I'm desperately in need of some advice! I went on vacation and came home to a tank covered with algae and three of my seven clown loaches have very visible ich. I may never go on vacation again!
The basic Q & A:
1. Size of aquarium (# of gallons) 100gl
2. Is your aquarium setup freshwater or brackish water? fresh
3. How long the aquarium has been set up? 6 months
4. What fish and how many are in the aquarium (species are important to know) 7 clowns, 7 yoyos, 1 pictus, 9 barbs, 3 rams, 1 bristle nose, 6 otos
5. Are there live plants in the aquarium? heavily planted
6. What temperature is the tank water currently? 78
7. What make/model filter are you using? built in wet/dry & magnum hot 350
8. Are you using a CO2 unit? No
9. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? No
10. When did you perform your last water exchange, and how much water was changed? This evening, 20 %
11. How often do you perform water changes? weekly
12. How often and what foods do you feed your fish? 2 x daily-cichlid formula pellets, sinking wafers, tropical crisps, 2 x weekly frozen bloodworms, beefheart, brine shrimp, fresh vegies
13. What type of lighting are you using and how long is it kept on? Coralife compact florescent 260 watts, moonlight LEDs. Compacts are on 10 to 12 hours, moonlite 4 hours.
14. What specific concerns bring you here at this time? ICH
15. What are your water parameters? Test your pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Ph 7.8, amm 0,Nitrite 0, nitrate, 10
16. What test kit are you using and is it liquid or test strips? Liquid
17. When was the last time you bought a fish and how did they behave while in the pet store tank? Rams, six weeks ago, robust juveniles
Only the clowns are showing symptoms of ICH, at the moment.
I'd like to avoid meds and treat using high temp & salt. Is this advisable? If so, what amount of salt & how often? I know my loaches & pictus are sensitive to salt. Do I up the temp 1 degree daily and then sustain it at 83 for how many days?
Is using this method successful? Should I use meds instead? I had ICH in a smaller tank and treated with Super Ich Cure and it worked nicely but that tank did not have live plants, driftwood, or sensitive fish as my current tank does.
I know I read somewhere here on this forum about treating the tank using hi temp & salt but of course I can't find that thread now that I need it badly.
Can someone help me or direct me to the thread I need??
Thank you in advance, to anyone & everyone who can help me.
I'm stressed about this situation, to say the least.
Thanks- Kym
The basic Q & A:
1. Size of aquarium (# of gallons) 100gl
2. Is your aquarium setup freshwater or brackish water? fresh
3. How long the aquarium has been set up? 6 months
4. What fish and how many are in the aquarium (species are important to know) 7 clowns, 7 yoyos, 1 pictus, 9 barbs, 3 rams, 1 bristle nose, 6 otos
5. Are there live plants in the aquarium? heavily planted
6. What temperature is the tank water currently? 78
7. What make/model filter are you using? built in wet/dry & magnum hot 350
8. Are you using a CO2 unit? No
9. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? No
10. When did you perform your last water exchange, and how much water was changed? This evening, 20 %
11. How often do you perform water changes? weekly
12. How often and what foods do you feed your fish? 2 x daily-cichlid formula pellets, sinking wafers, tropical crisps, 2 x weekly frozen bloodworms, beefheart, brine shrimp, fresh vegies
13. What type of lighting are you using and how long is it kept on? Coralife compact florescent 260 watts, moonlight LEDs. Compacts are on 10 to 12 hours, moonlite 4 hours.
14. What specific concerns bring you here at this time? ICH
15. What are your water parameters? Test your pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Ph 7.8, amm 0,Nitrite 0, nitrate, 10
16. What test kit are you using and is it liquid or test strips? Liquid
17. When was the last time you bought a fish and how did they behave while in the pet store tank? Rams, six weeks ago, robust juveniles
Only the clowns are showing symptoms of ICH, at the moment.
I'd like to avoid meds and treat using high temp & salt. Is this advisable? If so, what amount of salt & how often? I know my loaches & pictus are sensitive to salt. Do I up the temp 1 degree daily and then sustain it at 83 for how many days?
Is using this method successful? Should I use meds instead? I had ICH in a smaller tank and treated with Super Ich Cure and it worked nicely but that tank did not have live plants, driftwood, or sensitive fish as my current tank does.
I know I read somewhere here on this forum about treating the tank using hi temp & salt but of course I can't find that thread now that I need it badly.
Can someone help me or direct me to the thread I need??
Thank you in advance, to anyone & everyone who can help me.
I'm stressed about this situation, to say the least.
Thanks- Kym