# Upside-Down lace catfish with ick?



## OhYesItsMe

Okay my upside-down lace catfish hides behind the heater every day during the day and comes out at night (obvousily, hes nocurnal). I check on him every day. today he has these really small white spots on his body. Aside from the spots he looks okay. I just did a 25% water change yesterday afternoon, so i dont know, the temp is at 78 degrees F as always and all the other fish looke fine. I have some QuICK Cure... should that be okay?


----------



## Cory1990

I would do Another 25% water change and use 1/4th the recomended amount. Iv used the quick cure and have great luck with it. But the first time I used it I did kill like 4 fish. So now I use 1/4th of the recomended for 2 weeks or do doing 25% changes daily. I use it for a week after its gone then I do a 50% change the next day I do a 25% change.

Hopefully that works for you. I hate ich and I just got my fish over it.


----------



## OhYesItsMe

Okay I put him in a plastic bin that I used for rinsing off the decor, i filled it about half way to about 8 gallons and there is a heater and air pump. I dont have to treat the whole 55 gal tank do i? beause there arent any other sick fish yet and we going away next week for about 2.5 days (wed afternoon to fri night) so i cant trust my grandmother with doing 25% water changes on the 55 tank.


----------



## AquariumTech

I would suggest leaving him in the tank and treating the whole tank. Ich is a protozoan parasite, and by the time you see it, its probably reproduced many times over, and is probably all over the tank. I would suggest treating the tank, and dont use "natural" or "home remedy" type stuff with those catfish, because usually they dont tolerate things like salt, as much as they do even ich medication. Something that would help is increasing the tanks temperature for a couple days, I think 86-88 degrees will kill all ichs when they reproduce alone; though again I dont remember the exact temperature, but I know it is in the high 80's. Lets say it is 86 when ich starts dying, I would put it at 88, for good measure. 

Also even if you dont think your fish can take the temperature change and the medication, dont use the heat, or only crank it up a bit. You should easily be able to put your heater at 82 - 84. Even if it wont kill the ich it will speed up their life cycles, basically making the medication kill them faster. There is actually one (maybe 2) life stages that ich goes through where you can kill them with conventional remedies. 

Make sure you take your carbon out too. I would actually try not to change the water as much, as it puts stress on the fish (when you start using medication), and doesnt do much for your ich problem since you have already treated the tank. It might be a good idea to do like a 20% every 3-5 days. Then when its all over, do a big 50% water change, then you can go back to your normal cycle.


----------



## OhYesItsMe

Okay all the other fish are fine. but when i saw the temp in the catfish tank...71 degrees! So long for that old 5 gal heater. I took the heater out of my 20 gal tank and put it in the tub, ill get a better heater for the tub in a few hours. Ok ill increase the 55 gal tank temp for a few days, the heater is really good i keep the heater at 74 and the tank is 78 so il incrase it to 86 or so to make sure i kill all the ich


----------



## lohachata

i would also suggest you use Aquari-Sol to treat the ich...it is the only ich med i use...it works on all fish...even cats and loaches...and it doesn't stain the water like so many other treatments do..


----------



## Cory1990

You will need to treat all fish if they have ich, I like to use a smaller tank that way water changes are easier. A 10/20 gallon tank will be good. High temps in the 80s is a must or you will never get rid of it. To completely get rid of ich in a 55g setting your going to need two bottles of the quick cure. Ich hides in the gills first and I gone untreated you will see your nice plump fish shrink down to bones. 

But anyways high temps holding tank clean the main tank conpletly threw and leave everything dry out for about a week to kill the rest of the ich. Remove carbon from filters. I just toss them out and get new filters to be safe.


----------



## OhYesItsMe

Im sorry i dont have the time to redo the whole tank and set up a temperary tank, maybe if this happened a week or 2 ago. So far everything is working out great, the catfish is looking better and all the other fish are fine. So when i finish the treatment with meds, should i leave him in the 8 gal container (i could add 5 or so more gallons) for a week to make sure he is clear (thats what my lfs recommended)? I decided to do 50% changes on the 8 gal container every other day.


