# Suggestions/help with my ich control plan



## elaphe (Aug 24, 2006)

Long story short, I didn't quarantine my Gold Tetras when I got them a week or so ago. They looked fine going in, but about 3 days later, one was covered in ich and acting really sick(I removed him from the tank - he later died). Now the ich is attacking my Rummy Nose Tetras. I'm not seeing any spots on the Otos, Dwarf Corys, or other Gold Tetras. I'm just seeing no more than 5 spots on the fins and body of each Rummy Nose now.

I did some searching and found that raising the water temp will help. I'm in the slow process of raising mine up from 78F to around 83F (should be there tomorrow).

I was also thinking of the salt or medication route as well. I have just put so much time and money into the plants, fish, and shrimp (yes, I finally have shrimp that are living and thriving) to kill them off.

*I have an old Tetra 5W UV sterilizer that I just recently got a new bulb for, just in case I needed it. If I run this on the output of my 2213, will the UV combined with the heat be enough to kill/control this ich problem?* Or will I still need some salt or medications as well?

I'm going to do my 50% water change tomorrow and hook up the UV filter then. I'm heating my RO/DI water up to 83F as well. *Should I just continue with my EI ferts and weekly water changes? Do I just keep everything normal except for the temps? How long do I need to leave the temps at 83F?*

Thanks in advance for the help,
Brian

BTW - my _Cyperus helferi_ is pearling like crazy with the temps around 81F right now. It has never pearled before! I always thought it did better at temps lower than 78F or so?


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

Forget about the UV, won't do anything to combat Ich.

Do these things immediately:

(1) Change 50% water.

(2) Raise the temperate to 84 degrees immediately, don't wait days to slowly raise it. You are doing more damage to the fish by letting the ich eat away while you slowly raise the temperature. Instantly raising the temperature on the thermometer won't hurt the fish.

(3) Add 1 TEASPOON of table salt per 10 gallons of water right after the water change. Continue adding this same amount of salt each day for the next 3 days and watch to see if things improve. If they don't, on the third day change 50% again and do another 3 days of salt. 

(4) Feed all your fish about half of what they normally get, they do need to eat but I feel it is better when you half feed them. Empties their stomachs.

I do not recommend any medications. I feel that they do nothing other than stain the silicon, hurt the plants VERY bad, and seem to stress the fish even more.

I have 4 rummynose in my 10 gallon. Rummynose are very susceptible to desease as they are very fragile. Don't add anymore fish to your tank. It must have been overcrowded when you added the new fish and the rummynose didn't like it. Also make sure you quarentine any new fish. Taking fish from the LFS and putting them straight into your tank is ASKING for your tank to have problems. LFS water has everything in it. 

Good luck, keep us posted.


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## bristles (Mar 7, 2006)

I agree with wood on reducing food & increasing temp asap & adding salt at 1/2 dose, rummy nose are very delicate indeed. I would say that I would at least try the UV as it has helped me with ick problems in the past although I had more watts per gal than the setup you have.


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## tropism (Jul 21, 2006)

Just some information, in case you didn't know...

Raising the temperature without doing anything else will only cause ich to spread faster. Ich is actually a parasite, and the white spots are part of the parasite's life cycle. At higher temperatures, the parasites go through their life cycle faster -- the cysts (the white spots) fall off the fish, multiply, become free swimming again, and then re-infest the fish. Raising the temp helps because it gets the parasites off the fish faster, where they are more susceptible to salt and medications.

I don't know the optimum level of salt to use in a planted tank... I've been fortunate enough not to have an outbreak of ich in a planted tank (I quarantine now). Medicines have worked very well for me in the past, but most are very hard on tetras and could kill the plants and shrimps.

I agree with bristles though... I'd definitely add the uv. It won't magically fix the problem, but it certainly won't hurt. If the uv light is strong enough and the flow isn't too fast through the unit, it should kill the free swimming parasites that go through it-- but *only* the free swimming ones, and only the ones that go through the uv.

As a side note, overcrowding or stress to the rummynose tetras may not have had anything to do with them getting ich. You can have a very lightly stocked tank with fish in excellent condition, but when new additions are made the ich parasites first attack the new ones and use them to multiply to numbers that even the previously healthy fish can't handle. (I've seen it happen too many times)


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## elaphe (Aug 24, 2006)

*Thanks everyone*

I went ahead and installed the UV filter yesterday afternoon.

Today I did my 50% water change and added the 1 teaspoon of salt per 10 gallons of water.

So far, so good. No negative reactions from the shrimp or fish. I'm pretty sure that the ich is mostly in the swimming stages right now since there are very few spots on the fish now. A couple of my Otos have a spot or two on them now!

I'll continue with this salt/heat treatment along with the UV. This should hopefully take care of the problem.

Thanks again for all the help,
Brian


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## azadehm1 (Oct 11, 2006)

*Heating and Cooling method*

I recently have had a big Ich outbreak and am currently recovering. There is a great article on Ichthyophthirius that describes a heating and cooling method on page four. It had me raise the temperature to 90 for 24 hours and back down again to 72 for 48 hours and continue this for several days. The article explains the cycle of why the temperature increase is needed to 90 because several temperature resistant forms (including multiple types of protozoans who resemble Ich) have been seen at 85 degrees. Ichthyophthirius Multifiliis (White Spot) Infections in Fish
This method was one of the few that I read that didn't involve chemicals or salt and it has worked wonders. I'm here after a 13 days completely Ich free in the 55 well planted tank while my other 75 G loach tank is still battling it. In the 75 I used formalin and avaline(sp?), I used chemicals because salt wasn't helping and I couldn't get the temperature high enough with one heater. 
I have 10 neons and 6 otos who I understand to be quite temperature sensitive who are doing very well so although 90 may sound really high...I had no fatalities while my chemically treated tank is still doing poorly.
Just a possibility for you.


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## elaphe (Aug 24, 2006)

*Problem solved!!!!!!*

Thanks everyone for the replies. I raised the heat to 85F and started dosing the 2 tsp salt daily. After 3 days, the fish were covered in ich, so I did a 50% water change and did the 3 days again.

All ich is gone. I did run the UV filter while doing this treatment. Now that my ich is gone for 3 days, I lowered my temps back to 78F and I'm keeping the UV filter on for another week or so. I also decided to add some Kordon Ich Attach (the natural herbal one-read about it in another post) for a week, just to make sure everything is dead.

I didn't loose any fish or shrimp. Everyone pulled through just fine. It was kind of funny though. The Amano shrimp had such a high metabolism that they were eating everything in site (didn't touch my plants though). They ate the few spots of BBA that I had on one rock. 

Thanks again,
Brian


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## bristles (Mar 7, 2006)

I'm glad you beat your ick outbreak, I'm envious of your amano eating your bba, mine turn up their pointy little noses at it


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## tropism (Jul 21, 2006)

That's great!  I was wondering how it was going... thanks for the update.


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