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freshwater ICK

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Admin
Post subject: freshwater ICK
Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 3:59 pm
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Ick looks like tiny sugar crystals. They can be anywhere on the body.
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Good pictures of ICK here:

http://cichlidresearch.com/gifs/disease ... C_9878.jpg

http://www.cureforich.com/images/poorfish.jpg

http://www.reefs.org/library/aquarium_n ... mg0078.jpg


There are many ick cures.

Whatever you do, DO IT NOW.

Ick is easy to kill, but will wipe out your tank if ignored.

If I were you:

I would take out the live plants and leave them in another tank or just a bucket of fresh water (change water occasionally, or add an airstone.)

Put in 2 teaspoons of salt
per 1 gallon of water,
into the ick infested fish tank.

Turn up heat to 81 degrees F.

Optionally, you can use another medicine
instead of OR in addition to the sodium chloride...
I like to use salt with one of the above because there are more than one species of ick.

Copper based medicines will kill shrimp AND snails AND ick.

Malachite green & formaldhyde medicines will only kill ick,
but need to be re-dosed every 12 - 24 hours
(the dye breaks down with light, or gets locked up with filter carbon... the formaldehyde evaporates faster than water.)

(if you use salt , put it in only ONE TIME...
the salt only comes out of the tank when you take water out of the tank)

As the medicine starts working, it will look as if the ick is getting "worse",
but it will be getting better.
The marks will go from white to sort of greyer, and bigger.
What you will be seeing is the damage to the flesh.
As the ick leaves the body, it makes a tear in the fish's skin.
If you water is not clean sometimes these small wounds can get infected.

Ick is water born, so use different equipment so that you don't bring it from tank to tank.

Freshwater ick can't stand saltwater.
Saltwater ick can't stand freshwater.

Any type of Sodium Chloride will work against freshwater ick.
2 TEAspoons of salt per 1 gallon of water is the MOST salt you can use on freshwater fish.

Ick won't survive out of water for long
(it will dry & die.)
Ick won't survive in a tank with zero fish
(it will starve to death in about 2 weeks,
it feeds on the juice of live fish only....
kind of like a tick on a mammal.)

Last edited by Admin on Thu Aug 06, 2009 5:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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ComesBack10fold
Post subject:
Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 5:33 pm
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Location: whitman, MA
 
not to mention that the salt + heat treatment tends to be easier on the fish than tossing a bunch of bottled chemicals in the water.

or that many chemical used to treat ich also effect scaleless fish such as loaches and syno cats.


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scotts
Post subject: ICK?
Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 6:50 am
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Location: west bridgewater
 
Hi Ned, I just noticed a few white spots on 2 of my fish. The spots are white but look bigger than ick, and i havent seen any side scratching they are eating but look a little stressed. Ive kept fish for 8 years but only had ick 3 times so im not very exp with curing it. So should i wait until i am positive what it is ( more than likely it is some parasite) or should i just treat the tank? Are there any fungus or disease that looks like "big ick"
This is what ive done in the past for ick, tell me what you think- take out any absorbing media that has been in there for less than3-4 weeks, add coppersafe, 1 teaspoon/g salt ( I put 1 tblespoon/5g in all my tanks anyway) and raise temp to 81-83. I do a 30% water change every 3 days of treatment adding whatever meds and salt i took out . I do this for 3 weeks, then add polyfilter and some carbon.
The fish that inhabit the infected tank are 4 krausii, 1 diadema, 1 temporalis, 1 blue acara, 1 pleco,and 1 cory- pretty hardy fish but the cory maynot like the salt- oh well not too worried about his survival.
The only reason i use coppersafe is because it doesnt discolor the water and they say it wont effect good bacteria.
Any advice would be apprieated. I dont want to treat with copper and find out its a fungus.
Thanks Ned
Scott


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Admin
Post subject:
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:44 pm
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can I stop the ich treatment safely?
sure if more than 7 days with no sign of remaining ick
when might it be safe to get new fish?
whenever you feel all inhabitants are 100% healthy

should I just treat profilactically when I do?
maybe with the copper, bearing in mind you cannot use the copper with shrimp and snails

should I treat now at the first sign of any spot at all?
yes certainly (if it's ick)

can I prevent this in future?
not really, ick can even show up in tanks
that have had no new fish for 7 months...
...best you can do is try not add fish that have ick
and change water and clean gravel regularly

if you keep fish, you will see ick...
just a question of when,
unfortunately
it drives a lot of beginners crazy and drives them right out of the hobby


Ned Bowers

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Admin
Post subject:
Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 12:45 pm
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So I've been treating ick all week in my 75 gallon. Talked to you about it. I wanted to give a rundown to see how much longer I should go after it. It started with my 4 orange flash getting it bad, then 2 clown loaches, then 3 of my 5 geophagus tapajos.
Day 1: Tablet ick treatment
Day 2: 50% water change
all plants and wood out
temp up to 84 degrees
full salt
1 dose of quick cure
Day 3: 2 X Quick cure
symptoms all the same
Day 4: 50% water change
1/2 salt
dose of quick cure
ick spread in loaches
orange flash getting better
cichlids getting better
Day 5: 2 X quick cure
almost gone in cichlids, orange flash still a bit, loaches not too great-
still on torso, fins, and tails
Day 6: (Today) loaches still covered, flash better, cichlids looking good


So, tomorrow AM I was going to do another 50% with half salt, and just keep it up.
PERFECT, You are an A student.
Nobody has been lost, and none of my other tetras, siamese algae eater, loaches, or swordtails have had anything.
You just have to be patient, it takes time for the damage to heal.

