Another question about ICH, but this might be a little different

[Gamefishin]

Ok so I'm keeping native fishes and they prefer cold water. Right now my temp is at 60-65 degrees. I guess from what I've been told your supposed to put the ich medice in and then raise the temp of the water. Can it work with waters around 60 degrees because I rather not raise the temp of my water because it won't be good for the fish.

I'm using Mardel Maracide medications, and the instructions says to no water change or temp change if readings are in ideal range. Maintain normal filteration and air.

Hummmmm...........

cold water
no water change
keep filter with carbon on

will this work or is there a step that doen't seem right.

 

[Lotus]

If you're using meds, follow the instructions to the letter. If it says don't raise the temp, then don't Medications can lower the dissolved oxygen in the water, as can higher temps. Doing both at the same time could kill your fish.

Heat/salt is a separate method of treating ich, but shouldn't be mixed with using a medication.

 

[Gamefishin]

this medicine also says it treats the fish and not the water, whatever that really means.

 

[geekrockgirl85]

when i fought my battles with ich, i aerated the tank to make sure i wasn't depriving anyone of oxygen.

the first time i treated a fish, though, i was unsuccessful.

the next time using maracide, however, i changed my water right before every re-dose and kicked ich's butt.

also... activated carbon should be taken out of the filter. it will remove all the maracide before it has a chance to work its mojo.

 

[Gamefishin]

how much water did you change before every redose and was the water straight from the sink or did you treat the water your putting it in the tank????

 

[echoofformless]

If I recall correctly, we put the fish in quarantine. The substrate is the place where ich multiplies. So having a QT with no substrate seems to help keep the ich exposed to the meds.

Ich can be tricky - there are many variables. Most meds only treat the ich in the free-swimming stage. Maracide claims to treat the fish. But does that mean it's getting the ich in the free-swimming stage? Other meds will do that...but they won't treat the fish. Maracide didn't help us at all that first time out, so it seemed. Neither did AP Super Ick Cure. But I will not discount their effectiveness, because they were the formula that we used to "kick ich's butt" as she puts it.


On our succesful runs, we put the fish in QT and treated them with a 50/50 combo of Maracide and AP Super Ich Cure. We would dose, wait two days, change the water, and dose again. Both times (once with our male betta, once with an ichy female betta that I "rescued" from the LFS) it was cleared within a week and never returned. Once the fish was ich-less, we switched to straight SIC for one more week. We kept them in the QT a little longer just to make sure, and all was well.

So yeah, I'll never know if it was the Maracide or the SIC; but I don't really care because now I know how to get rid of ich quickly and painlessly. Or at least that is what worked those two times. Who knows what might happen the next time ich comes knocking on the glass?

And that's the frustration as well as the fun of this hobby - finding out what works.