Loaches Online Forum

or the Hillstream Gods hate me...or something.

There is ick in my hillstream tank. I'm sure that's what it is. I first discovered it on the new little bristlenose. EEEK! Naturally, I start checking out all the other fish. Nothing to be seen, but nevertheless, tank has to be treated.

So, the one account I remember about ick in a hillstream tank said that they used a normal 1/2 dose treatment and all recovered. Here we go. Tank is already very well oxygenated, but it's really hard to vac the substrate due to rocks, etc. Did the best I could with a little hard tube on the end of an airline and got what open areas were accessible. Moved a few rocks, rinsed out some plants. Then it's quick cure at half dose. the tank is at 68F so at this rate it could take forever. It's been a week already.

Is it advisable to up the temp? I have a little heater I could put in there, but I'm afraid it will make things worse. 3 of the six hillies now have a few spots. They are spending their time facing into the bubbles, letting them blast the ich.

The larger bristle and the whiteclouds, as well as the other 3 hillies seem immune (or just don't have spots). Everyone seems to be tolerating the treatment so far. Did another waterchange today and they were all very happy with that. I added in the med back up to level in the return water. The hilly with the most spots (about 5) flew over to where the water was going in and sat there, right at the surface where it hit the water, soaking up the new water. If he could have climbed up the flow he likely would have swam right up into the bucket...

~sigh~ must have come in on the bristlenose, I guess. Didn't qtank cause I'd just broken it down and didn't want to take the time to set it all back up again. Sometimes I can be sooo stoopid.

sick occellatus in the bubbles:

Hang in there, shari!!
I bought some homaloptera yunanensis that ended up bringing ich into the Qtank. I treated with NOXich at half strength and they pulled through fine. In fact, that was about 4 years ago, and they are still with me.
I would just continue the treatment and water change regime and, just to be safe, increase the aeration a bit if you can. You probably have an extra air pump laying around somewhere.
Good luck and keep us posted!!

Possibly of use, my notes on hillstream ich in the 1st thread post.

Given that Ich is supplied with almost every fish in the store where *I used to* get the hillstreams, I've been through this entertainment several times; my crossostoma managed to get it twice.

Note that NOX or Ich Guard are safer than QuickCure. 5 dots on a loach virtually guarantees that some ich is present in the gills too, this is pretty dangerous and pretty bad if continues for long. Where are the dots, incidentally?

What puzzles me a little is that BN's tend to be ich-resistant, and I was under the impression that sucker-type hillstreams are too (near certain about the Beaufortia's, and fairly sure that at least some Gastros are resistant as well). Hopefully, it is simply ich, not a secondary to something else.

Good luck.

There is a huge difference between being "resistant" and being "immune".
Hillstreams don't seem to get ich much, but they can.

This might sound kind of stupid, but noticing the buubbles in the pic, i suggest looking closely. When I went to move my pleco to the 55, I freaked out that he had "ich"...upon closer inspection, I realized they were simply tiny air bubbles from the air stone