What is taking out the ich medication?

[EDO]

Hello,

on friday I found my 2 kissing gourami with a few ich on their body. I took out the carbon and the old filter and replaced it with only a filter without chemical to take out the medication; I pour in the full dose of ich medication into the tank, the tank turned blue and I went to bed.

The next morning (today) I woke up and found the tank to be clear (not blue). I remember last time I had ich in the tank (a long time ago) the blue color from the medication did not go away until I used carbon in the filter. However, I was using another brand of ich medication last time which was horrorible, it cured the ichs, but it made the fish very stressful and it also made the silicon and the decor go blue.

Another thing is that 1 week ago, I accidently dropped about 1/2 teaspoon of used carbon into the tank. It was unretrievable.

So this morning I did a 20% water change and later at 7pm today I put in another full dose of ich medication. But now at 11pm, I can see the blue color clearing up already. Now even, the bala sharks got a 2-3 ichs on their body.

This ich medication, recommended by a veteran aquarist, is supposed to be good. But why are the fish getting more ichs? Why isn't the medication killing the tomites? Is it because of that 1/2 teaspoon of 1 month OLD carbon do its work? Or is my medication doing its work already?

Please help.

 

[Lotus]

Your meds are probably working.

The ich cycle takes a while. The meds can't actually treat the disease while it's on the fish. The spots will burst in a day or two, and that's when the medicine will kill the parasite. If your fish are showing a few more spots, it's probably just what was already on them and is now growing.

Check out this explaination of ich http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=16&cat=1791&articleid=2421

I don't think the carbon in your tank is removing the medication. If it's used, and the water isn't being drawn over it, the carbon probably isn't removing it.

I hope you get the ich out soon

 

[colesea]

When you administer the recommended dose of most ich medications, the volume of water in your tank will dilute it down to the appropriate amount the fish are suppose to recieve. The tank will turn blue only when the volume of ich medication is greater than the volume of water in your tank, and the water can no longer dilute down the concentration of the medication. It takes about a week for this to happen in smaller tanks, longer the larger the tank is. After seven days of treatment it is recommended you do a 30% water change, then continue treatment.

It can take up to four weeks or longer to fully erradicate a tank of ich. Even then, the ich does not "go away". All fish carry ich on them, and the introduction of new fish to the tank will bring back the ich. It is only when the fish are stressed that they become subceptible to ich infestations. Ich infestations have been correlated with drastic temperature changes, so maintaining stable temperatures within the tank goes a long way in preventing widespread ich outbreaks.
~~Colesea

 

[EDO]

Thanks for the info, the irony of removing the carbon and daily partial water change is that the mini cycle which occurs after each water change and the lack of chemical (carbon) filtration is actually giving the fish more stress. But this is how the experts and veterans do it, and what the scientists recommend, so I can't really complaint there

On another note, I have found 2 most common types of ich treatment schedules. One is to do daily partial 20% water change and the full dose of ich medication for 6 consecutive days, then a 40% water change on the last day. Another is a water change + full dose medication every 4 days for 16 days.

The first one makes sense because tomites comes out of their cyse (egg form) after 2-3 days and they have 12-24 hours to find a host. You must kill the tomites within this time frame. Adding in medication daily will kill the tomites on this small time frame. However, I think putting in a full dose of ich med daily may cause a over dose because it is hard to tell if the med from the previous days have been dissolved (or disappear). I am kinda doing a every 2 day schedule.

 

[revfred]

What is the medication (brand name) you are using? Depending on the medicine you can do a water change, full dose, 12-hours later, water change full dose and so on. Then after about 3 days, I taper to the water change, dose, and then same thing 24 hours later beginning with a water change.

Even after all the spots on all the fish disappear, I continue a couple of extra days.

 

[colesea]

Everyone has their own ways of treating ich, so it is hard to say which regiem is the "right" one. So, IMO, the only "right" way to treat for ich is the meathod that works best for you without doing undue stress to your fish.

Putting a full dose of ich medication in a tank daily will not consitute an overdose. Overdose occures if you keep adding full doses of medication without at least a weekly water change. In fact, you must use the full dose of medication to prevent the disease from becomming resistant to the treatment. Failure to use either the full dose, or to keep up with treatment for an extended duration of time, can keep causing reoccuring outbreaks.

There is no half-way or "quick" cure for ich.

Also, ich treatment can be highly temperature dependant. At usual tank temperatures (74oF-78oF) it can take a full four weeks to get rid of ich because of the rate of the parasite's life cycle. At higher temps (>80oF), you can get rid of ich faster, at the cost of stressing out your fish. At lower tempreature (<74oF), it will take longer to get rid of ich as the life cycle of the parasite is slowed, and again, you risk stressing out your fish.
~~Colesea

 

[EDO]

Thanks for the tips.

I do not know if it is the medication, but the water looks pretty milky today.

I am using Applus+ Cure-Ick made by AP (Aquarium Products)