Help! my poor clowns

[Toam]

I woke up this morning and noticed a few white spots on my two clowns, and one is a lil paler as well. What's the best way to treat this as I think I've caught it at the outbreak. I've heard turning the water to 85fahrenheit prevents ick from multiplying, and the med i've used in the past was PIMAFIX, I need to get more if I'm gonna use it again, but I would like your opinion. I've also read you can add aquarium salt??? I don't know about that one. Please let me know what I should buy, and maybe a few choices since I only have one good fish store in my city.

 

[Chazwick]

I never added salt to my tank, and it cleared within 4 days, completely (plus all my little fighters pulled through and are now as healthy as ever!).
Just raise the temperature bit by bit, and use some Anti White Spot as it says, don't use more than the recommended amount or less, because it can affect the fishes health. Mine was gone within 4 days like i said...

One of the moderators, Lotus (?) put this link onto another thread, this should help if you feel you must use salt.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php

 

[Lotus]

First of all, Pimafix won't help. It's an antibacterial infection, and ich is a parasite.
Loaches are sensitive to medications, so I suggest that whatever you do, you start with 1/4 dose of the medication, and increase after 4 hours observation.

Favorite meds are Kordon Rid Ich+ and Ich Attack.

You can read about salt/heat treatments and some extremely useful info on ich here: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php

I highly recommend quarantining any fish before you put them in a tank with loaches, in the future.

 

[Toam]

Just lost my one clown loach, and my other one is looking pale. I picked up Ick Guard 2 by Jungle products, it's says it's specifically for Loaches. I'm really hoping my other little guy pulls through, I've had these guys for awhile now and I'm really sad I lost one already. I didn't have my quarantine tank setup in time but I did manage to move all my live plants to it so at least they won't get killed by the meds... I just can't help feeling really crappy for the stress the poor guys are going through. And I totally agree on the quaranting of new fish lotus, my girlfriend had picked up an Angel from the store and had placed it in the tank before I came home.

 

[Lotus]

Good luck with the loaches.

Make sure you medicate while you're around to watch the fish for a few hours. If they start looking distressed, do an emergency water change and add some carbon. More loaches die from meds than from ich.

Concerning your girlfriend, I'd try to talk to her about bringing stuff home without discussing it first. We have a policy of always checking with the other person if we're bringing anything home for the tanks, just in case there's some kind of problem. I mean, if you both go out and buy fish and bring them home the same day, you could have a tank disaster. Surprises are nice, but not where pets are concerned.

 

[Toam]

well, it looks like my other clown loach is gonna pull through just fine. His colour is back to a nice vibrant scheme. I've medicated for 2 days now, and my tank temp is at 85 fahrenheit at the moment, with no plants in my tank. I'm thinking of doing a 30% change in the morning and slowly adding the plants as I slowly bring my tank back down to a decent temp. Does this sound like an okay idea? or should I wait a wee bit longer before I start changing things back? He does appear to be a lil itchy still as I see him doing the rub with my dojo loach. I'm totally into waiting longer, it's just it appears things have gone away? I'd love to have a lil more advice on this issue if you don't mind? I still haven't placed my carbon in yet either as I figured I'd wait til after my water change...

 

[Lotus]

Sorry to hear you lost one You will need to get another buddy for your remaining loach at some point (hopefully when you have a Q tank set up).

I would wait a few days longer before adding the plants back, and I would probably keep the meds in the tank a few more days (you should treat for 4 days after all signs have gone to make sure all the tomites are killed off).

 

[Toam]

thanks so much Lotus, you've been a whole lot of help. I just can't help but cringe every time I look at my tank right now, I was used to it being planted, and now it's sooo empty, just fish and one lil fake log. Is there some method to try and help the lil guys with the stress? less light or anything?
Also wanted to add I will have my quarentine tank setup as soon as this is done, since it's cycling right now with all the plants that were in my 30 gallon.
I got a 15 gallon for a QT tank btw.
How often do I need to do the water changes while medicating? Just if he looks ill or something? I just want to make this as painless as possible for my lil guys, I do really care for em.

 

[Lotus]

I know it can look bare when you're used to seeing a forest, but it's probably in everyone's best interests to keep the plants out for a while. I would keep the meds in the water unless you see signs of distress from the fish (gasping, lethargic, not eating). Turning the lights off, or only switching some on can help with the stress. If you have any plastic plants laying around, you could put those in.

 

[Toam]

New condition, I've been keeping a close eye on my clown loach, and I've also decided to stop adding med's after reading that article from you Lotus. I've decided to keep my temp up(it's at 85.4 right now, but I've noticed though none of his other fins are clamped, his dorsal fin?(mid back) seems to be clamped and the end seems to have a whitish coating over the tip... Is this some new fungal disaster that's arrived since the ich is in there? will keeping the temp up be enough to solve this newer problem? or do I need to get a different kind of med for this new problem? or should I simply watch for another day and see if it progresses? or if it's just me?

 

[Toam]

Also wanted to add that none of my other fish appear to have any complications at all... from neon tetras, to my dojo loaches and even the guppies, it seems solely to be the clown loaches that are being affected, and I do know they are highly susceptible, I was just wondering if that info would help at all.
the post I read was http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php
and I realized the med I had(Ick guard 2) uses formalin, and it's not healthy to the fish, especially if you've got your temp up. I did a 40% water change, and placed my carbon back in to try and remove the medication in there, it was in for 3 day's, now I'm just gonna try and run the gauntlet with the higher temp, but I need to know if the clamping on his dorsal could be a more serious problem, or is just relevant to the ick, since it's been fairly clamped the past two days, I only just noticed the whitish tip to it today though.