Loaches Online Forum

well i saw some white spots on my clowns a few days ago.... and then one of the little ones were flashing and its gills were red....i just did a 50% water change took out my carbon....and now how long should i do my treatment..should i do water changes once every other day?

Ps. Im using maracide...it says it does not affect bio filtration and does not need water changes but i think it would be best to...and i must do this treatment for 5 days straight.

Hi Toothpik,

We don't have Maracide over here, so hopefully someone from over the pond will chime in on this. A quick question though - what temperature is the tank water?

Good luck,

Emma

I used Maracide on some hillstreams I rescued last year and it worked well. I used it longer than just the five days and did a water change only after each five day treatment. I stopped treatment after the fish were clear of spots for two weeks.
I would be careful on the initial dosages to make sure the fish are not sensitive to the medication. The hillstreams showed no stress at all at full dosage.
This is a good product, IMHO. The medication supposedly contains biospheres that bond to the fishes slime coating and treats the fish instead of the water.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... catid=4723

Here is a link to Maracide. I do not see that it has Biospheres.
I thought the medicine killed the free swimming phase of Ich, by being in the water.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... catid=4833
Maracyn Plus is the one that I see with Biospheres, and is an antibiotic. I can see how Biospheres would be a benefit with an antibiotic. (This is not an Ich medicine, I am just adding this link in case someone asks what Biospheres are)

well i did a full dosage and my loaches are still active but flashing now and the temp is 80 my heater does not give me the option of raising the temp

For clarification the NEW version of Maracide has biospheres.
I have a bottle sitting right in front of me as I write this.
Check out the packaging or bottle.

I see.

i have an old one and it does not seem to be having any effect i wont be able to make a trip to buy new maracide till wednesday cause of school and denistry shadowing sigh...anything else i should be aware of?

it has been 5 days of treating and though i cannot see any visible specks of ich ...i do see my loaches flashing the sand and im gettin worried..anyhelp?

What are your water readings?

Temp
Ammonia
nitrite
Nitrate

You are treating the whole life cycle of Ich, not spots on the fish.
The spots have fallen off and are reproducing. Keep the medicine in the tank, vacuum the floor of the tank...

It is good that no new spots have shown up. The medicine has apparently killed the baby Ich that would have shown up by now as new spots.

Keep up the treatment!

Keep the water in the best possible shape with water changes:
Lowest nitrate, stable GH, KH, pH....
Check ammonia and nitrite to be sure the nitrifying bacteria are OK with this medicine. Do extra water changes as needed.
If the nitrifying bacteria are not doing so well then you might want to add some as soon as the medicine is cleared from the tank.
Tetra Safe Start or Dr. Tim's One and Only are the products you want to use. Other 'bacteria in a bottle' do not have the right bacteria.

well its day 7 now and im going to change the water and use "cycle" for nitrafying bacteria...my fish seem to be doing very well...should i add more medication or should i just stop the medication all together?

I would keep treating untill its been at least two weeks since you have seen the last spot.

"Cycle" does not contain the proper bacteria. Look for a product with Nitrospiros spp.

Keep up the treatment for at least 3 days beyond the day you last saw a spot on a fish.

To remove most medicines a couple of large water changes and activated carbon in the filter is good.

well aint that just dandy...well ill finish off the last bottle of cycle and then buy some new stuff but yeah ill start using the new maracide i got today bio spheres