# Very bad luck with Ich treatment



## Ponyo (Jul 24, 2010)

I am feeling very discouraged right now and I wonder if anyone here has any advice. I started treating for Ich a couple days ago because my Platies have been scratching against ornaments and plants for a few weeks. One, in particular has clamped fins and has been hiding a lot. I tried to take the conservative route and simply focus on clean, stable water conditions (which I achieved), but the itching and reclusive behavior continued, so I finally opted to treat the tank. I added air stones and started slowly increasing heat over the last couple days. I also took out the carbon filter media and started adding a product called Ich Attack, which is supposed to be snail and plant safe, along with a very low dose of aquarium salt. The temperature rose from 75 to 81-degrees over a 48 hour period and I found one of my platies dead this morning. The other one is really subdued and I will be surprised if she makes it through the night. The whole thing has been devastating and I feel I am not destined to keep platies. They are my favorite fish, but it is heartbreaking to lose them.

Obviously, I won't increase temperature any further. I did do a water change today, but I'm not sure if I should completely stop treatment or not. If there is a parasite, I'd like to get rid of it, but don't want to lose all my fish.

Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 0 ppm
PH 7.6

I realize the nitrate reading doesn't make sense for a cycled tank, but it has been set up with fish since early July.


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## aunt kymmie (Jun 2, 2008)

I'm sorry you're feeling discouraged, I know the feeling of dealing with sick fish and what a bummer it can be. The first thing for me to say is do not use heat and ich meds combined. You either use the heat/salt method or you go the med route. Since you already have the meds on hand I think you should slowly back your tank temp down to what it would normally be for platys and continue with your meds. 
Dose with meds exactly as the package indicates. I'm not sure if you have read this article, it's my favorite go-to ich article:

The Skeptical Aquarist


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## Chicklet (Feb 9, 2009)

You never mentioned any white sprinkling,
So, I'm wondering if you even have Ich,
It could be a parasite, But it also could be your water,
I went thru this for the longest time, Treating for everything and nothing seemed to work, It was really discouraging, and of course I was doing more of just what I should have been doing less of.
too frequent water changes, That in itself can cause "Flashing" scratching on objects,

One of the first things I do now when I see "flashing" and no other obvious symptoms is cut my water changes down on those tanks,


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## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

That's a great link Kym. I just read it through bc I'm battling a case of ich at the moment too. 

Hang in there ponyo - i'm on day 6 of treatment and still have a few spots showing on two fish. Grrrrrrr!!!!


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## aunt kymmie (Jun 2, 2008)

Romad said:


> That's a great link Kym. I just read it through bc I'm battling a case of ich at the moment too.
> 
> Hang in there ponyo - i'm on day 6 of treatment and still have a few spots showing on two fish. Grrrrrrr!!!!


When I had ich it took 12 days of treatment! Medicating a 100gl for 12 days got to be very pricey.
Which fish are still showing spots? For me it was my clown loaches that I had the most difficulty with. 

Interesting point that Chicklet brings up. Ponyo-Did you or are you seeing any white specks on any of your fish??


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## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

I only saw spots on my Boesman Rainbows and my Emperor Tetras. Maybe half a dozen on each fish. As of today, there's nothing left on the rainbows but two of my emperors still have a few on their tailfins. 

The worst part is that I've run out of Kordon's and after visiting three fish stores here in NH, the best I could come up with is Jungle Labs Ick Guard. Grrrrr!!! :redmad:

Did you treat for 3 days after you saw the last of spots or did you continue treatment for longer than that?


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## aunt kymmie (Jun 2, 2008)

Romad said:


> The worst part is that I've run out of Kordon's and after visiting three fish stores here in NH, the best I could come up with is Jungle Labs Ick Guard. Grrrrr!!! :redmad:
> 
> Did you treat for 3 days after you saw the last of spots or did you continue treatment for longer than that?


Grrrr is right. That's exactly why I have about three bottles of the stuff on the shelf, just in case. 
I treated for exactly three days after the last visible white spot was seen.


