# Sticky  Ich Fighting - West Texas Style



## jones57742 (Sep 8, 2007)

I have very much refined this protocol during the preceding year.

I have a community tank which includes cories, SAE's, Gold Nugget Plecos, Yoyo loaches and most importantly, for the purposes of this article, Queen Arabesque Plecos (as these are very, very sensitive fish).
I have determined this protocol to be successful without the use of medications.

I normally maintain the water temperature at approximately 78F (25.5C).

Salt is defined as aquarium salt and NOT table salt!

Upon observing a white spot on a fish or a fish brazing themself on various tank appurtenances:

Day 1
Increase the water temperature to 80F (26.6C)
Perform a 20% WC.
Add 1 Tablespoon of salt per 20 US Gallons of water (76L, 16.6 UKG)

Day 2
Increase the water temperature to 82F (27.7C)
Add 1 Tablespoon of salt per 40 US Gallons of water.

Day 3
Increase the water temperature to 84F (28.8C)
Add 1 Tablespoon of salt per 40 US Gallons of water.

Day 4
Increase the water temperature to 85F (29.4C)
Add 1 Tablespoon of salt per 40 US Gallons of water.

Days 5, 6, 7 and 8
Do nothing

Day 9
Perform a 20% WC.
Decrease the water temperature to 84F (28.8C)

Day 10
Perform a 20% WC.
Decrease the water temperature to 82F (27.7C)

Day 11
Perform a 20% WC.
Decrease the water temperature to 80F (26.6C)

Day 12
Perform a 20% WC.
Decrease the water temperature to 78F (25.5C).

Day 13
Return to the typical maintenance protocol.

TR


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## TigerBarb12 (Jan 7, 2007)

Thats a great idea!


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## jones57742 (Sep 8, 2007)

Tb:

Ty: I really appreciate your comment!!
"as more than a minute" was expended in the original generation of that post and I hope that my "hard earned" experience may be of some benefit to you "down the road".

TR


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## Guest (Sep 23, 2007)

Healthy fish dont get ich, if you are having ich problems with your QA's then its cause you are NOT keeping them warm enough. they are hypancistrus that like the water warm..real warm. dont believe me? go read and ask around from the experts in the pleco category, there are a few on this site. the problem is, some websites list the temperature range of the whole river the fish come from...not the specific area. These fish come from waters that are 82+ degrees in temp. gold nuggets as well. keep them warmer, and they will be happier...


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## jones57742 (Sep 8, 2007)

Gm:

I really appreciate your comments and have absolutely noted them.

Since several of yall are "dead to none insistent on water temperature for the GN's I will re-home them" (as I really do want to hang my hat in this forum).

IMHO stress can produce visible Ich whether the stress comes from:
one Angel aggravating another Angel (both of which will be stressed but it is intuitively obvious that the aggravatee is much more likely to feel distress);
a fish which needs a cave to be comfortable in and cannot find one or
poor water conditions, etc.

My FYI was intended to help folks who when observing Ich know what "to do next".

I hope that you can contribute to this theme.

TR


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

I'd also like to note that this method is only for fish with a few spots and not a full blown infection. Waiting 4 days for your temp to go up and not having salt in the water is a sure fire way to lose fish with a more advanced infection.


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## FlatLine (Dec 30, 2008)

I wanted to add my 2 cents to this thread as I followed it almost 100% and it worked really well. The only difference was my time periods for increasing the temp, because of my heater and work schedule, I ended up taking a day to increase the temp fully by accident... Salt amounts were the same. I observed no fin clamping during this period from my fish, and the Blue Ram I had, had the worst amount of spots (close to 20) on him. 

The fish exposed to this treatment in a 5.5 gallon glass aquarium with a small power filter and 4" air stone:

4 Cardinal Tetras
1 Clown Pleco
1 German Blue Ram
2 Albino corys
1 Skunk cory

The only thing I may do differently if I have an outbreak again is use some dosage of melafix afterwards to help with fin re-growth and infection fighting.

This is also a good time to note the use of a Q tank, as I got my infection from a LFS cardinal...


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## katfemme89 (Nov 27, 2009)

Are there any adverse effects to adding the salt all at once? Just a thought. I guess it might shock the fish. I'm just curious.


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## fishloverzj (May 3, 2010)

wow.. you are taking this James Herriot style! Impressive!


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