ich white spots

[nir_tza]

does domeone know of a way to treat white spots ich on wild blue rams?

 

[ed seeley]

I'm currently battling with what seems to be a resistant strain in my 40g tank. One of my male nanochromis is covered, while the other male and female are totally clear. It is effecting my cardinal tetras too, but not any of the other fish in the tank!
Esha failed to have any effect, despite me using it successfully in the past. I was recomended to use Cuprazin (even though this is primarily a marine treatment) but it doesn't seem to have had an effect until I upped the temperature to 28.5oC. Now the spots have almost gone on the cardinals and the Nanochromis seems much better (he is displaying with the female again).

 

[Cathy G]

I have advised others to get rid of ich on their rams - but their rams were not wild caught...some were fish/farm from Asia (these would be weaker than wild caughts), and some were hobbiest raised.

Add an extra airstone/bubble wand. You want lots of water movement at the top of the tank. Then slowly bump up the temps to 89-90. Bump up a degree an hour to get there. Do a 50% water change making sure that you do a thorough gravel vac, and add back in water which is the same high temperature. (Measure nitrates, keep them under 10, 5 is better, for the whole treatment time.)

Now for the salt...You'll have to watch your fish very very carefully. I advised others to add enough salt to get to 1 Tablespoon per 10g's water. However, I don't know about this at all with wildcaughts... so start very slow. Maybe with 1 teaspoon salt per 10g's. Don't add the salt directly to the tank, dissolve it in warm dechlorinated water and pour it in slowly. (You might just add it to your change water when you do your big water change...)

Watch the fish. If there is any gasping, rolling at the top, if they get very dark do another water change to reduce the salt content.

If they seem totally fine, add another teaspoon per 10 gallons in 24 hours. Watch carefully. If they seem fine, add the last teaspoon per 10g's.

Maintain the temp and the treatment for a week after the last spot has disappeared. To ease stress leave tank lights off if possible. You should also plan on doing water changes - 30-50% every couple of days. This makes a big difference in preventing secondary infections. Always remember though to add back the correct amount of salt with your clean water.

Hope this helps,
Cathy

 

[Cathy G]

One other thing - use freshwater aquarium salt - don't use marine salt...
Cath

 

[nir_tza]

is a kitchen salt is fine?

 

[Cathy G]

Well - it depends on who you ask. If you have non-iodized kitchen salt that is fine. (You can get it at the grocery store for cheap). The controversy is over the iodine they add to the salt. Some say it is small amount and makes no difference, others say to only use non-iodized salt. Because it is cheap and at the grocery store I just use non-iodized stuff.

Cathy

 

[STOKER]

Use SEA SALT no iodine in it

Mike

 

[lab]

This may not be relevant, but sometimes wild rams get a bacterial disease that looks a lot like ich. You can tell the difference if spots keep sitting in the same places after a few days. Then it is not ich. A possible treatment for the bacterial spots should simply be to keep your rams in very soft water.

BTW I always found faunamor a reliable cure for ich.

Good luck,
Lars

 

[beleg]

Ich is a very common disease seen here in Turkey. Ich cannot be treated while the parasite is buried within the skin . So the best thing you can do is to increase the temperature to 29-30C which will hasten the life cycle of the parasite which will cause them to leave their hosts in order to multiply. During their this fragile period you can use traditional medicines form respected companies since rams like most cichlid are sensitive to medicines.

Salt does help but it is bad for plants and for the fish too in the long run.

The best and most convenient way to treat ich is to do it in a bare bottom tank and siphon of %10 of tanks water everyday.

 

[Cathy G]

Salt does help but it is bad for plants and for the fish too in the long run.

Not nearly as bad as medicines - especially for blue rams. I've gone up to 2 Tablespoons salt and 89 degree heat for nearly a month - While I wasn't treating a 'planted' tank, we did have java fern and annubias that came through just fine. I'm not suggesting that much salt for rams...

Cathy

 

[beleg]

Indeed.. Medicines containing copper are notorious for Rams. Caution is required when using them.