What do you use to cure ich?

[bren]

I've removed the carbon bags from the filters and medicated my tanks, three times now, with Ick Guard by Jungle.  Before each new dose I've done a 25% water change and kept the lights off in all the tanks.  Dispite my efforts, the surviving fish are still covered in white spots.
What do you use to cure Ich?
I've read something about using aquarium salt, does this work?
Need help, please.
Thanks,

[Evan]

I had a new fish from  a store that had it.   I used "Super Ick cure"  it worked.

Salt is also a recommended treatment 1-2 tablespoons per ten gallons.

Also depending on the fish you have you can turn up the temperature.  Ick cannot survive in 82 + waters.  Try this ONLY if you know for SURE that the high temp will not harm the fish. Use salt along with this.   Turn up the temp slowly.

[dpatte]

'Ich Cure' - discard the instructions on the package. Dose on day 1, day 2, then each third day until that you see no ich for 7 days.

[dpatte]

don't play with the temperature, or with salt. both of these stress the fish further. ich cure has worked every single time I have followed these instructions.

[artw]

there is a good article on Ich  using the instructions that David provided above on the Krib. in the Diseases section http://www.thekrib.com

[ambushman2j]

Isn't it Quick Cure david?

[dpatte]

ooops, yes, its 'Rid Ich' or QuickCure'. I believe they both have malechite green and formalin in them.

[valiko]

ooops, yes, its 'Rid Ich' or QuickCure'. I believe they both have malechite green and formalin in them.

I've used RidIch once with raising temperature to 80F.

And raising temperature does not kill Ich, with temperature the living process of ich themselves increases.

If you do not have any medications in the water, then raising temperature will do worse.

[Evan]

David,

Just curious why adding salt would increase the stress of the fish?  

Could you also tell me your opinion on raising the temperature?  I don't mean boosting it several degrees at once just a degree or two over a day.  Again some fish cannot handle over/below certain temps but many have a wide range where they are OK.

Do you think that adding salt would be more stressful than adding a medication?

thanks

Evan

[dpatte]

all im saying is that ridIch (or QuickCure) works fine without adding salt or raising temperature - so why add the extra pressure on the system if its not necessary.

temperature increases the speed of the ich lifecycle slightly,

salt is known to also decrease the occurance of ich - but its not a foolproof medication - it also increases your tank hardness.

but with the medication, i've never had to do anything else but keep treating until the complete cycle of ich is long over.

[Evan]

OK thanks,

Just so you know I was not questioning what you said.  I just like to learn others opinions on the different treatments.

[Shannon]

I've been told I have ICK in my african cichlid tank. I have treated 3 doses in the last 3 days like the package says.  Yesterday I had to do a 35% water change because my nitrite levels were reading toxic.  On the first day only one fish had a couple of white spots on its dorsal fin.  On the second day the original spoted fish had no spots but another fish was very colourless and behaving different.  It had a big belly and seemed itchy and swam twitchy.  The third day the first two fish seem better but now most of the other fish seem itchy and twitchy and down in the dumps.  Some are not showing hteir regular colours and not swimming in that showy way they usually do.I have'nt seen any more white spots but I do see some damage to their top dorsal fin.  The package of Quick Cure said to treat no more than 5 days.  Should I do another dose today? I might have to also change the water again because the nitrite level is going up again.  My tank is only 4 weeks old so I'm not sure if this is normal?  My levels were great for the first 3 weeks and no I have
amonia reading less than .5
nitrate at 20
nitrite at 30 +
ph is 7.4 use to be always 7.6 - 7.8
alkalinity is 80 use to be 120 +
hardness of the water is the same at 120
Is this just part of the "cycle"???

I hope I'm doing everything right if I'm not please your advise is needed and appreaciated!

[dpatte]

for quick cure i ignore the box

treat on day 1, 2, 5, 8 ,11 (every three days) etc until the spots are gone for a week.YOu can do water changes just before treating the tank if you like.

[dpatte]

your nitrite levels are very high, and are probably what stressed the fish. Ammoniia and nitrite are toxic. If you do water changes to keep these down, then you need to re-treat the water. if you dont do water changes then you can go 3 days before re-treating.

[Shannon]

Hi Dave,  I am doing a water change right now. so I guess I will have to put more medicine in after I put new water in.  Will this high nitrite level eventually go down I don't really want to be doing water changes every day.  I mean it is easy with this Python gadget and al but still takes 1/2 hour to do. I s there something else I should be doing??

[Shannon]

Oh yes I forgot to say that no fish have spots.  They just seem to have the itchy's they are rubbing up on the rocks and things.  And they look crabby and not happy.  I was doing fine till I brought home fish from the auction.  These fish were pretty stressed looking.

[dpatte]

ich manifests itself as salt looking spots on the fish. if you had no spots, then you had no ich.

But if you had ich, and the spots are all gone now then keep up the medication to insure the ich is wiped out from the water.

as for nitrate and nitrite (two different things), its nitrite that is toxic to fish - anything much over 0 is a sign of problems - or an incompletely cycled tank. Nitrate is much less harmful but i would try to keep it under 20 PPM.

the concept of water changes is simply that it dilutes toxins in the water by replacing part of that water with toxin-free water.
.

[ambushman2j]

Also it's quite normal for cichlids to scratch on things, as long as they don't do it all the time there is no problem, they are likely "in the dumps" due to the elevated ammonea and nitrate levels, get that under control and they should liven up, the meds are probly not helping their mood either

[Shannon]

I stopped medicating them and the very next day One fish had spots on their dorsal fin again.  I was trying to do what Dave told me about every third day, but only got a day.  Do I try that again?  Nitrite is still high . How long does it take to go down in a cycle???

[dpatte]

how many days did you go without spots before you stopped medication? Also - nitrite over 1? then continue water changes - it sounds like your tanke was not cycled when you put in the fish. its the nitrite that is stressing them - and letting them get ich.