Ick outbreak, 1 fish dead

[renadia]

Lost my catfish tonight  he was so cute, my big clown loach has more white spots than last night hope he will be OK. Did a 50% WC and cleaned the gravel real good and the water is 81, had it coming slowly today, I guess I will let it go up to 85.

Hope the spots will stop spreading by tomorrow

***********************
Yep now my turn and I almost did a big booboo, I was going to use the wc hose kit to do the Sunday wc in the 55 gal after I did the infected tank  That would of probably meant another tank infected!

Since I haven't dealt with this in years, I read info found on some other treads found here on on the Internet.

I have a wide variety of fish in my community tank,  hope the treatment will be OK for everybody. The Catfish is the most affected, he has white spots all over and his fins, gills and mouth are red and he was panting. I did a 30% water change, after I added the usual Prime, 1 drop /2 gal of Quick Cure because I have tetras and loaches instead of 1 drop per gal.  Then I added Melafix to try and help the catfish redness, there was a lot of like white particles in the water so I added Clear "Particulate Water Clarifier"  and finally 1 tsp of salt per 5 gal of water to help kill the parasite.

The catfish seems better now so I guess something I added  felt good for him 
Tested the water it's no Ammonia, no Nitrite and 5 Nitrate.

I'm getting a stronger heather tomorrow the water is 74 and am planning of bringing it to around 82
I read on a site that the treatment should be for 14 days, so I guess it means Ick cure, salt and higher water for 14 days? It also recommended to feed antibiotic food for 10 days. Do you guys do this?

Thanks

Diane

I read on a site to add

[Julie]

I treated ick with heat and thorough vacuuming of substrate and water change.  Also depending on the fish, wipe down tank walls with paper towel and dispose. 
Increase heat gradually.

Increase aeration in tank with air stone.

[renadia]

Hi Julie,

Thanks for pointing out about increasing the oxigen level, I had read it but forgot, will do it now

Also depending on the fish, wipe down tank walls with paper towel and dispose. 

When you  say this what fish would this not be good for?

[Julie]

Some fish release alot of slime coat (ie discus) so wiping down the tank walls is another step in hygiene.

[renadia]

Some fish release alot of slime coat (ie discus) so wiping down the tank walls is another step in hygiene.

This is my fish list do you think any of them would be releaser'S of slime ???1 Koi angel, 2 Opaline gourami 2 Drarf gourami, 2 Pearl gourami, 4 Longfin Serpae Tetra, 6 cardinal Tetra, 7 Rasbora espei, 10 Cherry barb, 2 pleco, 3 Clown loach, 3 cories and 1 catfish

[dan2x38]

Your right watch your pelcos & other bottom feeders they will show first signs of stress... do WCs and vacuum gravel a lot... got to get that temp. up there... this is your 75g? if you want to add a 100w heater along with another to keep the temp. up there can loan ya one... Boys oh boys you've had a hard go as of late...  

[Julie]

The angel would, don't know about the rest.  Call me fussy, but clean tank equals healthy fish.

[renadia]

Your right watch your pelcos & other bottom feeders they will show first signs of stress... do WCs and vacuum gravel a lot... got to get that temp. up there... this is your 75g? if you want to add a 100w heater along with another to keep the temp. up there can loan ya one... Boys oh boys you've had a hard go as of late...  

Thanks Dan, Errol is selling me one and I will get it tomorrow. 

[renadia]

The angel would, don't know about the rest.  Call me fussy, but clean tank equals healthy fish.

Thanks Julie

My tanks is pretty cleanthe Nitrate was even lighter than the colour of 5 on the chart. I did add some gouramis on Monday and they seemed Ok but I don't have a tank to quarantine so I guess that could be where it comes from.

[renadia]

I read on a site to also feed them with antibiotic food does anyone here do this?

Should I combine Quick Cure with high water temp and salt?

I want to continu the use of Malafix because of the catfish is this ok or will doing all this cancel some of the meds I'm doing?

How often should I WC and how much? Don't want to stress them and it's not clear from one site to the other exactly what is best to do.

[KLKelly]

Don't combine quickcure and salt.  Its one treatment or the other.  I also think some catfish and other fish can't handle salt as a treatment. 

Definitely make sure you have a lot of oxygen/aeration going on.  I think quickcure as well as the higher temps lower oxygen levels.

[BigDaddy]

Ich is a parasite, not bacteria, so using antibiotics is rather pointless.  Whatever site recommends using antibiotics for the treatment of ich needs to reconsider its content.  Some people will claim ich can cause secondary bacterial infections, thus the reason for suggesting it.  However, without an actual diagnosis of a bacterial infection, dosing antibiotics when none are needed just makes no sense.

[dan2x38]

Dosing antibiotics can kill off part of your bio-filter. Bacteria is bacertia to an antibiotic. It also can create a tolerance to antibiotics for when they are really needed.

[renadia]

Is 85 to high ?

[beowulf]

Is 85 to high ?

Nope for ick you can go up to 87 even....just do it slowly and make sure you add an airstone to make up for the lower oxygen level in the tank.

[Julie]

The bottom feeders can be sensitive to certain meds etc.....Anything amazonian (ie tetra, angel) and the loach should be fine at 87.