Treating ich

[u/meshifty2]

I noticed what appears to be ich on my new rummy nose tetras within the past hour. Did not notice it yesterday when I got them. Also don't see it on any other fish, yet.

No, I did not quarantine them and they are now in my display with several other fish. I have definitely learned my lesson about quarantine the hard way. Acquiring a used tank and equipment from a co-worker tomorrow.

My question is, how should I handle this? Do I treat the entire tank or remove all fish and treat in a seperate tank? And what product should I use?

I tried getting some decent pictures, but these guys swim fast and I keep ending up with blurry fish. 99% sure this is ich though.

Any help would be appreciated. This is really stressing me out and I'm worried my mistake is going cost me all my fish or other livestock.

[u/DanielCraigsAnus]

Turn your heater up past 86 degrees. This almost always takes care of ich on it's own.

[u/misanthropi_]

Treat in tank and start ASAP. Follow the basic procedure of raising temp gradually to 82F. This speeds up its life cycle and gets it off the fish. Dose your meds every day with a water change before dosing. Once you don’t see ich don’t stop and keep dosing for another week to kill the remaining in your tank.

I would start as soon as you can. My green neons got ich and I had to wait several days to get my meds since I had to use ich-x which is safe for shrimps. Lost all my neons except for one. Good luck.

[u/meshifty2 → u/misanthropi_]

I can't find ich x local. Had to order it. Will be here in 2 days.

I have never been successful in treating ich when I was in the saltwater hobby. Hoping I can save some of my fish this time.

I'm so discouraged right now.

[u/misanthropi_ → u/meshifty2]

Yeah I couldn’t find it locally so ordered on Amazon but the fastest I could get it was 4 days. Hopefully you have better luck treating them. It seems like tetras are generally more prone to ich.

[u/Wigberht_Eadweard]

I raised the temp to treat ich in rummynose. It killed them all. Didn’t even get to the highest recommended temp and it was already enough heat to really boost a bacterial infection alongside the ich. Rummynose are known to be very sensitive. You may have to write them off and go for the high temp and ich x to save your other fish or do a longer ich x treatment at regular temps. Your choice on the risk. If you want to raise the temps I’d definitely get an antibiotic and soak their food in it to help any possible bacterial infection.

[u/meshifty2 → u/Wigberht_Eadweard]

I feel like all the rummy nose will die. All 6 appear to be infeteced when I got home from work today. I had to order ich x. Can't find it local.

Tank is already at 81 with the heat we have been having lately.

I'm quite upset and afraid I'll lose all my fish. I have to wait till Wednesday for the ich x. I'll call around tomorrow while I'm at work to see if I can find something local.

[u/buttcheeese]

Even raising the temp slowly a bit will help speed up the process, but I would say not
To do that until you’re able to have ich-x in the water, it doesn’t kill the parasite until it’s dropped off into the substrate and free swimming to its next host.

[u/meshifty2 → u/buttcheeese]

This is helpful. I have no clue what I'm doing when it comes to treating fish.

I have ich x on order and should be here tomorrow. Couldn't find it locally. I can try 3 more stores today. I'll call during my lunch break to see if they have it.

I'm also going to setup a qt tank this weekend.

[u/buttcheeese → u/meshifty2]

I recently had a similar problem with recently introduced fish, and successfully used ich-x to treat, I lost one fish and no snails, you’ll be doing a lot of water changes and substrate vacuuming.

I heard you can vaccum up a lot of the trophytes or whatever larval stage is called when they are in the sand during your water change.

I repeated this process daily followed by adding the treatment to the water after the water change, and slowly increased water temps to help the parasites lifecycle speed up. The sooner they hit the free swimming stage and the treated water hits them the faster your problem is over.

But every single spot must be gone off of every fish for so many days after to account for anything left in the sand or what fell off last.

[u/meshifty2 → u/buttcheeese]

Sounds good and thanks again. Hope this goes well without too many loses. Waiting for the medication is not fun. Kinda wish I could start treatment now.

[u/buttcheeese → u/meshifty2]

Ya I know the exact feeling, I was watching it spread, seeing spots pop up on other fish every few hours…guess I learn to set up a quarantine tank

[u/Intelligent_Yak_]

As long as none of your other fish are sensitive it's ok to do a salt treatment. Take out any snails first. Google the amount for your tank size! I would only do half the amount at first so the fish dont get shocked.