# Ich medications not making a difference



## Timothy12 (Feb 1, 2017)

Hi I am confused because all the ich medications I have used (I used a powdered medicine, a liquid medicine and also salt) didn't seem to make the slightest difference to the epidemic. I think it all started when I bought a new fish for my tank, a Chewere cichlid.(I didn't quarantine it before adding it in with the rest because I don't have an extra tank setup large enough to house cichlids) However I don't know this for sure because it was not the first fish to show visible ich symptoms, the first one being my yellow blaze. As soon as I realised it had ich I bought some medicine and treated the water. It had no effect: the Yellow Blaze and Chewere both died the very next day, and the following day I found my poor BN pleco dead under his piece of driftwood. I treated the water again with the powdered medicine. The next day I went and got some liquid medicine and have been using it, and alternating with salt every 24 hours after a 30 percent water change. since I started this three days ago my Kingsizei and my Yellow Lab both died. I just did a salt treatment and right now my Maingano is showing symptoms. I feel like all my fish are going to die.

My tank info:
my tank is 75 gallons and I have had cichlids in it for almost 5 years with no signs of diseases or any deaths before these.
Fish I had before the epidemic: Auratus, bumblebee, Yellow Lab, Maingano, Kingsizei, Yellow Blaze, Red Zebra, Cobalt Blue and BN Pleco. I was advised to inrease this stock to 12 fish, so I bought a Chewere, A Red top Hongi and an Exasperatus.

Thanks in advance for any advice given!


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## Royalroacho (Mar 12, 2018)

Timothy12 said:


> Hi I am confused because all the ich medications I have used (I used a powdered medicine, a liquid medicine and also salt) didn't seem to make the slightest difference to the epidemic. I think it all started when I bought a new fish for my tank, a Chewere cichlid.(I didn't quarantine it before adding it in with the rest because I don't have an extra tank setup large enough to house cichlids) However I don't know this for sure because it was not the first fish to show visible ich symptoms, the first one being my yellow blaze. As soon as I realised it had ich I bought some medicine and treated the water. It had no effect: the Yellow Blaze and Chewere both died the very next day, and the following day I found my poor BN pleco dead under his piece of driftwood. I treated the water again with the powdered medicine. The next day I went and got some liquid medicine and have been using it, and alternating with salt every 24 hours after a 30 percent water change. since I started this three days ago my Kingsizei and my Yellow Lab both died. I just did a salt treatment and right now my Maingano is showing symptoms. I feel like all my fish are going to die.
> 
> My tank info:
> my tank is 75 gallons and I have had cichlids in it for almost 5 years with no signs of diseases or any deaths before these.
> ...


What were the names of the meds? Metronidazole will knock ich out fast.


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## Royalroacho (Mar 12, 2018)

Also, since you're probably gonna be buying more fish to replace the ones that have died, you should really just spend 20 bucks and get a used tank off Craig's or something. Or a new one if u don't mind spending money. I've not learned this lesson many many times. Eh...it wont happen again...UH OH! IT HAPPENED AGAIN! It's a pain , but much less of a pain than dealing with disease, and having a hospital tank to set up so you don't have to buy meds for a 75 gal.i can't tell you how many times I've bought fish with dormant ich/hex that presents during the stress of acclimating to my tank...it's gonna happen again at some point if you plan on continuing to buy fish


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## Timothy12 (Feb 1, 2017)

Ok thanks.
The meds I used were called quick ick X and some other brand i've never heard of.
Being only 13 I'm not exactly able to buy another unless it's a really good second hand deal. Also I would have nowhere to put it.


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## Timothy12 (Feb 1, 2017)

20 bucks?
If it's that cheap I'm assuming you're talking about some kind of 20 gallon tank.
How big exactly does a cichlid quarantine tank need to be?


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## NicKarla (Dec 5, 2016)

I'm finding that ich is outpacing drugs companies. Where I didn't even worry about ich 10 years ago, I'm now finding it resisting most meds I throw at it. I now consider quarantine as essential.


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

Forget the meds. Crank the temp (I don't remember the exact temp, but believe it is around 85F) and it will wipe out the ich. you can add uniodized salt as well.


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## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

In many decades in the hobby I have never lost a fish to ich. I don't regard it as very serious, at all.
A 3 day treatment of malachite green and it is completely gone. I have read through many threads where people put there fish through high temperatures and salt treatment. Slow and stressful and not always that successful. 
Ich generally comes from the pet shop. Yes, I know it is possible for fish to get ich with out introducing new fish, but for myself and I think the majority of aquarists, you'll never see it unless you buy new fish.
I have a 1 gallon jug of .75 % malachite green. One drop per gallon for 3 days treatment. It was purchased in 1981 and is still about 3/4's full. I really don't know what the shelf life of it is, but I purchased some fish less then 2 years ago that came with ich, and the treatment worked just as it always does. It's the only med I keep on hand.....and about the only illness I generally ever have to deal with.
Looking at this product Ich X, the main ingredient is formaldahyde. It is a common treatment for ich but I really don't know how effective that is against ich. It also has some "less toxic form" of malachite green. Less then 0.1% at a teaspoon per 10 gal. vs. 10 drops of .75% for 10 gal. I'm not exactly sure on the math but I think that is a much lower dosage. I would also suspect the "less toxic form" to be less effective, because it is less toxic! :lol: 
Maybe I just haven't encountered these new,tougher and more resilient strains of ich......or the new and improved "less toxic form" of malchite green is just less effective!


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

I used to use Malachite Green, which is basically a dye. It will kill scaleless fish and tetras. If I am not mistaken it has been deemed a carcinogen. As well, there were many reports of fish becoming sterile after its use. I can't speak to the veracity of that, but I no longer use it, although I have lots. I did find it very effective when I used it, but I have not had a case of ich in 25 years. Maybe that is why I haven't used it.


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## Timothy12 (Feb 1, 2017)

Well there's a lot of conflicting advice seemingly.
The ich in my tank went away now but it's still not very likely that I'm going to be able to buy another 75g any time soon, seeing as last time I bought one it made me broke for a while (being 13 I don't exactly have a steady job). Would it be OK to quarantine one cichlid in a 15g tank for a week or so?


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## Old Newbie (Feb 18, 2017)

Timothy12 said:


> Well there's a lot of conflicting advice seemingly.
> The ich in my tank went away now but it's still not very likely that I'm going to be able to buy another 75g any time soon, seeing as last time I bought one it made me broke for a while (being 13 I don't exactly have a steady job). Would it be OK to quarantine one cichlid in a 15g tank for a week or so?


You absolutely could quarantine in a 15 gallon tank. I have a 10 and a 20 I use for quarantine. For Ich quarantine does not really work as the parasitic cysts (white spots) drop off of the fish and mature in the substrate, then burst open releasing free swimming parasites into the water which then latch on to the fish. Then the cyst forms around the parasite and the cycle repeats. You really need to treat the whole tank.


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## NicKarla (Dec 5, 2016)

We cant get fish antibiotics and seem to have a limited access to treatment that is any good. For example, Metronidazole is just unobtainable. I could do with it myself at the moment but my fish are just slowly dying instead.


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