# treating ich



## bertolli (Aug 18, 2009)

I noticed today that one of my fish has ich, white spots around the mouth and face and 1 or 2 on the body... I am basically following the article from this website just want to say what im doing and see if anyone can add some pointers.
It's a pain to try and catch the infected fish and i don't have any other tank set up so i will treat my entire tank.
-I am gradually raising the tank temperature to ~86 degrees and intend to keep it that way for apx. 10 days
-Will add 3 tablespoons of regular salt 5 times a day for the next three days
thats about it....
I have 5 new fish coming in the next few days is there any chance that these conditions will stress them out more than usual?
Am i missing anything or doing something wrong?
thx for the help and pardon my nubness, still learning first time I've had a fish tank to be so involved with also


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## bertolli (Aug 18, 2009)

if anyone bothers to look at this I misdiagnosed it
fish has bloat
hes probably going to die since i don't have a hospital tank
I did buy metronidazole and put it into my 55 gal after turning off the filter
all the fish at some except the sick one
is a 50% water change absolutely necessary still?


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## Gervahlt (Jun 25, 2009)

Well, from what I know of bloat, definitely try to set up some kind of hospital tank for the fish. You don't want him in with the other fish so they can possibly get it from him or pester him to death. Prognosis for bloat isn't good to the best of my knowledge. My one experience with this led to the fish dying, but I'm obviously not an expert.

I'm sure that whoever does try to help you more than I can, they'll want to know a few things:

1) What other fish are in the tank. Also, what kind of fish is the one that you're treating?
2) What are the water parameters (at a minimum pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and temperature)
3) How long has your tank been running?
4) How long has it been running without problems?
5) What has changed recently? New additions, other dead fish, etc.
6) What have you done so far to treat? Dosages of whatever medicines, how much salt you added and what temperature the water got to before you realized this wasn't ich, isolation, etc.
7) What exact symptoms is the sick fish showing? This will confirm your diagnosis and let them know how far he has progressed.


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## bertolli (Aug 18, 2009)

1) 2 yellow labs, 3 acei (1 is the sick one, now dead), 3 zebra 1 albino, and one OB zebra
2)PH - 8, Ammonia 0.25<, nitrite (ran out of drops but it was stress level 2 days ago when i had it tested by strips at petsmart) nitrate was normal, temp fluctuates between 78-82 cuz i have a ****ty heater that wont keep it steady.
3) tanks been running for close to about 2 weeks.
4) this is the first problem i've had and i've done 2 water changes so far a 50% and one of about 20%.
5)Nothing has changed other than this fish dying.
6) I raised the temp up to about 84 from 80 over about 4 hours and have added about 6 tablespoons of salt after dissolving in some tank water first. After I realized it was bloat and not ich from reading up some more I went out and bought the med that is spelled weird and starts with an "M" and added the appropiate amount with my filter turned off.
7)The fish was being reclusive all of yesterday so I thought it might have been holding eggs. Today when i saw it he was in the front of the tank with a bunch of white stuff around his mouth and a few spots on his body, he didn't move from the bottom of the tank except to swim around like a cripple for a bit... a few hours later he couldnt really control his direction and i noticed the red spot around his anus which led me to believe it was bloat and not ich, also he was breathing heavily. about 45 minutes ago i declared him dead and gave him the dreaded "flush".
One of my other fish a zebra has been very reclusive since i got him, he eats with everyone else but is very reclusive... today I saw his white stringy poo and decided he is showing symptoms of bloat, his color is pretty pale as well.
I'm not sure what the cause was and I'm in the process of setting up a 10 gal hospital tank for future problems.
Anyone who has bothered to read all of this and make an effort to help me specifically Gervahlt, I thank you.


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## JennyXoXo (Sep 9, 2009)

Gervahlt said:


> Well, from what I know of bloat, definitely try to set up some kind of hospital tank for the fish. You don't want him in with the other fish so they can possibly get it from him or pester him to death. Prognosis for bloat isn't good to the best of my knowledge. My one experience with this led lights to the fish dying, but I'm obviously not an expert.
> 
> I'm sure that whoever does try to help you more than I can, they'll want to know a few things:
> 
> ...


I had a similar problem and I solved it by changing the salt levels in the water. At first I tried changing the temperature and that is definitely a bad idea.

If not, try the steps listed above.


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