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## Ponyo (Jul 24, 2010)

Thanks for the support from all of you guys. I have not seen white spots, but the two platies have been flashing against rocks and plants for awhile. I think a new one that I added a few weeks ago brought the parasite in. She was itchy and lethargic from day one and died within a week. Should have quarantined. After that, my other two started scratching, clamping fins, and hiding. The sun fire Platy was the worst, laying on the gravel and occasionally darting across the tank with clamped fins like she was trying to get something off of her. I did cut down on water changes as Chicklett suggested, but it made no difference. 

I've decided to follow Aunt Kymmie's advice about turning the temperature slowly back down to 75 and to finish the treatment with Ich Attack. The stuff is pretty mild, so I don't even know if it really works. It smells like garlic. Apparently, it is safe for plants and snails though. 

Anyway, I really appreciate the support and hearing that others are dealing with this or have gotten through this. It is such a bummer to lose a fish. I get really upset about it. I'm hoping my sun fire platy will hold on.


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## Ponyo (Jul 24, 2010)

Very sad news. My sun fire platy died today. I am turning the thermostat down VERY slowly because I know Ich loves a fast drop in temperature. I was actually most worried about my White Clouds surviving a raise in temp, but surprisingly they did way better than the platies. I won't stress them any further though and want to finish treating with Ich Attack for another week. I really hope that stuff works. No more fish will go in this tank until there are zero signs of flashing. This whole thing has really sucked.


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## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

So sorry to hear that Ponyo. You did what you could but sometimes we lose them anyway


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## tanker (Mar 13, 2010)

Sorry your fish died. I hope things can get sorted soon. Good luck with the treatment.


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## aunt kymmie (Jun 2, 2008)

I'm sorry, that totally sucks. It happens to the best of us. Try not to get discouraged and know we've ALL been there. :-(


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## Ponyo (Jul 24, 2010)

Thanks for the support. I don't know how I'd deal with all the trouble I've had with this tank if I didn't have support on the forum. You guys are the best.


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## silverboo23 (Sep 3, 2010)

I'm battling Ich at the moment too. Didn't help that my heater broke over night and the tank was 68 degrees this morning. I've lost 3 fish(xray tetra and 2 guppies) in the past 2 days and the ones in the tank aren't looking too good, except for my zebra danios. I added salt with the new heater today, hopefully things get better(my poor platies look like they swam through a dish of salt) Good luck with your tank Ponyo.


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## Ponyo (Jul 24, 2010)

Thanks for the support Silverboo23. Sorry about your heater. I too, had an overnight temperature drop down to almost 68 before this all happened, so I know it is bad news. Right now, I'm patiently following Ich Attack instructions for the next four days. The water is as brown as mud and the two White Clouds that survived look really scared because all the other fish are gone. They won't even come up to the surface to eat right now. I'm also anticipating a mini-cycle after all this is done. At least the snail and plants look OK.


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## Russell (Jun 28, 2010)

I recently had to treat ich in a planted tank for the first time. I did some research and heard only bad things about ich attack. I opted for Rid-Ich, it is plant safe and claims to be snail safe. Some snails are sensitive to malachite green but, my mystery snail did just fine and I only had to treat for 10 days. I've posted on ich before and as some of you know I am a salt man. I would give Ich Attack one more chance and then switch to Rid-Ich if it doesn't work. If its really stubborn, salt will kill it. It will probably kill your plants and snails too and most of your bacteria but at 3 tbs per gallon and 84 degrees (normally it is 90 degrees but white clouds can't handle that) it will kill the ich and I would even say within a week. I have never seen salt fail with ich. But so far Rid-Ich is 1-0 for me and I would try it if ich attack continues to be ineffective.


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## silverboo23 (Sep 3, 2010)

Well, I just got home from work and my two remaining platys were dead. Only have 4 fish left, hopefully the tank can stablize.


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## Ponyo (Jul 24, 2010)

I am sorry to hear the news about your platies Silverboo23. I really hope the rest of your fish survive and the tank will stabilize. The whole thing is a total bummer.

