ICK?!?!?! HELP!!

[bra8ndy8]

Ok I have never had it before so I am not sure that is what I have. All of my clown loaches (9-10) of them have little needle head air bubbles on them!! I just noticed it this morning during a feed. HELP!!! What do I do???? And remember they are in a 300 with about 500 lbs of rock so taking them out is not a option!!

Also if this is not where I should have posted this you can move it....but we didn't have a PROBLEM section (maybe we need that)

Any help is appreciated!! Thanks soooo much!! :nemo:

[poel_19]

are they white spots?? Or actual air filled bubbles on your fish? Well Ick doesn't like high 80's so temp. raise would be one way to go along with ick treatment. you will have to gravel vac to get rid of the ones in th gravel......Thats if it is the pinhead White spots. If its actual air bubbles.....then I have no clue!!

[bra8ndy8]

No it looks like air bubbles...is that what ick look like???

[ElijahTurtle]

Ick looks like little grains of salt on the fish

[rolloffhill]

Hmmm.....Maybe I should rename the "problems and Mishaps" section to something else....:confuzeld: :p

[bra8ndy8]

OHH I didn't see that...WHOOOPS!! So how do I get rid of it Akon? Is there a treatment better than other? What do I look for in the LFS?

[lellison]

I'm sorry your fish are sick! LIke Amon said, ich looks like grains of salt on the fish ( good way to explain Amon), little white specs. I would look up on the internet to make sure that is what they have before you treat. I have used Aquari-sol before, but the last time I had fish with Ich, that med didn't work so well and I lost a pair of angels and my gold nugget pleco! You may try CopperSafe by Mardel. It is for ich, velvet and other external parasites. I think I have heard good things about this med, and I have a bottle that thank God I haven't needed. I'm kicking myself for using Aquari-sol this last time instead of the CopperSafe, but hey thats life. Try that or any other ich med at your LFS. Petco or Petsmart should have any med you need for ich, and I'm sure some work better than others ,but I have successfully gotten rid of it in the past, so your fish should be fine if you treat. Let us know how it goes hun

[ElijahTurtle]

The first & usually the best treatment to try with ich is to raise the temps to around 87-88F & add some aquarium salt.

[lellison]

true. I have never actually tried that. Maybe I should have :pale:. I have always gotten rid of it successfully with meds, but this last time ( sometime last yr) I got a baby common pleco to help with algae control b/c my gold nugget just liked to sit there and look pretty. I guess the new pleco had it and it just didnt show up until several days later. I was just in a hurry to get rid of algae and didn't think.I was just sick that I lost my fish. I had my gold nugget and a spawning pair of german blue blushers:mad::(:(. I felt like an idiot. I'm sure Brandy's fish will be fine though! Not trying to make u worry Brandy, just venting. :D

[ElijahTurtle]

Here's a good link on using the Salt treatment (http://thegab.org/Articles/IchSaltTreatment.html) for ick. It's referring to goldfish so you will want to increase the water temps more than what they recommend for them.
Summary:

Increase temps to atleast 80F
Add aquarium salt 0.3% salt (3 teaspoons per gallon)
Vacuum Gravel daily to remove ick cysts before they hatch
Maintain treatment for 7 days after the last cyst drops off fish

[xtc]

Did you do a big water change?
Recently add new fish?
Is it just the clown loaches?
What are the water parameters?

If it's Ick, as stated, jack the temp up to cause their life cycle to run it's course faster. Salt in the water. It would really be best to isolate them- the last thing you want is to have one die and another fish start munchin on em. Sometimes, you're gunna have to take a tank apart to solve a problem.

There is Ick medicine- I haven't had the best of luck with it in large quantities- best to move affected fish to a 10g and fix them there.

[kewlkatdady]

I keep clown loachs with my africans and I keep my water at about 81-82 degrees...

my CL got ich and I never did anything...I always put rock salt and tang buffer...

About a week later, the ich was gone...

[lellison]

Brandy, what ever happened?

[bra8ndy8]

Well I had to get heaters....cause I don't keep one on there (tank stays at 80) I got Rid Ick.....did a water change.....added salt...cleaned gravel.....and we will cross our fingers and see! Yes Chris it's just the Cl's 2 of them I think, I didn't add anything, and did my regular large water change about 6 days ago.....so there's no telling!! I was looking at everyone else really good last night....and don't see it on any of the African's so we'll see!! After spending 100 bucks to save 10 dollars worth of fish I hope it cures it!! LOL

[xtc]

I keep my tanks very clean- weekly 20-30% WCs. I bought Logan 5 CLs a while back- they develeoped Ick and died soon after a water change. I'm not replacing them. As cool as they are- I want STRONG fish.

I hope you fair better.

[bra8ndy8]

I do weekly changes as well....about 50% and I have had loaches for about 10 yrs and NEVER had this problem! Hummm.....get's me wondering!

[biggin]

You could try adding garlic extract to their food. I know running the temperature up and garlic is part of one of the recommended treatments for saltwater fish.

The garlic will not hurt your other fish so it would be easier on the fish then rid-ick.

You can get enough to last you for a long time for about $20 check out the saltwater chemicals at your LFS if you want to try it. Not sure if the chains have it.

[bra8ndy8]

Thanks!! I will check into that...but we only have petco and petsmart here....so I'll have to search for it!

[biggin]

I have not looked for it at the chains, they might have it. It is also a better preventative option then the medications, I have heard it from a couple of the LFS and seen it a few times on forums. You can add it directly to the tank but most of the people seem to think it is not as effective.

When my smaller Fig 8 Puffer died from the parasites I started doing a lot of searching for options. This was one of the closest to a natural solution I could find. So far no problems….::keeping fingers crossed::

[ElijahTurtle]

Petsmart caries Garlic Guard I have used it before. Bought 2 bottles for like $3 each on sale. Soaking in fresh crushed garlic is probably a better option but more of a pain. Garlic will kill most internal parasites & prevent attachment from external ones. Other benefits it has is increasing appetite, there are a lot of wild discus owners out there that use it to get their picky discus to eating processed fish foods along with the frozen.
It might prevent spawning as the fish probably won't be to fond of their mates garlic breath...I don't know it works that way for me after I eat it.:confuzeld:

[bra8ndy8]

THANKS!!! I will go today and look! Appreciate the help again!

[ElijahTurtle]

THANKS!!! I will go today and look! Appreciate the help again!
Well...That's what we're here for! :cs: Uhh..I mean your welcome :hehe:

[arnold]

I have a stubborn case on my Uaru, today after a couple 50% water changes to get the m green formalin out of the tank I'm going to PP it, if that works I will let you know. I think It will work thats pretty strong stuff.

[arnold]

Hmm, all of a sudden while I'm doing a 75% water change I notice this am after a little nap while a tank drained almost mt :eek: that the m green is working well on them this morn, I'm not gonna escalate to pp lessn I have to :D

[bra8ndy8]

Well mine is getting better!! They only have a couple of spots on them!!

[fishyjoe24]

so did you clear the problem or still having problems?

[bra8ndy8]

It is better!! working on it still!

[fishyjoe24]

that's good to hear, make them fish take all there meds and do a hundred laps.