----------



## Cory1990

You will still need to treat the main tank he was in, ich is vary nasty and if one has it it is for sure that all the fish have it. Start treating with meds to all other fish that were in with it right away before it gets worse. It may not be visible yet but is for sure there. And if you get to it right away it won't be so bad. Now just wait next time they get ich it's going to be much much much worse. First time not so bad 2nd outbreak ehh its bad, 3rd its like getting hit with a book,4th is horrible.

This will continue once they get it, it will keep coming back. My 10g community gets it every now and again and it's horrible fish get down to bare bones. It's sick but they come back with lots of work.


----------



## OhYesItsMe

Okay today the 55 gal tank is at 84, im cranking it u to 86, the bin with the catfish was 91! Well all his spots are gone but im still going to treat him and keep him seperated for a week or two. How long should I keep the 55 gal tnak at 86-88? Im gonna do a 20% water change on it every 3 days and a 50% water change on the bin every other day. He my grandpa told me how he delt with ich in his 40 gal community tank 40+ years ago... he was told put a divider in the tank and put the sick fish on one side and all the others on the other side and wait. When the fish either dies or gets better, you take out the divider, most the time the fish died and it was almost always the gouramis that got sick. Just thought i would share that for some reason.


----------



## Cory1990

Lol ich does not work like that trust me, when one has it they all have it and it spreads everywhere in the water even if you can't see it. You will need to treat with meds for a week or two after all signs are gone white spots,rubbing on stuff. Then it's safe. When it's done do a big water change and you good to go.


----------



## AquariumTech

You dont want to start taking fish out of tanks when this happens. Like I said in the first post I made, by the time you notice ich, it has reproduced many times over, and is probably all over your tank and fish. If you switch 1 noticeably effected fish over, you will only be making a separate tank to treat (and spreading it).

The whole having a small quarantine tank thing, is really only useful for non-contageous disease treatment and for when you buy new fish. When you get new fish, you should have a quarantine tank where they can stay for a few weeks, so if this happens, its only the quarantine tank. Chances are, if this fish is new, it came like that from the pet store or place you got it from. He may have not looked sick when you got him, but ich hides in their gills, and sometimes can take weeks to notice.


----------



## OhYesItsMe

Okay I really cant treat the tank with meds at the time, maybe if i find more infected fish next week, im going on vacaion for a few days. Im going to keep the temp up in both tanks at like 86-88 for the next 2 weeks im just treating the catfish, all his spots are gone but ill finish the treatment and keep him in there for a week or two. Im doing water changes on both tanks every other day (every day for the rest of the days i give my catfish meds) for the next two weeks. I know what will happen if i treat the 55 gal tank now besides the possible staining of my coraline gravel and other white rocks to keep the ph up but i will still have to add meds when i am gone and i dont trust my grandmother treating a 55 gal tank for ich or doing water changes ( i would prefere to do water changes every day on the 55 with meds because i have to take out the carbon etc.). I will be able to squeeze in a small water change wed morning but wont be able to do another one till sat morning.


----------



## Guest

OhYesItsMe: I have dealt with ich before with my clown loaches. They are very susceptible to ich. For the 55 gallon tank, keep it at 86 degrees, that way the ich cannot get established and you won't have to deal with it ever again. Yes you need to treat the 55 gallon tank, because if one fish has it all the fish have it even if they are not showing any signs of it. Also yes I would keep your catfish in the tub for at least a week to make sure that the ich is gone and to make sure that the 55 gallon tank is rid of the ich also. But yeah I keep my 55 gallon at 86 degrees with my clown loaches and plecos and haven't had an outbreak of ich since December 2011.


----------



## OhYesItsMe

Okay i guess ill have to treat them this weekend. I dont want to stain all my white sustare and decor as mentioned... can i use salt??? If it is only safe with the cichlids, i can move my 2 catfish in the bin. Wait then ill have to figure out what to do with my rcovering catfish in the bin, okay is it okay if i put the other two catfish in with the catfish im treating this weekend and treat them with quick cure (so one guy would be getting 2 treatments like 5 days apart). What kind of salt, some sites say table salt is fine. At what amount ive read 1 teaspoon per gallon and 3 teaspoons per gallon


----------



## lohachata

no salt !!!!!!!!!
how long have i been telling folks to get Aquari-Sol ? best treatment for ich plus a number of other problems... and it does not stain the water or tank materials...
i have also used it on loaches , catfish and everything in between...just not the best stuff for inverts...buy a pint...it's cheap and will last for years...and very inexpensive to use..a pint treats something like 8,000 gallons....
treats ich , closed fins , body fungus , velvet and several kinds of parasites....


