discus & ich

[andy81]

i have a 125 with 9 discus in it, they are all sub adults. i noticed today at my water change that 2 were showing what looked like ich. my wife did my water change for me yesterday as i had too work late. so i dont know exactly how long they have had the symptoms, but under 48 hrs. what is the best treatment? i have bumped the heater up 2 degrees and added some salt. also this is a comunity tank with light planting. i do atleast 50% wc everday, should i just slowly raise the temp or would something else work as well. thanks in advance for any help!

[digthemlows]

I just did 3 days of Quick cure in a 75 gallon planted..........I did the one drop per 2 gallons (said for tetras on the label) and it cured it right away. I tried raising the temp for a week before hand with large water changes and it didn't do a thing...........

[Graham]

Using an Ick med is the simplest way to clear it...salt won't do it and will only mess with your plants.

Follow the dosing instruction for the product that your using and do it for a week or so to make sure you get all stages of the life cycle.... 3 days is probably not enough to clear it

[FishLover888]

Sometimes when I cahage water and the new water is more than few degrees lower than my tank water, my fish will have some white spots. If I keep the temp up (86f or higher), it will go away in a day or two. I do have UV light that kills any floating bugs. My plants don't like the high temp.

These days, I keep my tank at 86f or higher all the time. Just to keep the ich out of my system. In fact, most bugs don't like anything higer than 85F, that's what I read.

[Graham]

Hi Don't believe everything that you read...there are strains of ich coming out of Florida that couldn't care less about temp...do not rely on heat

G

[andy81]

generally i would agree with you on the temp, but the tank usually is right around 84 degrees. so i was wondering how i got ich, but it makes sense if there is something coming out f florids the is temp resistant. im still gona increse the temp atleast to try and speed up the life cycle. thanks

[Don Trinko]

On 2 occasions several months apart in different tanks I had 1 white spot on only one Discus. I added copper safe. None of the other fish ever got a spot and in both cases the spot dissapeared in abought a week.
When I have had ick with other fish ( guppies and swords) it took malachite green and a lot more time to eliminate it.
I'm not realy sure that it was ick and I think that it went away by itself. ( not sure that the copper safe helped, It never did much for the guppies or swords) Ussualy with other fish I always got more than one spot. Is there something that looks like ick? Don T.

[Wahter]

generally i would agree with you on the temp, but the tank usually is right around 84 degrees. so i was wondering how i got ich, but it makes sense if there is something coming out f florids the is temp resistant. im still gona increse the temp atleast to try and speed up the life cycle. thanks

There's one school of thought that says the ich cysts are always lying dormant in every tank waiting for the right opportunity to strike, but I don't quite agree with that.

I've had great luck using Quick Cure in a planted tank - it does stain the silicone seals though, but didn't affect the plants in the tank (not to any noticeable extent anyway).



Walter

[Graham]

Walter I don't think that they lie dormant either, but they are there are as are most other protozoan paraistes but in very low numbers that the fish's own immune system is capable of handling. It's only when conditions are right and the fish's immune systen down do they show up.

G

[Wahter]

Walter I don't think that they lie dormant either, but they are there are as are most other protozoan paraistes but in very low numbers that the fish's own immune system is capable of handling. It's only when conditions are right and the fish's immune systen down do they show up.

G

Yes, I agree - I meant specifically ich. I know generally, there are a lot of opportunistic bacteria, for example, which wait around in stealth mode waiting for the chance to add on to a poor fish's woes... (which might be weakened by a parasite - like ich.).


Walter

[andy81]

its been a few days, and they are looking better. i bummped the temp from 84 - 86, have been add a little salt, and using quick cure. im gonna keep an eye on everything for the nexy week or so but this has been proving a good combo. ill heep you all posted.