SUPER ICH or lousy medicine

[sskruzr]

A few weeks ago I got some new rams. I noticed some spots so I threw them in a quarantine tank and started treating with some quick cure that I've had for a while. The spots would come and go but never be completely gone. Raised the temp to 84, no difference. Lost one after a week. Lost another one after 2 weeks. Got some new quick cure last week and thought it was getting better, at least yesterday he only had a couple spots but the guppy I have with him is covered now. Is there a super ich now or Quick Cure just doesn't work any more? Yes I know rams are ich susceptible and there's no charcoal in the filters.

[mewickham]

I feel your pain. I recently lost nearly an entire 70-gallon of fish, mostly cardinal tetras to ich. I tried several medicines, including Quick Cure, and none worked. I treated for over two weeks, when four days should be typical. Mind you, I always say that ich is so easy to treat that, if caught early, a person shouldn't lose any fish to it. It was a huge embarrassment for me. I've been treating ich successfully for nearly 50 years! I ended up ordering Nox-Ich online. It has always worked for me. But by the time I got it, most of the fish were lost. It did, however, finally fix the problem. Y'all might want to take time and order a bottle now, before you need it. It's extremely cheap and effective, and a pure malachite green solution that works best for ich.

I don't know if this is some new kind of super ich—though it sure seems like it. I wonder, too, if the medicines in the local shops are outdated or something. This seems unlikely—though I'll say this: The selection of medications in the local shops is pathetic. One local store seems to have discontinued their fish medication section altogether. The others carry very little, and often at the most ridiculously high prices I have ever seen. It shouldn't cost $10 to dose a 70-gallon for ich for one day!

Even the shops that have medicines carry the wrong ones. They tend to carry gram-positive antibiotics, when most bacterial infections of fish are gram-negative.

Following are some of my recommendations for medications, listed by active ingredient and sample brand(s). It's more important to look for the active ingredient because the same concoction often sells under several brand names.

ICH

• malachite green (Nox-Ich)
• formalin/malachite green combo (Rid-Ich+)(QuICK Cure) NOTE: These should be relatively fresh. Formalin ages to form poison!
• copper sulfate (Aquarisol) NOTE: This sometimes works, but should be your last choice. Copper sulfate's efficacy varies greatly, depending on water hardness and pH. It also kills plants and snails.
• NOTE: Avoid CopperSafe! It is chelated (kee-lay-ted) copper. The chelation process keeps the copper from falling quickly out of solution, but the same process makes it much less effective! I could not even get this stuff to cure ich in the days when super ich didn't exist.
• Avoid Maracide. It colors the water permanently and doesn't work all that well.

EXTERNAL PARASITES

• organophosphate, such as trichlorofon (Clout)
• formalin

BACTERIAL INFECTIONS
These are gram negative antibiotics! Good!

• kanamycin
• furanoids (any antibiotic with "fur" in the name, such as furazolidone, nifurpurinol, nitrofurazone, etc.)(Furanace, Furan-2, etc.)
• sulfa drugs, such as sulfamethazine, sulfathiozole, etc.) (Triple Sulfa) (This one treats both gram negative and gram positive bacteria.)
• minocycline (Maracyn 2)

Avoid these gram positive antibiotics, except as last resort:

• tetracycline/terramycin/oxytetracycline/chlortetracycline (Asian farms have used these drugs as a preventative to the point that most bacterial infections coming out of there are immune to them.)
• erythromycin (Maracyn, EM Tabs, etc.)
• penicillin
• ampicillin

Any local dealers reading this, please consider improving your lines of medications to include as much of the above as possible. These recommendations are based, not on product sales brochure recommendations, but on the literature and 25 years as a retailer treating up to 700 tanks at a time.

[aulonocaraaddict]

I got the super ich when I got my new tank set up around 4 month ago. I tried quickcure and it just wouldn't work. I caught it extremely early (didn't quarantine...not smart lol) but I tried ich cure I think its called didn't work either. Finally had to use coppersulfate. Worked in a couple days but lost all but 3 fish in my tank... And wouldn't you know it was the ones who brought the ich in. Learned a valuable lesson.

[sskruzr]

Still noticed a couple spots on the ram. I'm thinking of hooking up the u.v. sterilizer on the tank. Wonder how I can line up those ich larve to be shot by the firing squad. Guess I'll see if I have any coper.

Mike, could you put together a "medicine cabinet" of what devoted aquarist should have on hand?

Is there any rule of thumb as to when medicines expire?

[mewickham]

Corey, I don't usually recommend having a collection of medications on hand because they do have expiration dates.The only thing I normally like to keep around is plain ol' malachite green, such as Nox-Ich, for treating ich. I've had bottles of that stuff last, and work, for years. If I was going to keep an antibiotic on hand, I'd choose either Triple Sulfa or one of the furanoids.

I'm not sure what is a safe shelf life for medications. I'd say a year for anything with formalin in it, or there's risk of getting the toxic precipitates. Of course, who knows how long your dealer has had it on the shelf? I'd probably say a year is the limit on most antibiotics, too.

[etheonut]

Next time one of you gets "Super Ich" in your tanks lets sacrifice some fish and take a look at them.

Contact me and we will get them under the scope.

Kevin

[sskruzr]

The guppy still has some spots. We're coming to Neosho next Saturday to drop off the flyers. If it hasn't cleared up by then I'll bring her.