----------



## OhYesItsMe

can u send me a link to it online, i cant find a site that has it. i could check my lfs but i would really prefere to use salt so i can start as soon as i get back and not wait for it to ship, is it worth the wait if it doesnt ship by sat?


----------



## Guest

Salt will harm your fish more than help them. All salt really does is make things worse. Most catfish, if not all, are very sensitive to salt. Do not use salt!!!!!! If you use salt, you will harm your fish more than help them. Use the Aquari-Sol or Quick cure to cure the ich. I can vouge(sp) for Aquari-Sol, it is really good at treating ich and other things, it also can prevent ich and other diseases.

Also you can google aquari-sol for freshwater fish. Any pet store will carry the stuff and it is inexpensive.


----------



## lohachata

not sure where you can get it anymore...i have a few pints left though...$15.00 plus shipping..probably about another $5.00..


----------



## AquariumTech

lohachata said:


> no salt !!!!!!!!!
> how long have i been telling folks to get Aquari-Sol ? best treatment for ich plus a number of other problems... and it does not stain the water or tank materials...
> i have also used it on loaches , catfish and everything in between...just not the best stuff for inverts...buy a pint...it's cheap and will last for years...and very inexpensive to use..a pint treats something like 8,000 gallons....
> treats ich , closed fins , body fungus , velvet and several kinds of parasites....


Yea I already told him/her how to handle the problem, I already stated salt was going to be a bad idea on this application. 

I havent used Aquari-Sol, I still use this stuff from the 90s called Quick Cure (not the one your thinking of) because I bought one bottle and over the years havent needed it that much. If I ever do need another I will try that stuff.


----------



## Guest

From my experience with Aquari-Sol is it prevents ich. Because the ich strain has developed resistant to many medications, aquari-sol wouldn't work on the strain of ich that is resistant to it. But if I had it on hand I would be using it along with the stress coat as a preventative.


----------



## OhYesItsMe

Im going to treat the tank either tomorow or monday. i called my lfs and they said that the quick cure will stain the silicone but not the other stuff (i dont care). So big question- what to do with my upsidedown lace catfish??????????? should i put him back in the 55 today (thats what i want to do) the stupid heater fell in the tank when i did a water change so i think its broken and i think it will be good for him to go back in what do u guys think? How many drops should i put in, i dont have 55 gals of water and i was told to put in less than it says so like 30?


----------



## Cory1990

iv been using quick cure since i started fish keeping. it works great and does what it should. it will stain the silicone and air hoses but its not horrible and its not like its that bad. i can barley notice it on my tanks vs the new tanks of mine. only on my 10g hospital that i hold all my fish in when they get ich has some staining on the silicone but i like it lol it makes it look cool imo. 

but add it back to the tank, treat all the fish. 55g should get like 30 drops of quick cure in it. thats about 1/2 of the treatment and i do that every other day and 1 week after the ich is gone. 

just be ready because next time around the ich will be much worse.


----------



## OhYesItsMe

[email protected]#$$$%&^% that stupid cheap heater broke and the tank the catfish was in and the temp dropped a lot so i have to put him in the 55 now. hmm i had a 5 gal tank 2 yrs ago and they got ick once and after quick cure i never saw it agian and they were fine, when u mean wors next time do u mean they will suddenly die or more will have spots or what? so 30 drops every other day for a week and do i replace the medium when the treatment is over, i was almost done cycling the tank... i am going to get another filter soon its a 360 gph filter, the biowheel 360 i believe so then ill have 560 gph and when they become adults, i know i will need the tank to be filtered 10 times an hour.


----------



## Guest

Ich can become resistant to medication, so it is best to follow the instructions on the bottle. Yes use half dose with the catfish, they are sensitive fish to medication. But follow how long you have to treat with the medication. Otherwise the ich will be resistant to that medication. I never go longer than what the instructions say on the bottle of Rid-Ich or any other medication, just for that reason, plus I have sensitive fish other than the plecos that I have. Clown loaches are sensitive to medication as well and I have to half dose the medicine when they are sick with ich.


----------

