Loaches Online Forum

hey all, i recently found some ick spots on the tail of one pearl gourami...only on its tail...maybe 8 spots..haha

anywho, i went to go get some coppersafe (by popular order on here and AH) but the owners 'forced' me into getting super ick cure capsules...

they are just pre-measured amounts of powder in a capsule, one per 5g, then you open it and pour the powder into the water...

it a green powder, the package says it has Malachite Green in it, not so good for loaches..but the two owners had great sucess with it over coppersafe, even with loaches!!

i was told directly not to get anything with malachite green in it...oh well, i did...the owners seemed to know what they were talking about..

whenever they get ick in the shop, even with clowns and kullis, they use it...so i guess it works, nothing has ick!!

~~~~~~~~~~

so yea, i got it, i just put in two capsules of powder...the yoyo seems fine, hes active, breathing normally..same with the rest of the fish..

i will keep you posted,
brett.

20 hrs into the treatment:

loach is doing great, breathing and acting fine..
the three other fish are doing great as well..

everyone is active and eating alot..

-brett.

50 hrs into treatment, second dose started 2 hrs ago..

no major signs it it working yet...but the fish are fine, the yoyo is doing great

-brett.

Glad to hear that stuff is working. I wrote off Coppersafe a few years ago. It kills invertibrates, it's difficult to remove from the water column, and it's supposedly capable of breaking it's chealated bond if you use a UV sterilizer.

well i dont have any live plants, inverts or UV unit, so coppersafe would have been ok...but apparently the super ick cure works way better...

its been 68 (?) hours...no sign of the ick going away yet...hmm

anywho, the fish are good, i just made a little cave out of 2 smooth river rocks..the yoyo already ventured through..haha

-brett.

I've used this med before with a golden zebra loach in the tank. He/she didn't appear to experience any ill effects. There is a caution though to use it at half the dose for scaleless fish.

yep, i know about the half dose thing, but the lfs owners told me to use the full dose...

its been fine so far, just no major breakthroughs on the ick spots!!

-brett.

When I used it, I didn't notice any reduction in the dots until probably a day after the second dose. However, I don't know if that had to do with the med or the life cycle of the parasite.

What temperature is your tank? The life cycle of ick will speed up at warmer temps. The ick is only eliminated during one phase of it's life. If your water is cool, it can take a week or more to cycle through to the theront (free swimming) stage where the parasite is affected by the meds.

Just remember if you raise the temp to increase aeration, since warmer water holds less oxygen.

RiverStone wrote:When I used it, I didn't notice any reduction in the dots until probably a day after the second dose. However, I don't know if that had to do with the med or the life cycle of the parasite.

Primarily with the life cycle.

The dots -- which is the parasite on the fish -- is not affected by most meds. You have to wait till it moves into the free-swimming state, only then will the med kill it.

So if you are watching the dots, staying dots are not a concern and neither are the growing dots. But new dots are a sign of real danger.

hth

thanks for the info, its been 73 hours...

the tank temp is 79º on the dot, i cant seem to make it stay higher...

no new dots, still just the same 8-9 on the gouramis tail...

i know about the life-cycle, but how long will it take at these temperatures?
i still have 2 doses left (already did 2) so one more tomorrow night, then another, 48 hours later...

-brett.

Well, officially

At warm temperatures (75-79°F), the life cycle is completed in about 48 hours, which means that chemical treatments should be applied every other day

Source

Unofficially, I don't think that Ich clears in 48 hours at 79F .... at 84F-86F, yes, possible. So I'd certainly try to go a bit higher than 79F ... at least 84F is the fish you have can stand it. Maybe you can borrow a second heater.

good luck

PS. And remember to continue treatment for at least three days after ALL dots are gone. You don't want a recurrence with possibly a stronger strain.

should i go and get another pack then?

this 8-pack is enough for 4 doses, i already did 2...

the heater is only a 50w, i should have gotten a 75 or 100...but i will try to get it higher..

-brett.

as far as i can tell, there are only 2 or 3 spots on the gouramis tail...there were defietely more last night...

its been 110 hours, i started treatment at 8pm on the 16th...so i will dose again at 8pm tonight (its 10:18 am)

all the fish are fine, like usual...haha

-brett.

brett_fishman wrote:as far as i can tell, there are only 2 or 3 spots on the gouramis tail...there were defietely more last night...

All right, seems like it is going in the right direction. However, you still must treat for 3 days AT LEAST after you see no spots; myself, I would go for 5 days to really make sure.

So it seems like you will need to get more meds.