My neighbor was telling me I have to throw out my plants and driftwood because they carry ich now. I don't believe that...is it true?
Ick is water borne, but, if it has no fish to attach to it dies in about a week..
so by the time you do enough water changes to get the water back to 95% fresh,
the ick in the plant bucket will have died


(also, quick cure does not hurt plants, just the salt does
...so, you could quick cure the plant bucket if you are worried about it.)

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Admin
Post subject: Re: freshwater ICK
Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 6:53 pm
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rid ich plus
should start to work very fast
(same chemical as quick cure)
should be used with NO carbon in the filter
also works best with lights off

could take 3 - 7 days or more

the Malachite green / formaldehyde needs to be re-dosed daily
or even twice a day
----------------------------------
salt also works very well
2.2 teaspoons of sodium chloride per 1 gallon of water MAXIMUM

the salt treatment must be done ONE time only
UNLESS you change water (in which case: you re-salt propotionally to the amount of new water)

could take 3 - 7 days or more
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

83 degrees F. MAXIMUM will speed up life cycle of ick parasite

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Admin
Post subject: Re: freshwater ICK
Posted: Fri May 06, 2016 10:30 am
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come by the store and get malachite green with formaldehyde

the ich cure you bought should have worked
but they now make it without the formaldehyde

coppersafe is too mild also

neither will work if you use carbon in your filter

whenever you see a problem
you should treat it right away

I wish you had called 2 weeks ago

if you can't get to the store today
put in 2 teaspoons of salt per 1 gallon of water in the tank immediately

you can only salt the tank one time

the malachite green with formaldehyde
you add once every 24 hours

temperature should be 82 degrees F
but the heat alone will not kill the ich


-----Original Message-----


Ned

Really need your help with a severe white spot problem. A few weeks ago I noticed a few of my fish scratching. This past 7 to 10 days more and more of my fish are covered with white spots. I have already lost two prized rainbows and really want to help my remaining fish. Even the big clown loach I got fro you a few weeks back is now infected

Initially I tried API super ich cure. Followed directions and treated for four days with no real benefit. Last Sunday after a huge water change I switched to Mardel copper safe. Initially I thought the fish had fear spots but know I see the fish I thought where clear are badly infected again.

I would be grateful for any advice that you can give. I raised my temp to 28 oC in have my air system on constantly hoping this would help. Should I try salt, another medication or wait it out? This is the worst bought of ich that I have ever encountered. I really hope I can find a way to save my remaining fish

Once again I value you experience and any help you can offer

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Admin
Post subject: Re: freshwater ICK
Posted: Fri May 06, 2016 6:53 pm
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The rid ich label tells me to perform a 25% or more water change each day prior to each new full dose.
good idea
Do you also recommend this?
yes
How many days should I keep going with this treatment?
7 max
Should I add salt as well as the rid ich?
probably
also 7 days max on the full dose of salt (2 teaspoons per 1 gallon of water)

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Admin
Post subject: Re: freshwater ICK
Posted: Wed May 11, 2016 9:52 pm
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UncleNedsFishFactory.com
ICK MEDICINE
$ 11.00 per 2 oz. dropper bottle
1 drop per 1 gallon
no carbon ... lights off
STAINS SKIN AND CLOTHES
Formalin / Malachite Green

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Admin
Post subject: Re: freshwater ICK
Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 4:36 pm
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Ick season ! Autumn and Spring.
Warm days, cool nights ... watch out for ick on your fish.
... Small white dots will slowly kill your fish. It is easy to treat.
We sell here Malachite green / formaldehyde medicine
(use 1 drop per gallon of aquarium water).
Repeat treatment once a day for a week
with the Malachite green / formaldehyde medicine.
... Also you can treat it with regular salt
(Sodium chloride.) Use 2 TEAspoons of salt per 1 gallon of aquarium water. Treat one time only with the salt.

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Admin
Post subject: Re: freshwater ICK
Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2021 8:59 pm
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so the salt is Poisonous to fresh water fish,
at that level (2 tsp per 1 gallon, aprox 2%)...
ick have about a 10 day life cycle depending on temperature (not a bad idea to turn heat up to 82 degrees F) ... after about 12 days, the high salt level is stressing the fish badly
(also, if there were any ick they are dead anyway)
.... so that's why you need a miniumum water change of at least 50% after 9 or 10 days.
The salt kills the plants the same way it kills the ick...
the freshwater in the ick (and plants) rushes to meet and mix with the salted water, actually exploding it.
It's awesome revenge!
Any ick medicine is poison in some way, just a matter of careful dosing.
There is about 7.45 gallons in a cubic foot if you need to know how many gallons are in your aquatic system. By the way, you can treat Saltwater 'Ick' the opposite way,
lowering the salt content (adding extra fresh water)
the saltwater in the parasite rushes to mix the freshwater and it explodes like a bomb !
Awesome.

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