# Help . . . I'm scared!!!!



## Simjam (Apr 16, 2005)

i was going to ask for help with my clown loaches cause i think they have white spot but then i read the post before about the same thing and now i am confused!
what is Ich? and how can i tell the difference between that and white spot? are they the same thing?? sorry for the questions but i really want to fix these fish as we have lost clown loaches to white spot before (well i think it was white spot) and Sim will be devistated if we lose these two aswell.
Their behaviour hasn't really changed they are still playing around, the spots only appeared yesterday and they are on the Silver Shark aswell.
We have hit the tank with a dose of Aqua Master Multi cure but it only aids in treatment, is there anything that anyone can recommend??
Any help would be greatly appreciated and if it turns out that Ich and white spot are the same thing please forgive me, i am a newbie who is used to only having Siamese fighters - loaches just aren't my specialty
:fish:


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## svolk (Apr 5, 2005)

Hi. I'm still somewhat of a beginner myself, but I've recently experienced my first ich outbreak. I believe that ich and white spot are the same thing, someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Ich literally looks like your fish was sprinkled with salt. I will try to find a good picture.

If what you have is ich, the first thing that I would do is raise the temp to 80-84, if clown loaches can handle that *(I don't have any, so I'm not sure)*. Some people will say to treat with meds, some say salt treatments - *but again, I don't know much about clown loaches,* and they may be one of the breeds that can't handle salt.


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## Simjam (Apr 16, 2005)

Thanks Svolk
Now I feel really stupid cause what is the temperature 80-84 in Degrees Celsius (i really should of paid attention in Math). We raised the tank last night to 28 degrees (they recommend that it normally sits at 25 for our tank). Have we raised it enough or shoul i go a little higher
All i really know about loaches is that they have skin instead of scales so we could only give a half dosage to our tank other wise it would of burnt their skin or something like that.
My loaches do look like they have been sprinkled with salt, the poor little things.


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## svolk (Apr 5, 2005)

Oops, sorry. I meant 80-84 degrees Farenheit, which is 26.7-28.9 degrees Celsius.

Since clown loaches are scaleless, I would assume that they can't handle salt treatments (if they can, not much).

The medication that I used for my ich treatment was Nox Ich, which seemed to work well. For my first outbreak (I had 2, one right after another), I used Rid Ich, which did not seem to work as well. But the first time I don't think I caught the outbreak soon enough. I don't have any scaleless fish, though, so I was able to use full doseages. I kept the temperature around 82 degrees Farenheit (27.8 Celsius). 

If you're using medication, be sure to remove the carbon from your filter as well.


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## Simjam (Apr 16, 2005)

Thank you again, i always was hopeless at converting measurements etc.  
i did take the carbon out of our filters.
Do you think Nox Ich would be available in Australia? idon't think i've seen it before


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