Damn Ick

[sunshine_1965]

Ick treatments should be dosed for a minimum of 2 weeks. Whoever put that label on that product is full of BS. Ick (the parasite) burrows into a fish, where it is virtually immune to all forms of chemicals that would not kill your fish as well. It is ONLY in the free-swimming stage (occurs after the white cyst grows and eventually pops out) that ick can be killed. Many ick medications recommend treatment times of up to a month, since the meds may not kill all of the parasites during the first cycle, and because the time the ick parasite spends growing in it's host before popping out varies dramatically depending on water temp. The risk you run with only treating for 2 days is that:

1) You may miss the free-floating stage completely
2) A strain of ick that is resistant to your meds may prevail and spread
3) If a single parasite infects another fish (ick has to find a host within 2-3 days or die) then you start the whole painful process over again.

I haven't had ick in a long time, so I can't really recommend any particular brands of medications, but you can try it again at a smaller dosage for a prolonged period of time. Ideally, you would isolate the infested fish. And yes, salt does help, but only in preventing the new parasites from burrowing into another fish.

[waynet]

I had ick with my German Gold Ram when I got them. I had a 10 gallon tank. I removed all the plants. Increase the temperature to 85-86F. I don't know if your other fish can stand that temperature. Changed 40% of the water with the same temperature. Added 15 teaspoons of Aquarium salt over 3 days.

My Rams are ok and breeding. First 2 days, the condition looked worst with so many white spot showed up. The next 3-4 days the white spots were all gone.

You should now change 20% of the water with 1-2F temperature lower. Keep temperature about 83F with the remaining salt in the tank. My Rams are always eating and maybe that is why it worked.


Here are my Gold Rams http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/breed...ing-fry-24012/