Can't get rid of ich
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
-
puffernuke
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 163
- Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2005 11:36 am
- Location (country): Lake of the Ozarks, MO
- Location: Lake of the Ozarks, MO
Can't get rid of ich
My buddy got three SA puffers a while back. After a few weeks they got HAMMERED by ich. We have tried EVERYTHING to get rid of it from half doses of malachite green to salt to copper. he gave me one and i managed to get rid of the ich on it. The smallest one died, and the biggest one is not doing well. What else can I do?
"P.S. - this is what part of the alphabet would look like if Q and R were eliminated."
- Mitch Hedberg R.I.P.
- Mitch Hedberg R.I.P.
hospitalinity
hospitalinity is the best cure known for ich. I recently went through a heavy ich problem myself and it cured it. I thought for sure I was going to loose my puffer but he is doing better than ever now.
Read the sticky and the top of the hospital treatment forum on how to treat ich using hospitalinity.
My puffer is a saltwater puffer so I had to lower the salt level. The sticky says to lower it below 1.015, but I had to lower my salt level to 1.009-1.008 before the ich died off. Until I got the specific gravity down to that level my puffer looked awful. Once I got the specific gravity down to 1.009 the ich was completely gone from my puffer in 3 days then I kept the specific gravity at the 1.009 mark for almost 6 weeks and then gradually brought it back up again.
If you have a fresh water puffer I believe you just have to do the opposite and raise the salt level. Read up on it. It will take care of the problem.
Read the sticky and the top of the hospital treatment forum on how to treat ich using hospitalinity.
My puffer is a saltwater puffer so I had to lower the salt level. The sticky says to lower it below 1.015, but I had to lower my salt level to 1.009-1.008 before the ich died off. Until I got the specific gravity down to that level my puffer looked awful. Once I got the specific gravity down to 1.009 the ich was completely gone from my puffer in 3 days then I kept the specific gravity at the 1.009 mark for almost 6 weeks and then gradually brought it back up again.
If you have a fresh water puffer I believe you just have to do the opposite and raise the salt level. Read up on it. It will take care of the problem.
-
puffernuke
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 163
- Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2005 11:36 am
- Location (country): Lake of the Ozarks, MO
- Location: Lake of the Ozarks, MO
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32979
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
-
RTR
- Mentor
- Posts: 6155
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 4:39 pm
- Gender: Male
- Location (country): East Coast, USA
I believe that the reference made was to SW Whitespot, a different parasite than FW Ich. As the SAPs are FW fish, you would have to assume that they have or had FW Ich and that hyposalinity (I think that was the intended term, not hospitalinity - of which I do not know the meaning) will do nothing at all for the disease.
Where's the fish? - Neptune
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32979
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
Oops! A thread skimming bad on my part--RTR is correct. Although in this case, adding salt & raising the temp to 87 degrees, along w/large daily water changes, while vacuuming the gravel may help (almost always has in my case). There is an article on treating FW ich in the Hospital Forum.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
-
puffernuke
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 163
- Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2005 11:36 am
- Location (country): Lake of the Ozarks, MO
- Location: Lake of the Ozarks, MO
puffernuke - on the salt & temp. treatment...how long did you keep it up? Did you do daily water changes with gravel vacuuming? How high did you take the temperature up to?
That treatment, with persistence and time, usually works as well as any medicine I've tried. I can see it taking a couple of weeks in a really bad case.
Eric
That treatment, with persistence and time, usually works as well as any medicine I've tried. I can see it taking a couple of weeks in a really bad case.
Eric
-
puffernuke
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 163
- Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2005 11:36 am
- Location (country): Lake of the Ozarks, MO
- Location: Lake of the Ozarks, MO
-
Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32979
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Puffers I have kept:
T lineatus
T miurus
A modestus
T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
C lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
- Contact:
-
Jager
hmm i think you may have something else going on. medicating and ich generally fall into two catergories, stress ich and true infestation breakout ich.
you have the latter, and i would move your puffers to a bare bottmed tank with as little decor as possible (prefferably pvc pipe as it is inert and can be cleaned easy.)
the ich is living in the gravel and anywhere else it can live in cyst stage, so get them into a bare bottomed tank and let the puffs stay out of the iffected tank for 4 weeks, its a long time but that ensures ich dies off in that tank.
with them in the q/t you can use meds, but also hypersalinity for you would work better, as will the temp thing, since the cysts will be visible as a light dustign on the tank bottom you can vac them easily as well
you have the latter, and i would move your puffers to a bare bottmed tank with as little decor as possible (prefferably pvc pipe as it is inert and can be cleaned easy.)
the ich is living in the gravel and anywhere else it can live in cyst stage, so get them into a bare bottomed tank and let the puffs stay out of the iffected tank for 4 weeks, its a long time but that ensures ich dies off in that tank.
with them in the q/t you can use meds, but also hypersalinity for you would work better, as will the temp thing, since the cysts will be visible as a light dustign on the tank bottom you can vac them easily as well
-
puffernuke
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 163
- Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2005 11:36 am
- Location (country): Lake of the Ozarks, MO
- Location: Lake of the Ozarks, MO
sad news. I walked into by roommates room where he keeps the puffer and found in fused to the filter. the ich got the best of him 
. thanks for the advice anyway. p.s. I live in mariners cove apts. in osage beach
. thanks for the advice anyway. p.s. I live in mariners cove apts. in osage beach"P.S. - this is what part of the alphabet would look like if Q and R were eliminated."
- Mitch Hedberg R.I.P.
- Mitch Hedberg R.I.P.
Sorry to hear he didn't make it...does that leave you with one healthy on still?
Personally, concerning the lake, I think you're in a great spot. I've been remiss and haven't been down there in a few years. Now that my son is 7, I think we'll head down to Ha Ha Tonka this spring for some hiking...
Were these puffers locally bought? Is there a good LFS to visit?
Eric
Personally, concerning the lake, I think you're in a great spot. I've been remiss and haven't been down there in a few years. Now that my son is 7, I think we'll head down to Ha Ha Tonka this spring for some hiking...
Were these puffers locally bought? Is there a good LFS to visit?
Eric