# Ich outbreak



## Aquarion (Nov 16, 2011)

(Btw, this is kind of long but I'm doing this as much for advice from other people but to also simply just give my take step-by-step on this situation so anyone else reading it who ever has this come up might look at my account to maybe help guide them and give them insight should they have a problem like this)

I bought some petsmart neons and weather loaches which I did not quarantine. I also foolishly didn't have a heater in my tank b/c I kept the house at fairly even temperatures. Also, because I recently moved my tank was cycling, which it quickly did, but my nitrates were high for awhile (took about 2 weeks of 2/daily small water changes to control that). Lastly, while I had two HO back-up filters, my primary canister died on me. My HO filters had sponge and pantyhose on the intake, so they weren't flowing so great.

Ok, all that out of the way: I had an ich outbreak. I saw it on some of my neons and both of my loaches. One had it really bad.

My tank has scaleless fish (loaches, obviously plus corys) and inverts (snails and shrimp). 

1) Treated 1/2 dosage of Paraguard. (Tank is 125G, used 6caps). Day one I staggered it to 3 caps 2/day but been doing 6 caps in the morning every day since.

2) Put in heater, turned heat up to around 78-80 degrees. I've noticed, kind of predictably, that the heaters kick in at night, even after I (later) lowered the setting. It's not the best heater, as I didn't want to wait on one ordered, and just picked up a 300W from Petsmart. It's kind of hard to accurately adjust it (ie. right now it's set at 72 but kicks in when the tank drops to around 76 degrees). Probably going to replace or supplement this with another heater later. I might order an Eheim 300W one, set it in one corner set to ~74 and turn this other one down to ~70 (which probably corresponds to around 74) and just leave them in the corners. 

3) I've tooled with the HO filters and gotten their flows back up. My Aquaclear 110 now has a filtermax plus a little sponge in an intake tube. Flow is increased but somewhat dulled from full power (at full blast it's almost too much for my tank, tbh). I need to clean out the sponge inside the intake every couple days to keep the flow at acceptable levels, I've noticed. An emperor 400 has a tiny amount of sponge placed in the square intake. It's flow is very strong. 

Noticed the ich on Friday. Began treatment Saturday. By Wednesday ich was not noticeable on most of the neons, one of the loaches had no spots, the other who had it bad was greatly reduced.

Weds: Turned heat down to only kick in ~76 degrees. Tank was at 78 degrees Thurs morning.

Thursday: Only the one loach has any spots, very few compared to when this started. Dropped dosage of Paraguard down to 4 caps (about 1/3 dosage). No signs of stress on inverts. No floaters found throughout this so far. 

Question: How long should I remain dosing after no signs of ich? 10 days, right?


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

10 days! What do you have in your tank? You may want some salt in your tank, BUT I don't know what types of fish you have so I don't know if it would be good. Your tank SHOULD Stay at 80 degrees if you want them to make it. If you see it disappear on some and stay on others, you may want to isolate that one to get better or isolate all the ones that don't have spots.


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

Yes 10 days is a good amount. I usually say a week or two. Just make sure you read the bottle and do not overdose. The medication does not leave the water except by water change or activated carbon.


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## Aquarion (Nov 16, 2011)

Only the one loach has any spots whatsoever and it's down to probably less than 1/5th of where he was at the start of the week.

I have loaches and corys who are sensitive to salt, so I'm reluctant to put any in and stress them.

Tank is running at about 78 degrees, which I know is on the lower side but that's about the limit for loaches. I'm loath to increase it further.

I also could quarantine the one loach who is still showing mild signs of ich - but since the main tank still needs treatment, I don't know. My quarantine tank is only 10 gallons and I haven't fully cycled it. I'm worried it'll kill him if I move him there and since nobody seems to be showing any signs of stress from the meds (even my bamboo shrimps), I think I'll just continue to 1/4 dose for 1-1/2 more weeks. 

Everyone in the tank seems healthy. No rubbing around or acting oddly.


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## Aquarion (Nov 16, 2011)

Update, Day 7 since treatment began, roughly 9 days since first sign of ich spotted:

- Everyone seems fine. Only the one weather loach has any signs and he's down to just barely having any. 
- Medicated at 1/3 dosage (4 caps for 125G tank) of Paraguard. 
- Temp around 77-78.
- Put in a new filter last night, an early xmas present to myself, an Eheim 2215. Probably has no bearing on what's going on but I thought I'd mention it.


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## Aquarion (Nov 16, 2011)

Update day 16: No signs on anyone for several days now. About ready to stop treatment, currently dosing 3 cap (1/4 full dosage).


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