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Author Topic: Ich and new tank  (Read 646 times)
wiki
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Ich and new tank
« on: May 27, 2011, 09:39:14 PM »
Well... still waiting for the tank to turn up grrrrrrr Its at the local depot apparently so fingers crossed for delivery on monday...

Fluffy has developed Ich (I am pretty sure... it looks like salt on his tail and back)... Now I am going to start treating the water with aquarium salt (well... rock salt with  no additives...) (1tsp per gallon every 12 hours until it reaches 3tsp per gallon.... is that correct?)... I am going to try to raise the temperature of the tank too... Is it 25C it needs to be raised to? It is 15C at the mo... How slowly does that need to be done? Is there anything else I can do to make the fish more comfortable? I dont want to kill them with medication!

The other 2 fish aren't affected that I can see but I think it is best to treat them anyway...

Now the question is... When my new tank turns up on Monday... Is there any way to move the fish across to the new tank with-out transfrerring the ich? Or would it be better to move them into the bigger tank and just treat that one? Is it a bad idea to move the plants and gravel across? Do the little cysts live in the plants and gravel?

As you know I am very overstocked at the moment so i want them in a bigger tank ASAP... Can I transfer the fish without Ich across and leave Fluffy in the small tank? What about the water in teh bags I transfer them in? (I assume I will have to do the acclimatisation thing and float them for a while...)

I have no idea where this has come from... I haven't added new fish or water from another tank or anything... does Ich just live in tap water or something???

Thank you!!!
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Goldiegirl
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Re: Ich and new tank
« Reply #1 on: May 27, 2011, 09:49:14 PM »
Ok, having dealt with ich a lot, here is what I would do. Raise the temp to around 78 degrees F gradually. DON'T use medicine on ich! Salt is muuuuch safer and more pleasant to deal with. Pre-disolve the salt in 1/2 a cup of tank water. The ratios are as follows: for every 10 gallons use 3 tablespoons. Pour the disolved salt water in gradually around the tank.

About the little critter called ich: it is ALWAYS present in the tank. Fish contract it when their immune system is lower than usual, there's been a parameter spike/fall, or they just aren't quite as healthy as usual. An ich creature releases thousands of baby ich into the water. The parasite latches onto the fish's body and feeds off of their slime coat. When it dies, the cyst falls to the bottom of the tank. I would not advise moving the sick fish as it would stress them out. Only remove the healthy ones. Clean the gravel thouroughly and then move it; it will not contain the living ich only the dead cysts.

Hope this helps a bit!
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wiki
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Re: Ich and new tank
« Reply #2 on: May 27, 2011, 10:09:35 PM »
Thanks! Goldiegirl! That helps alot!!!

Would it be worth treating the new tank with salt as well just in case? My tank was already treated with 1tsp of salt per gallon to counter Nitrite poisoning... 1Tbs per 3 gallons isn't much more than that is it?  *runs away to do some math*

I had actually started to taper off the salt as someone said that it is bad for the fish long term (being using Prime instead)... It is since then, Fluffy has got Ich... do you think maybe the salt was keeping the Ich at bay as well? (I just boosted it back up to 1tsp per gallon when I noticed the spots...)

Yes I think Fluffy has a low immune system at the moment... I am hoping a lovely big tank will make him a lot healthier... The two smaller fish don't seem to get as stressed out as Fluffy does for some reason... (though I think one of them just became a boy!!! it looks like he has stars on his gills and front fins - hopefully it is stars and it isn't Ich)
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Goldiegirl
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Re: Ich and new tank
« Reply #3 on: May 28, 2011, 10:17:46 AM »
I think it's a good idea to treat the new tank as well; I would anyways. Plus, you will stress out your fish when you move them, so the salt should help protect them to a certain extent against more disease. You already have some in their anyways, so why not add the full dosage.  Cheesy Salt is deadly to ich, so it makes sence that they (the ich parasites) would have more activity without the salt.

Ooooh, that sounds like the fish is a boy then! Yes, hopefully that's not just more spots of ich.  Wink
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wiki
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Re: Ich and new tank
« Reply #4 on: May 29, 2011, 05:16:33 PM »
Well all the spots of ich have gone (as far as I can tell) so leave the salt for 7 days and if they dont come back I am in the clear?

On another note I was in the pet shop shopping for new tank stuff (yay!) And I was so sad by how unwell the little fishes are there...  Angry And the adults were using the kitten-pen as a baby-sitting device... grrr... i just wanted to rescue all the animals and give them a good home! I did have a chance to see a lot of fish diseases in real life so  I know some things to look out for now...
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Goldiegirl
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Re: Ich and new tank
« Reply #5 on: May 30, 2011, 12:01:30 PM »
I'm glad your goldfish are better!  Smiley Give them the 7 days to do a bit of recovery and kill off the rest of the ich then you should be out of the woods.

It's always sad to see animals that are neglected or ill.  Cry When you know a lot about the different diseases it makes you want to just do something for them.  Sad Just walking the aisles of the fish section of a store gives you the chance to identify many diseases, sadly  Sad
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Nossie
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Re: Ich and new tank
« Reply #6 on: May 31, 2011, 07:50:12 AM »
I'll add something for future reference Smiley If you'll keep the old tank, use it for quarantine, for instance, if you buy new plants! Plants could carry parasites with them, and leaving them for 2-3 weeks in the tank without fish will kill the parasites as they won't find hosts. Unless you buy plants that are resistant to salt, like Java Fern.

If you'll need to do a water change during the treatment, add the correct dosage of salt into the new water. But dissolve it first, and do this rather only if there'll be an emergency. Keep us updated! Smiley
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wiki
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Re: Ich and new tank
« Reply #7 on: June 03, 2011, 05:35:45 AM »
I am definately keeping the old tank... for both a quarantine tank and a hospital tank!!!! Looking at a couple more fish for the tank... i have a voucher for 6 fish but I think I will only get two... I love the orange comets... they are cool Smiley

Fluffies ick seems to have cleared up and they are in their new spacious tank WOOOOOT!!!!! it is 60 gal for 3 rather small fish lol... they are swimming around which is nice rather than just hovering looking bored which is what they did in the old tank...  2 more days and i can start removing the salt... i am going away so i have instructed my BF to do a 10% waterchange every second  day til I get back (2 weeks just to get rid of the salt... ) ... He seems to be more into the fish than me now... strange cos he thought they were silly at first LOL

I feel so mean keeping the in that torture chamber for so long but I  did everything I could while hey were there...  but I couldnt help it...

I am living off rice this month cos I  cant afford real food after that (the kitties still get chicken and steak, lucky buggers lol!) The rule in our house is that the animals ALWAYS come first...  humans last a lot longer than cats without food...

The new tank is refusing to cycle... it has been 5 days and not a trace of anything... had ammonia at 0.25 at 2 days but back to 0 and nothing else showing... is it because of the salt for the Ick?Huh? So strange...
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Goldiegirl
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Re: Ich and new tank
« Reply #8 on: June 03, 2011, 10:04:07 AM »
It's great to have a spare tank on hand for those very reasons. That's a great idea!  Cheesy And I'm sure you took the best care of them that you could while they were in that tank. Some situations can't be helped, but the important thing is now they are in a spacious tank!  Shocked

Cycling can take up to 21 days, so within that time anything can happen. Just keep adding good bacteria and doing regular water changes; also monitoring water quality which you are doing. Salt should not effect your nitrogen cycle, unless it be to subdue nitrites to some small degree.  Smiley

You could always try the cat food if you get too nutrient deprived  Wink
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