# Battling Ick and More



## IrishKittenOWar (Mar 19, 2006)

2 of my 4 fish tanks are suffering from ick.. On the 55 gallon we are usong Maricide and on my sons 10 gallon we are using Quick Cure and doing water changes constantly the temperature is set at around 82 degrees in both tanks of sick fish and we are also treating with Melafix to prevent a secondary infection. 
The problem is the Ick keeps getting worse and we have lost 4 fish to i think what is called swim bladder disease? (the float around as if doing tricks and cant seem to swim like a normal fish) but i need some suggestions on how to fix my fish and get them back to their old fishy selves before we loose $300 at least in fish


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## prince'smom (Mar 17, 2006)

look around and read other threads iv seen alot of good advise here..... i just lost a bunch of fish to ich i cleaned every thing changed h20 and took out carbon filter then treated with quick cure one dose waited 3 days treated again dont replace the filter for at least 24 hrs cuz it take the meds out of the water now i have new betta and they are doing fine in tank some told me ich is coused from levels being off the higher temp speeds the life cycle of the blood sucking parisite once the ich falls off the fish thats when you treat the fish with .....i use betta plus thats all i know good luck


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## Guest (Mar 19, 2006)

IrishKittenOWar said:


> 2 of my 4 fish tanks are suffering from ick.. On the 55 gallon we are usong Maricide and on my sons 10 gallon we are using Quick Cure and doing water changes constantly the temperature is set at around 82 degrees in both tanks of sick fish and we are also treating with Melafix to prevent a secondary infection.
> The problem is the Ick keeps getting worse and we have lost 4 fish to i think what is called swim bladder disease? (the float around as if doing tricks and cant seem to swim like a normal fish) but i need some suggestions on how to fix my fish and get them back to their old fishy selves before we loose $300 at least in fish



What temperature are you battling this ich flare up at?


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## Trouble (Oct 6, 2005)

I have had the "ICK" battle a few times. I always use the heat/salt method due to the fact that I tend to not lose fish this way. I tried the medication way but lost fish.

I used 1 tbsp salt to 5 gallons of water..adding the salt gradually over a 24 to 48h time frame and also upped my temp gradually to 86F. Making sure to add the correct amount of salt back when i did water changes. I usually keep this concentration around 10 days. Just keep an eye on cories and the like as I have been told they do not tolerate salt as much as others but my cories and cats always did fine. Never lost any. Just make sure you vaccuum your gravel to get any "cycts" that drop off. And the salt is soothing to them.

Good luck


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## Georgia Peach (Sep 23, 2005)

salt and vaccuming the gravel always worked better for me than using any meds too.


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## IrishKittenOWar (Mar 19, 2006)

well between when i posted this morning and now i have 6 fry left (i have35) and one male guppie, on inbred guppie, and so far havent lost any of my tetras.. my question is if i do use the salt method will it kill the remander of my fry and will it kill the tetras.. im begining to wonder what the secondary infection is,,, the symptoms are alot like swim bladder disease only they live but a few hours after they start "doing tricks" we have lost 95% of my fry 5 guppies and 2 tetras so far battling Ick and the secondary infection.... i need some seroius help to save my last remaing fry....;


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## IrishKittenOWar (Mar 19, 2006)

the temp was at 76 when we started haveng Ich Issues so we increased the temp to help so we can kill it faster.. i have been treating it daily 4 5 days now and they arent getting better


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## Guest (Mar 20, 2006)

I would just hang in there with the Quick Cure and doing the water changes. If you have any carbon in your filters pull it out.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

guppies like salt, so they should be fine.


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## IrishKittenOWar (Mar 19, 2006)

i have 1 fry left :-( .. the ick is going away i did a 50% change early sunday monring and did a 25% today to get rid of the dead babies... the filter has been off since i started treating the ick... i lost most of my guppies but surprizingly enough none of my tetras go ick and they have survived the 3/4 dose... i wasnt getting anywhere on the 1/2 doses... it was just getting worse, but when i increased the dosage it started to get better i will do another water change in a couple days and hopefully i will be ick free


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## fishiefish (Sep 12, 2005)

It's my understanding that you should keep the filter on to keep the water circulating- for meds and oxygenation. Sorry about your fry.


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## robertwdc (Mar 11, 2006)

yes... I agree with fishiefish... you should not disconnect the filtration during treatment! Water changes alone are not enough. I myself would immediately start filtration again, and if you are going the salt method, you don't have to do such drastic water changes...just frequent. During ich treatment I would recommend 10-15% every day...vaccuming the gravel. Keep your temp. up (I myself prefer 84-85) and make sure when you are doing the water changes, you re-add the salt back in same quantity. (Example, if you are at the ratio of 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons... and you do a 10 percent water change on your 55 gal. tank, then of course you would be changing about 5 1/2 gallons of water.... replace 1 tablespoon of salt). 

Like I recommended...it's not necessary the quantity, it the consistency. Water changes every day during treatment. Maybe some of the experts here could verify that? I would assume 10-15% daily should be fine... 

Definitely though...don't turn off your filtration!


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## IrishKittenOWar (Mar 19, 2006)

what i meant was the filter has been out of it it has a bio-wheel on it but the filter itself had been removed. iposted the wrong thing
i was also told that being that is a livebreeder tank that they do best with some salt in the water and that ich doesnt like salt. i bought some salt today to help keep the ich away. i managed to save all my tetras and 2 of my guppies that were in the tank and have been ich free for three days now. i replaced the filter and my fish seem to be happier now... yay me... it only took almost 2 week sto get rid of the rechade beasts and cost me 8 female guppies and al of my fry but aleast it is all gone now.  that god. i will have to separate my make and female so that he doesnt stress her out and kill her. she is my fave fish being that she was from my first litter of fry and was one of two fry that survived and now has a bent spine do to a vitamin deficancy because her sister ate all the food. after her sister died she has fattened up and has been premantky scarred but she is healthy and has lots of charicter... she sleeps on the leaves of the plants. its so cute.
but anyways thanks so much for your guys support and giving me ideas on how to get rid of the ich and all. you guys are a life saver


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