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Question about ick

Sun, 08/29/2010 - 12:28 — angelaphough1

My poor George is relly having a hard time.  The ick cysts have gotten larger and beginning to fall off, but it is wearing him out.  This morning I got up and he is floating upside down on the bottom of the tank.  He is still breathing which I am glad.  I noticed that he has brown spots around his nostrils and his upper lip is brown also.  Why is this happening?

Comments

Thu, 09/09/2010 - 07:53 — v_2rahjo

remember.. adding salt and

remember.. adding salt and increasing the temp will also reduce the oxygen in your tank... remember to have an airstone to keep your water well oxygenated

Thu, 09/09/2010 - 02:23 — DBubeck

Treatment recs for ick

I'm following this thread and it may have saved Leo, my 10 y/o. Question is re the temp to keep the tank. Heather, a very helpful young woman at the pet store said to not push the tank past 80. Last posts said up to 88. Can't you cook the fish at that temp?

Thu, 09/09/2010 - 04:58 — Chrisplosion

No, it might be uncomfortable

No, it might be uncomfortable but it won't kill them. i keep mine between 84-86F at all times and they seem perfectly fine.

Mon, 08/30/2010 - 14:04 — angelaphough1

My tank temp reached 85

My tank temp reached 85 yesterday (Sunday). I added salt last week. My older fish was depressed when George first died, she wouldn't even look at me. This morning she was all excited to see me, swimming in figure 8s and following me. She has turned back to a very bright orange and is eating. Fingers crossed that she continues to recoup.

Tue, 08/31/2010 - 08:28 — v_2rahjo

Thats amazing.... keep it

Thats amazing.... keep it up!!!! Great to hear that your fish is getting better... keep us posted

Mon, 08/30/2010 - 08:37 — v_2rahjo

following is what you should

following is what you should do... keep the temp around 85F.. raise it gradually if it is not at 85F
Add salt - 2-3 spoons for every gallon... this needs to be done gradually.. and should reach the target in 48 hrs
50%water change every alternative day.

you fish can make it.. so dont loose hope

Buy a good medication for ICK and use as recommended... keep repeating the treatment and water changes for 14 days from your initial start. Do not stop even if you see that your fish is OK cause otherwise ICK will comeback to your tank

Remove any new object that you have added to your tank

Cichlids can survive for upto 10 days without food.

All the best

Mon, 08/30/2010 - 07:05 — moonchild1970

If you can get it up to 86 or

If you can get it up to 86 or 88 it will speed up the life cycle of the ick therefore letting it die off sooner.

Sun, 08/29/2010 - 14:47 — parrotpal

Re: Question about ich

What are you doing to treat the ich?

Sun, 08/29/2010 - 16:00 — angelaphough1

Treatment

This is what I posted on Friday. I figured I would copy & paste so you could read it all. Yesterday, I did a vaccuum of the tank and 25% water change as per the Quick Cure directions. My older bp is 100% better, but the younger is really struggling. Any suggestions would be great. My tank temp is now at 82F.

I have 2 great bp, a female named Ms. Jayne that is 10 yrs old and George who is 1 yr old. Friday Ms. Jayne was having trouble swimming and laying on the bottom of the tank. Sunday George started acting the same way. I figured as old as she was that it was her time, but I couldn't figure out George's problem. The pet store told me that he was probably grieving over her impending death. Well, by Tuesday evening George has broke out with white spots all over his body. After doing some online reasearch, I figured he had ick. I went first thing Wednesday morning and bought some Quick cure and began treating the tank. Yesterday I found your site and read your recommendations for ick treatment. I went and bought an aerator to add more oxygen (I have 2 large filters in there, but thought it wouldn't hurt to add more O2) and salt, which I added to the tank. When I got home yesterday afternoon, both of my fish were swimming and appeared healthier. Ms. Jayne doesn't have any spots, but she is running her gills. Poor George is covered head to toe with the spots and rubs against everything. The spots seem larger, so I am assuming that the cysts are almost ready to fall off and the meds should kill the little ick babies. The directions say to medicate for 3 days and if you need to medicate longer, remove 25% of the H2O and replace and begin the treatment cycle again. Today is day 3, so tomorrow I plan to drain&retreat. I also turned my temperature up slightly. I keep my tank at 78F, but I bumped it up to 80 last night. I will bump it again this afternoon when I can be there to monitor it and the fish. I will keep you informed of how my fish are doing. I am not sure how long treatment will take, but I read that just because the spots disappear does not mean that the ick if 100% gone. So I plan to treat for a bit after the spots are gone. Any recommendations or info that you could give me on that would be helpful!