90 Gallon tank with Ich?

[kathy1058]

Hi! I'm a first time user so bear with me. I have a 90 gall. tank with ich. Just got a few days ago. Treating it with Copper Safe. I changed about 30 gallons yesterday and added the proper dosage of copper to the water I took out. I left in my filter because it says don't have to remove if not new. The severum I have looks like it has more white spots than ever. All of the fish have it now, some more than others. How long will this take to get rid of the white spots. Does it get worse before it gets better? Copper Safe says it is in the tank for one month. So you just leave alone and do nothing but water changes? Should I be seeing improvement soon? How long? Should I try something else? I did put salt in the water the first day of treatment also. How do I know if the treatment is working. What should I look for. Any help would be appreciated. I have 3 Severums, plegostomus, spotted pims, pacu, a shark, one angel fish, tetras, danios, silver dollars (which have it noticeably), gourami, a bicher (snakelike fish), and Tilopia's. Thanks!!!

 

[TLM4x4]

Hi there Kathy and Welcome to the tank!! I personally have never used chemicals in my tank, but when ich has raised its ugly head I have raised the temp of the tank to 86 and put about a cup of rock salt, or aquairum salt. Just be sure to read and follow the directions for the med precisely! Good luck and happy fishkeeping!

 

[Lotus]

Welcome to the site

Ich can take a while to cure. If the symptoms aren't getting better within about 5 days, you may need to change treatments. I've always found CopperSafe to be extremely effective against ich. Of course, if it's not ich or another parasite, the CopperSafe won't work. Keep to one medication/treatment method at a time.

Ich cannot be killed while it's on the fish, so you won't see immediate results with any medication. However, you shouldn't see many new spots forming if the medication is working (although there may be a few showing up that have been on the fish for a few days before you started).

Is this tank still cycling? If so, you will need to monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels, and do water changes as necessary.

 

[kathy1058]

Thanks for the reply. My tank is cycled. Has been up since October. Should I take the filter out? Wasn't sure about this. Medication said I don't have to. I know you can't put other medication in with the copper. So I just wait and see? Hopefully, the ones with no spots won't get new ones. I should have quarantined the new fish. Also, I can see white spots in the water floating around. Thanks again.....

 

[Lotus]

No, leave the filter in. The only way to remove CopperSafe is through water changes or by adding a copper-removing compound to the filter.

I just wanted to check that you weren't dealing with a cycle at the same time as ich

Yes, quarantine is a wonderful thing.

 

[silver dollars]

here is some info that could help.www.bluebin.com/disease.html#ich. i read this and got all 4 of my tanks ich free!!!!!!!!!!*celebrate