Fish deformities and ick

[woodmort]

Back in the day the best ick cure was Noxick. I've been out of fish for 15 years now so I don't know if it is still available. . That, good, periodical water changes and avoiding crowding are the best cure/prevention for any of the aquarium diseases.

By way of reference: I was once a cichlid breeder and writer on aquarium fish for Freshwater and Marine Aquarium Mag. from the 1970's - 90's. I had over 2000 gallons of water in tanks in my fishroom. That was all I ever needed to use.

 

[CityChicker]

Yeah, Nox-Ich is Malachite green. That works really well. I think I remember at one time that Nox-Ich was at one point Methylene blue. I may not be remembering correctly. Maybe it was Rid-Ich? I can't remember, but the Methylene blue fell out of favor because of human health risks associated with it.

 

[CityChicker]

... and incidentally, not that I want to seem like a know it all because I'm not (just ask my husband, LOL), but it is Ich.. I*C*H not K like "ick" or "icky". It is Ich with an "h", short for Ichthyophthirius multifilis.

LOL

 

[Akane]

Temperature speeds up the parasite's lifecycle. It means they will get to their free swimming stage faster but also out of that stage faster. If the outbreak is minor I don't increase water temp since the fish will survive fine and changes in water temp only increase stress which increases susceptibility to ich. With severe infections such as acquiring sick fish then it can be beneficial to speed things up and kill as much as possible as quickly as possible to give the fish relief. Salt has never been proven useful and last I was hanging out on fish forums was no longer recommended since many fish can't tolerate it anyway. Malachite green is sometimes used and for fish that don't tolerate meds well melafix or pimafex may be used. However I only treated my first ich outbreak with meds after not accounting for a temperature problem. The center room of the house is mostly windows and reached 90F on a -10F day sending the tank through more than a 10F change. 2 stealth heaters set at 88F kept the situation from repeating itself. Since then I just do water changes and wait it out. Like I said healthy fish in a healthy tank do not get ich. If your tank is clean and stable, properly stocked, and with the fish properly fed ich cures itself. All you have to do is let the fish cure themselves without risking killing them with meds and other treatments. A good portion of the fish forum takes the same approach. In a well maintained tank you run more risk of causing problems by medicating than by leaving things alone.

i Have never bought a ph kit or chemical tester kit. Its a waste of money IMOP. If you do frequent water changes and bi-monthly gravel siphoning (unless your tank is overcrowded then monthly) you will never have problems, i promise (;

For someone with experience or someone who has an experienced person looking over their shoulder that holds true. When I break out my test kit anymore I have to make sure everything isn't dried up since it's been so long since I used it. However when you are first starting it out sure makes it a hell of a lot easier. When you don't understand the cycle, how much cleaning is too much, how much is too little, how many fish is too many, or in the case of planted tanks how many plants can maintain the water at what point then a test kit becomes invaluable. It also is useful just knowing what water is coming out of your tap which can vary greatly from season to season in some areas. Once you see the numbers a few times you begin to know what result you are likely to get before you run the test and then you no longer need to run tests very often. Without a test kit or experienced aquarist to help though many people kill fish over and over again without understanding what went wrong. That's why many petstores just tell people to buy cheap fish until they stop killing them. A test kit is a much simpler and kinder way to learn than the trail of bodies that some people end up with before they learn.​

 

[woodmort]

You're correct it is "ich" but it is pronounced "ick" like sick without the s. I used to have a lot of success clearing it up using a DE filter--raise the temperature and the fee swimming ichthyo's can be filtered out. It's an expensive way to go but when you have a lot of tanks and fish worth it. I still have two of the filters around here someplace, probably stored with my 250-gallon tanks.

As far as water testing is concern generally changing ph is a waste if time anyway as it will return to the previous condition relatively rapidly--all it does is stress the fish. My advice was always to keep fish than match you water source. Luckily most common aquarium fish have been around long enough that unless conditions are extreme ph/hardness isn't a factor.

Akane's advice is the best--a well maintained tank will have few problems.

 

[Livinzoo]

How is your tap water? I know when I lived in Urbana the water was terrible for fish. 8.0 pH and ammonia off the charts straight out of the tap. I worked at the petsmart there and that is the water they used. We ended up putting a good filter on our water line and used that for fish and drinking.

I would also recommend a test kit for at home. But I am also cheap. I recommend you check out that pet place and big als online. The both have good prices. I'ld stock up on fish food, water conditioner, etc. As far as water conditioner I really recommend Seachems Prime. It binds chlorine and ammonia. If you are experiencing an ammonia issue you can add it daily and it helps prevent it from harming the fish. Also products that claim to have aloe or build natural slime coats have chemicals in them that irritates the fishes skin to get them to produce a heavier slime coat.