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I ran into an issue a couple of weeks when I bought a puffer from a shop and the tank came down with ich. I hammered the tank with quick cure and copper and it seems to be clearing up. I've been diligent about not touching the water or feeding frozen foods from one tank and dipping into another. This week i will be moving the fish to naother tank and bleaching the tank. My thought was; how do people sterilize their nets these days? I remember Jungle used to make a product called Net Soak, but I'm sure there's an easier way. For right now, I've been throwing any nets I use into a bucket of saltwater I use for hatching brine shrimp.

Also, if anybody that received the gift bags at the meetings could give reviews on any of the products, that would be great.

Ich used to be so easy to treat. Now it seems to be tougher, perhaps having developed some resistance to typical medications. I've never been a big Quick Cure fan. Though it contains formalin and malachite green, two good ingredients, I haven't felt it to be strong enough. Rid-Ich+ is a better mix of the two. The efficacy of copper also varies greatly depending on hardness of the water. So it is undependable as an ich medication, especially if you buy one of the chelated coppers.

My all-time favorite ich medication is Weco's Nox-Ich. It's a straight malachite green preparation that is very effective and very inexpensive. Unfortunately, you can't find it around here.

So you have an extra bottle laying around? It seems to be coming back.

Yes, stop by and I'll give it to you.

i read somewhere that 95 degrees kills ick, so maybe you could just soak your nets in very hot water?

I have read about peaple elevating the temps in the tank as a treatment for the fish. IIRC it was for about a week with salt dips for the infected fish. No personal experience.....

I have, in the past, had great luck with raising the temps and turning off the lights, but the last time I dealt with ich, it didn't respond to that treatment at all.

The high temps will not kill ich but it speeds up the life cycle making it easier for the medicines to be effective.

For the net i found this:


"If you keep multiple tanks, use separate nets for each tank and/or let your net dry completely between uses. Ich cannot survive being dried out."'re net

So you shouldnt have to treat your net.

for the temp thing this is what i found:



"There are two schools of thought regarding raising the temperature of the water to treat ich.

The first approach is used simply to speed up the lifecycle of the parasite, since whatever medication you choose will only be effective on the free-swimming tomonts and thermonts. It is understood that at temps above 75ºF, for example, an entire lifecycle can be complete in less than 4 days. (In contrast, it can take more than 5 weeks at temps below 45ºF, such as you might find in an outdoor pond.) Slowly raising the temperature a few degrees above normal (to approximately 80 - 82ºF) will do the trick, and you can treat accordingly with salt or a medication (see below). Always maintain good surface agitation, especially with a higher temperature.


The second approach is to actually destroy the organism with heat, and can be combined with the salt treatment below, but not with meds. The data I studied (including a report by the Southern Regional Aquaculture Center, which is currently archived here) suggests that most strains of Ich cannot reproduce at temperatures above 85�F. To use this treatment approach, slowly (no more than 1 or 2 degrees per hour) raise the temperature to 86�F, while maintaining strong continuous surface agitation to oxygenate the water. This is extremely important because water holds less O2 at higher temperatures. (This is why meds should not be used in conjunction with high temp � most Ich treatment products also reduce oxygen levels. Less available oxygen, combined with the respiration difficulties an infected fish is already faced with, could be fatal.) You can angle powerheads up toward the surface, or lower your water level to get a little extra splash from your filter return. As with any treatment, observe your fish closely for signs of stress (labored breathing, erratic behavior) and reduce the temperature slowly if necessary. (A note to the wary; my Malawi haps and clown loaches endured a temperature of 88�F for 10 days with apparent ease � I never detected the slightest hint of distress � and the Ich was completely wiped out. One article that I read suggests the temperature be raised to 90�F!)"


my source was: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php


Hope this article helps everyone when dealing with ick

Hope there's a bunch of nets at the auction!

My gold severum have iCh! All of them breathing hard and lethargic small white spots more prominent on their fins than body. At least I think this is ich. They were seemingly fine last night. Any suggestions? I have raised the water temp slowly but my fish look horrible and I feel sorry for them. I have 5 gold severum still juveniles. 2 yoyo loaches one tiger loach and 6 small silver tip tetras. Everyone but my severum look fine and are going on with life as normal. Help!

Search the local shops for a medication that uses malachite green as the active ingredient. In my opinion, straight malachite green formulations are better than the formalin/malachite green formulas-- but the latter is a good second choice.

GrakFu wrote:My gold severum have iCh! All of them breathing hard and lethargic small white spots more prominent on their fins than body. At least I think this is ich. They were seemingly fine last night. Any suggestions? I have raised the water temp slowly but my fish look horrible and I feel sorry for them. I have 5 gold severum still juveniles. 2 yoyo loaches one tiger loach and 6 small silver tip tetras. Everyone but my severum look fine and are going on with life as normal. Help!

Is it very small dots? I would recommend daily water changes along with the medicine. You know if you had an ammonia spike? I've seen fish get a severe case of ich along with ammonia spikes.

Ammonia did "spike". .25ppm opposed to the usual 0 but did find one of the severum passed and was settled in some of the aquatic plants. Was alive last night, not sure if she was this morning. Picking up some malachite green tonight. Is it normal to only infect one species? The loaches, plecos and tetras are showing no signs of ICH at the moment.

Ich can affect all species-- and if left untreated long enough, it probably will. Some are more susceptible, though. Some don't show symptoms as obviously. And some can develop and immunity after having previously been infected.

Remember that the ich meds can't kill the parasite while it is still on the fish and buried in the skin. The meds only kill the free-swimming stages of the parasite. So treat every day until the dots are all gone, and then a couple of days more to be sure you get all the parasites.