HELP MY FISH HAVE ICH! (Ichthyophthirius) Freshwater
The inspiration for this article came to me from an e-mail that I received and also inspired by a few other people.
E-mail went as followed...
Please help me! I bought 4 clownloaches 2 weeks ago and had placed them in QT for 2 weeks. Thinking all was ok I put them in my main tank. In 24 hours all have white spots. Please just tell me how I can help them FAST! I have read so much on Ich I don?t know what to do. Very confused. HELP!!So with that said I thought I would write an article that would simplify treatment without all the scientific reasons of how it got there, what is this pest on your fish, is it always present in a tank or how long it truly stays. Each tank is different and it is important to look at so many variables. But you can start with the basics and take it from there.
A quick definition - Ich or Whitespot Disease is perhaps the most common disease encountered by freshwater aquarists everywhere, both beginning and advanced.
It has been said that Ich is the result of a fish being stressed by many things such as being new addition to a tank, aggression, temperature fluctuation and water quality not being up to par. So it?s a good place to start and element what could be the possible causes. Water testing and water changes are an excellent place to begin. Many times after a water change the spots just disappear and all fish are happy and healthy.
If you feel you need to treat the tank there are a few options. The best in my opinion and the less stressful way is the heat/salt therapy. I would much rather go this route then adding chemicals to the tank.
Heat/Salt TherapySlowly bring your temperature up to 84-86 F (28-30 C) over a period of 24 hours being careful to watch for signs of stress.
Add extra aeration as raising the temp depletes oxygen levels (lowering your water level 1 inch in the tank and let your HOB do the trick or adding an air stone will aid in this)
Adding salt ? recommended dosages (Aquarium, rock, kosher salt are all great salts?as long as it is not ionized)
1 tbls for every 5 gals.
Or
1 tbls for every 10 gals. If you have more sensitive fish like scale less or very young fish.
Dissolve the salt in a container of tank water and slowly add this over a period of a few hours watching for any signs of stress that some fish may show.
Perform water changes every 2-3 days only adding the salt that you would remove in the water change. Example: remove 20 gals of water only add back 4 tbls of salt. If using the 1 tbls. For every 5 gals.
Length of treatment 14-21 days.
End of treatment perform a large water change and slowly bring the temperature down to where you normally keep it.
Along with this treatment or you can try this without the Heat/salt therapy you can add garlic to the fish's diet. Something else that is still highly controversial among many in this hobby. If you decide to try this you may crush fresh garlic, buy the drops or check to see if LFS carries fish food with garlic added. (I have found this works very well with saltwater fish.)
If you find that you have a large outbreak and or feel more comfortable using medicines, there are plenty on the market that will also help. Bottom line here is what you feel comfortable doing and the best treatment for your fish.
Happy fish keeping!
By
Carolyn Allen (AKA callen)
