is this ich and what do I do to save my fish?!?!

[mscichlid]

This is a quote from Barbie of Planetcatfish. I had ich once and used this method. Worked like a charm.


I regularly treated clown loaches, and other sensitive fish with a teaspoon per gallon of salt, added every day for three days, along with a 30% water change, with careful substrate vacuuming, and a temperature of 86 degrees. It speeds the life cycle of the ich parasite up, and allows you remove the tomites at the substrate to keep them from rising in the water to reattach to the fish and start the life cycle over. If you have a diatomaceous earth filter, or a UV filter, they will also greatly reduce the nubmer of spores that make it back to the fish while they are weakened. I continue the daily water changes until the fish are clear of ich, then I keep an eye on them for two weeks, then reduce the temperature.

 

[Avatar]

It has been found that Ich does not infect new fish at 29.4°C/85°F (Johnson, 1976), stops reproducing at 30°C/86°F (Dr. Nick St. Erne, DVM, pers. comm.), and dies at 32°C/89.5°F (Meyer, 1984).]

3-4 days at 90°F and then 7-10 days at 87°F and your fish are in the clear. All that other stuff might make you feel better but strictly speaking heat is all you need. Too much for some species of Corydoras and others, but worked for me in my one run-in with this problem in a tank full of tetras, discus, angelfish, Corydoras sterbai and Ancistrus.

 

[YSS]

It has been found that Ich does not infect new fish at 29.4°C/85°F (Johnson, 1976), stops reproducing at 30°C/86°F (Dr. Nick St. Erne, DVM, pers. comm.), and dies at 32°C/89.5°F (Meyer, 1984).]

3-4 days at 90°F and then 7-10 days at 87°F and your fish are in the clear. All that other stuff might make you feel better but strictly speaking heat is all you need. Too much for some species of Corydoras and others, but worked for me in my one run-in with this problem in a tank full of tetras, discus, angelfish, Corydoras sterbai and Ancistrus.

Yup. That' what I do in my discus tank. Crank up the heat to about 88 for two weeks and all is well. But 88 for two weeks may be tough on some fish.