much as 2 weeks to completely clear ich from the tank.

Ich is a parasite in your aquarium. To dispel some common myths it is not caused by poor water quality or low temperatures, or ammonia, or dirty filters or anything else like that. It does not lurk around in a tank waiting to attack fish, it does not only attack weakened fish, it is not airborne. None of that is true. It is caused by a specific parasite and must be introduced into the tank. This usually happens when you bring in new fish from an infected tank. The best treatments for ick in a tropical aquariums is:

Change a large portion of the water, about 50-60% while cleaning the gravel very well.
Clean the filter and change all the media but leave out the carbon.
Add 1 tablespoon of salt per gallon of the tank.
Raise the temperature to 88-90 F. Raise it slowly, about 1 degree per hour. You may need to add an air stone or two depending on the type of fish and how heavily the tank is stocked. Treat for at least 7 days after you see the last white spots on any of the fish. After the treatment return the tank temperature to normal.

OR

Use a good ick medication as directed on the bottle. Try to find a medication that used Malachite Green as the active ingredient. (CAUTION: Malachite Green is a known carcinogen. Be careful not to get it on your skin!) Quick Cure is a good choice.
Change 25% or more of the water daily being sure to clean the gravel as you do so.
Continue the treatment for at least 7 days after you see the last white spots on any of the fish. After the treatment, return the carbon to your filter.

This will work and will remove the ich from your tank. Properly treated, a tank will remain ich free unless you reintroduce ich to the tank with infected fish or plants or water from infected sources. Tap water is NOT a source f ich, nor are dry good you use in the tank, such as good or filter materials.

MM

Answer 4

You have to read ALL of the instructions on the medicine package.
All you need to know to use that medicine correctly is on the package.
Each medicine is different, you have to follow ALL the instructions.

Usually you have to re-treat at least once, you have to shut off your filter for a certain amount of time, you may have to raise the water temp too.

You should see improvement in about 5 days.
If not, do more research into what this might be.

It does sound like Ick. Small white dots all over the fish.

Prevention: Never put the water from the fish store into your tank. Pour the fish into a net over a bucket then release the fish from the net into the tank.
Always use "slime coat" or a similar product when adding new fish. It helps correct chemical imbalances in the water and in the fish.

Treatment:
There are several over the counter remedies that work, but, you need to read ALL the instructions, and follow them ALL!

Answer 5

When you put the ick medication in the tank, you might have to turn your filtration off for a little while, because most filters will remove it before it actually does its job. The only time I've ever had an ick problem was when I bought an infected fish. I managed to get rid of the ick with medication and a partial water change and temperature regulation and it hasn't reoccurred.

Answer 6

New fish often have ich, and it affects the ones that have been stressed first, then it spreads. Without treatment it will be fatal to most if not all of your fish. There are several ways to treat it, and one way is not necessarily better than the other, but none of them work well in a tank that has poor water conditions. You should get a master test kit, and test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. If your tank is new, then it is very likely that your ammonia is high. High ammonia can be temporarily controled via water changes. Once you confirm that your water is in decent shape, you can treat with store bought ich medication, or you can treat with high temperature and salt. If you are interested in trying aquarium salt, please email me first.