cure for ich

tropicalfishkeeper2

hi i had a 8 gallon before and i experienced ich disease before and i want to find a cure for this disease can anyone help me out. i want to know if there is a way by getting rid of it without medicine, if not what are the best medicines to buy?

BarbH

Do you have fish in this tank right now that have ich? Heat can be used to help treat ich, and some people will use aquarium salt also, but you need to be careful to make sure that if you do that you do not have fish that are sensitive to salt.

AbbeysDad

Although heat and salt can be used, I would use a medicine and following the cure, I would do water changes and filter using activated charcoal. Unfortunately, Ick is a disease where you really need to treat the affected tank, otherwise, it's typically best to treat disease affected fish in a separate 'hospital' tank to avoid unnecessarily medicating a healthy, established tank.

KendraMc

correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't using charcoal while medicating counter productive? i thought the charcoal would remove the medicine from the water too quickly.

AbbeysDad

Yes, you would use water changes and activated charcoal FOLLOWING THE CURE to remove the medicine additives from the water.

tropicalfishkeeper2

nope i dont have ich in my tank right now but if i do this is why i asked

Byron

Treatment partially depends upon the fish in the aquarium. Some handle medications better than other species which find them highly stressful. Also, the best cure is prevention. Maintain good water quality, weekly partial water changes, live plants help with this too, don't overfeed, don't overcrowd--and very importantly, keep compatible species to avoid stress. Ich always, and I repeat always, occurs due to stress.

Compatible means the fish in the aquarium have common requirements respecting water parameters, decor, and have compatible behaviours. A happy fish is a healthy fish.

Most of us see ich notwithstanding all the above. But if the aquarium is built around the above principles, fish can fight it off to some degree. But if it becomes more than they can handle, treatment depends upon the species' tolerance of medications and heat.

Byron.