HELP! Ick

[mustang3115]

Hey guys just needed some help. I am having a problem with Ich. I recently just bought a new 20 gallon tank, it currently has two clown loaches and four gold x-ray tetras. Being the noob that i am to the hobby i elected not to cycle before adding any fish. Well heres my problem, the tank has passed the ammonia stage and now in the nitrite stage, i am currently doing 20% water changes daily and the nitrite levels have hovered around 2.0 ppm. But i have noticed one of the clown loaches have developed Ich, but its recommended to remove all the carbon from filters. Should i wait to treat the Ich AFTER my tank has cycled or remove the carbon from the sponge filter and then treat? and if i do remove the carbon isnt that what holds all the beneficial bacteria? Any help is greatly appreciated

[plaalye]

I'm relatively new at this but since nobody else is offering I'll give you my opinion. I don't have clowns as I don't have room for a big enough tank. Your 20 is not nearly big enough and 2 is not enough so you might consider this for the future.
I do have other botid loaches and have successfully used Kordon Rid-ich with no apparent damage to my biofilter. My tank was fully established and yours is in a fragile state so it may effect your situation differently. I wouldn't wait to treat them. The earlier you catch it the easier it is to kill. I'd treat the tank and all fish and follow the directions for the full term of treatment. Do remove the carbon before you treat as this will remove the meds. Most of your bacteria should be living on the other media in your filter. You may raise the temp a bit to speed the life cycle of the ich and oxygenate the water as much as possible. Drop the water level so the outflow of the filter causes more turbulence and maybe add an airstone.
Hopefully one of the more experienced folks will be along to add comments. Good luck!

[megadeath]

Hi, mustang3115 this is what I would do.

1.I would raise the tank temp to 29-30°C (84-86°F) (as plaalye mentioned) as this speeds up the life cycle of the parasite and makes it easier to treat.

2.Remove the carbon form the filter as this will remove any chemicals added to the water (this shouldn't effect the bio-filter to much) and begin treatment with a non-invasive medication I'm not sure of others experience with it but I've always found melafix very effective in treating Ich (remember to use a half dose of any medication when treating loaches).

3.If you know any one with an established filter that you can get some used filter media from do this and add it to your filter (this will speed up the cycle)
if this is not possible try your LFS as they might be able to help you, failing that purchase a few bunches of some sort of stem plant as these will have some beneficial bacteria on them as well as being ammonia sponges.

Hope I was of some help.

[plaalye]

Many advise to use meds half strength as MD said but I've used Rid-ich full strength with Kubotai, straita, khulis, and hillstreams with no problem. There are many different opinions on stuff like this. Whatever you use keep an eye on them while treating so if they don't take well to the meds you can do a quick water change.

[mustang3115]

Thanks for the help everybody, I have already raised the temp of the tank to around 85 degrees. I have bought and ick guard that is specially formulated for loaches, now should still add half the recommended amount or follow the directions? and another thing, once after i have treated for 14 days should i replace all of my filter sponges and other media since the parisite could still be in those or should the med's take care of that?

[plaalye]

I haven't used ich-guard, is that the natural remedy made by Kordon? I'd follow the directions. If it works at all it should take care of any parasites in your filter. Be careful replacing sponges as they contain your good bacteria.

[Diana]

Continue water changes, especially gravel vacs. The Ich spends a little time on the bottom, reproducing. The more you can remove before they reproduce, the better.
Re-dose the meds with every water change so you keep the therapeutic level in the water.

While the tests show nitrite add 1 teaspoon of salt (sodium chloride) per 20 gallons of water. This reduces the amount of nitrite that crosses the gills and enters the fish's blood. Nitrite causes brown blood disease. Better if you can get the nitrites below 1 ppm. 1 teaspoon of salt is a very low level, easily tolerated by fish and plants. It is not enough to kill Ich, however.

Nitrifying bacteria grow on all the surface in the filter and tank. When it is time to clean the filter media rinse it in water removed for a water change and reuse it.
The medicine may slow or even stop the cycle until the medicine is cleared from the tank. Depend on water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrite low. At the end of treatment it is up to you if you want to replace the filter media.

Here is something else you can do to keep the cycle going, and going strong, while the tank is undergoing Ich treatment: Do a fishless cycle in a bucket. Put the old* filter media in a bucket, any sort of pump (keeps the water moving- even an air pump will do), and add cleaning ammonia (non-sudsing, no perfumes or dyes) until a test reads 5 ppm. Keep adding ammonia to keep the test reading 5 ppm until a nitrite test reads positive (this will take about a week if you start with no bacteria- if you use the old media this may happen right away), then allow the ammonia to drop to 3 ppm. Keep the ammonia at 3 ppm for the rest of the fishless cycle. This generally takes about 3 weeks total (if you start with no bacteria). At the end of this time the new filter media will be ready to put into the tank, and the tank will have had a 2 week Ich treatment, and had a week of water changes to remove medicines.
*Ich will not live for 3 weeks with no host. Any Ich in the old filter media will die in the bucket. You could start with a new filter media, if you want.