Russell, I actually did look for Rid-Ich because someone else recommended it in another thread and I could not find it anywhere. I finally saw a bottle at pet store that I usually don't go to, but by then I had already started treatment with Ich Attack and turning up the heat to speed up the parasite's life cycle. I was actually thinking about changing over to salt once I got the heat up to 84, but both of my platies died once the temperature got to 81. I was afraid I'd lose the white clouds too, so I turned the heat back down to 74. I think my platies were just too stressed from the parasite and possibly unstable water to handle the temperature change, even with air stones. 

If this ever happens again, or if the Ich Attack fails, I will hunt down a bottle of Rid-Ich. I understand that heat and salt do work, but I don't know that I would risk stressing my fish out like that again.


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## aunt kymmie (Jun 2, 2008)

I always use and recommend Kordan's Rid Ich+. I think this medication is a whole lot safer for fish, than using the heat/salt method. JMHO.


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## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

aunt kymmie said:


> I always use and recommend Kordan's Rid Ich+. I think this medication is a whole lot safer for fish, than using the heat/salt method. JMHO.


+1 on that. I'm learning the hard way just how much better it is than what I've been able to find within a 20 mile radius of here. 

I'm going to get a nice big bottle online soon.


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## Ponyo (Jul 24, 2010)

I'm going to pick up some Rid-Ich+ up myself, just in case this ever happens again. God forbid.

BTW, last night I went back to the store where I bought that sick platy that seemed to start all this trouble. I just happened to walk back to look in the platy tank and it was filled with gasping fish with clamped fins. All were either on the gravel breathing their last breaths or dead. I asked the woman who worked there about it. Once she got past being defensive, she admitted the last couple batches of platies had been bad. Great to know that now that most of my tank is wiped out.


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## tanker (Mar 13, 2010)

That sucks. Did she offer to replace your fish after your outbreak has been controlled?

ETA: Maybe you won't want any more fish from there, anyway?


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## Ponyo (Jul 24, 2010)

No, I did not. She was pretty cagey, so I was mostly focused on getting her to admit there was a problem. I also wanted to know for sure if it was Ich that was killing the fish, so I could determine where to go from there with treatment. She said she didn't know, but suggested I finish up with the Ich Attack and then let my tank sit for a couple weeks. I could probably go back and get replacement fish, but I've written that store off for anything but rocks for now.


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## tanker (Mar 13, 2010)

You should get a refund, at least. You could get Prime or something else instead of fish. 

From comments that "my" fish shop people have made, ich isn't considered a huge problem at the shop. They dose all new fish, but don't seem to have huge wipeouts from it like at your shop. They seem to view it as a minor inconvenience rather than a plague. The affected fish might have poor immune systems to all succumb in such a dramatic way? 

If she knew that the "last couple" of batches were bad, why did she sell them? That makes me mad...


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## Chicklet (Feb 9, 2009)

Ich is also a catch all, 
If they don't know whats wrong,


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

Am I the only one who won't use Rid Ich+? Honestly I can see NOTHING good about this medication. It contains formalin, a form of formaldehyde. It is not something I would use on my fish. It is quite a harmful medication. Its a carcinogen, significantly drops the oxygen levels in tanks(on top of what the increased temps do), it is also harmful to the cycle bacteria. I see no reason to use such a drastic med when their are other options. I have always lived by copper sulfate. Like any ich medication I run treatment for at least a week after all signs are gone. Anything beyond a week may not be at full strength though depends on the fishes behavior and such. I can't remember exactly the last time I had to deal with ich though, it had to be almost a year ago. My big bottle of aquaria-sol cost around $8 and has lasted me a couple years already.


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## Ponyo (Jul 24, 2010)

The whole thing makes me mad too and it is really disturbing to see a tank full of dying and dead fish at a store. Granted, the platy tank was toward the bottom, under some brand new colorful fish that kids were going crazy over, so you had to bend down and really look. Of course, I did because I wanted to see how my dead fishes' former tank mates were doing. And, yes, Chicklet, Ich does seem like a catch all explanation for this. 

Mikaila 31,until now I've heard mostly good things about Rid Ich+, although I've never tried it. This time around I am using Ich Attack, which is allegedly mild and herbal. It's supposed to treat for Ich, other protozoans, and fungus.


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