Loaches Online Forum

Hello,

I'm very sorry to say that I think 2 of my 4 Weather Loaches may have a slight case of ich. At first I thought they picked up some debris from burrowing in the substrate, but when they went through my bubble disks, nothing of the sort flew off their bodies.

How would I treat a Weather Loach in a tank with 3 other goldfish, and 2 other Loaches?

Thanks,
Shane

Hi again Shane,

Is the fish 'flashing' or flicking itself against objects, and are the spots on your fish white and the roughly the size of a sugar grain? If yes, then I think you can safely assume its Ich. Unfortunately, there isn't really such thing as a 'slight case', as unless the parasites are effectively treated it will get only get worse.

If you are sure its Ich you are dealing with, then use a propriatory remady such as Waterlife's Protozin. Make sure you only use a half dose though, as loaches are particularly sensitive to meds such as this. Ensure you complete the full course of treatment (14 days I think)

If it is ich though, its probably a good idea to check your water parameters before you treat. Poor water quality, in particular the presence of ammonia and nitrite, are often a precursor to an ich outbreak. If your water is ok, one of your new loaches were most probably infected before you introduced it into your tank. In future if you can, quarantining is always advisable.

Good luck!

This might be a hair off topic, but does anyone know where to get Waterlife's Protozin in the US?

mellofone wrote:This might be a hair off topic, but does anyone know where to get Waterlife's Protozin in the US?

I'm sure it is availible. If not, mail order perhaps? Try googleing it.

Unfortunately, I don't think Waterlife treatments are available in the US or Canada. I'm sure someone else may be able to chip in on this thread with a recommended whitespot treatment that is available to you.

Emma

Emma Turner wrote: I'm sure someone else may be able to chip in on this thread with a recommended whitespot treatment

Everyone has different favorites...but in essense almost all anti-ich meds are just mixes of the same few components.

OK, here is mine: Ich Guard at half-dose (not Ich Guard II).
I'd usually up the temp to 86F to make sure it works faster (the same applies to any other med, btw, temp speeds up the parasite cycle and makes it more vulnerable). I think both GF and Dojo's will tolerate 86F for a few days, but you may want to go a bit lower for safety (82F-83F).

at 86F ich is usually gone within 3 days, at about 80-82f it would take up to a week; you treat for a few days after there are no symptomes.

hth

I just wanna say be careful with playing with the temp and medication. I wish they would put a recommended temp on the medications. Here is my reason why, btw I'm working on becoming a pharmacist so I find medicine interesting (almost in pharm school not quite tho). Ok to the reason, chemicals usually do one of two things when the temperature is raised. 1. It becomes more toxic/reactive or 2. It decompses. Now I'm not sure what chemicals are in this medication or I'd look up the MSDS sheets for em and see what they recommend for storage temps (or follow ones on the bottle if listed). I wouldn't go higher or lower than the range as it probably causes some sort of chemical reaction that could be bad.

Desi wrote:I just wanna say be careful with playing with the temp and medication. I wish they would put a recommended temp on the medications. Here is my reason why, btw I'm working on becoming a pharmacist so I find medicine interesting (almost in pharm school not quite tho). Ok to the reason, chemicals usually do one of two things when the temperature is raised. 1. It becomes more toxic/reactive or 2. It decompses. Now I'm not sure what chemicals are in this medication or I'd look up the MSDS sheets for em and see what they recommend for storage temps (or follow ones on the bottle if listed). I wouldn't go higher or lower than the range as it probably causes some sort of chemical reaction that could be bad.

Thats true but the Ich parasite actually has a lifecycle which is completely variable from only a day or so to several months depending on the temperature. Ich is only vulnerable in its free swimming stage, and if you speed up the life cycle of the ich, by raising the temperature, you are able to get it into its vulnerable stage more quickly and more frequently and it is erradicated more quickly. Also, most strains of ich can't tolerate anything over about 85 or 86F. Some strains have reportedly tolerated up to 90 or more.

With fish that can tolerate 88-89F, there's no need to use medication at all (ie Angelfish). And you're actually better off that way IMO... But weather loaches don't like warm water at all so I don't know how it would affect them.

Someone mentioned they can take 86 for awhile that's probably true.
A lot of medications break down under light as well- malachite green for example.

Yea I agree with raising the temp to speed the lifecycle as it helps get rid of it faster. I was just stating be careful. Lets say the safe storage temp is 40f-87F (made up numbers) I'd raise my temp to 86 maybe 87 but I wouldn't push higher than that as it may just make that medication a waste of money (decomposition) and the ich is getting killed by the heat anyway. Or it could make the medication become toxic and then I could be putting myself in danger let alone my fish. This is the main reason I try to treat with no medication if possible. With ich I usually warm the tank to 86 and then add a some aquarium salt which I know is controversial whether it helps or not but at least I know that the temp doesn't alter the salt only helps the salt dissolve. Luckily 'Knock on all Wood' I've only had to deal with ich once and it was a minor case.

It's also good to increase aeration no matter which treatment(s) you go with. Just drop the water level so the filter return moves the surface more.

Well,
I can happily say that I've completely rid my tank and fish of Ich. Just took time, and single half dose of "Ick Clear" by Jungle.

Thank you everybody,
Shane

Congratulations

Make sure you complete the full course of treatment - even though it may appear to have gone, the chances are that the parasite is still lurking. The ich parasite is only affected by treatment in the water-bourne stage of its life cycle (hence the reason heating the water a bit can help during treatment).