Tonight I just found one white dot on my loach's left front fin and no where else and I am expecting it to be Ich. But not sure if it is or not. So should i go into Ich panic????
Right now my other two fishes (Giant Danio and Clown Pleco (very small))
are not showing any dots.
So what should I do at this point as like I said it's only one speck and I don't want to lose her or anyone else.
Also if it is Ich I am confuse as in I have read not to use salt and does that mean table salt or Aquarium salt and than I read Plecos and loaches can have Aquarium salt and how much of it????
Right now my hospital tank is not up and ready to go as it hasn't been started up yet as it's BRAND new!!!!
I found one white dot on my clown loach
Moderator: LoachForumModerators
yikes.....but just ONE dot?
does it LOOK like ich? if you have seen ich before, you will probably know.
If not, I would watch for at least a couple of spots, unless you added a new fish or plant recently, in which case I might go ahead and start to treat at the second spot.
Let's face it, if this is ich, you won't be seeing just one spot for long!!!
does it LOOK like ich? if you have seen ich before, you will probably know.
If not, I would watch for at least a couple of spots, unless you added a new fish or plant recently, in which case I might go ahead and start to treat at the second spot.
Let's face it, if this is ich, you won't be seeing just one spot for long!!!
glenna
Table Salt ad Aquarium Salt are essentially the same thing: Sodium Chloride. One simply costs more.
There are several posts here showing that Loaches can handle a pretty high level of salt over a short term (several weeks to a month) for treatment.
Part of the secret is to raise the level slowly, then taper it off even more slowly when the treatment is complete:
Example:
Day 1: Water change with thorough gravel vac. Add 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons slowly. Dissolve the salt in some water and pour it into the tank over several hours.
Day 2: Add 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons slowly. Dissolve the salt in some water and pour it into the tank over several hours.
Day 3: Water change with thorough gravel vac. Add 2 teaspoons per 10 gallons of replacement water (this equals the level in the tank). Then add 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons slowly. Dissolve the salt in some water and pour it into the tank over several hours.
Day 4: If the fish are handling that level of salt OK, you can try adding more.
Day 5: Water change... always match the level of salt in the replacement water with the salt level in the tank. Always emphasize gravel vacuuming. This is removing some of the Ich that may have fallen to the floor to breed. While it may not be removing them all, I have heard of a cure that used ONLY daily vacuuming of a bare bottom tank. The Ich never had a chance to breed.
At the end of treatment you are not likely to be continuing daily or every other day water changes. Go back to a weekly schedule. Do a few water changes with about 3/4 the level of salt, then a few with half as much, then a few with 1/4 as much salt, then go on with regular water changes with no salt added. This will lower the level of salt slowly and safely.
There are several posts here showing that Loaches can handle a pretty high level of salt over a short term (several weeks to a month) for treatment.
Part of the secret is to raise the level slowly, then taper it off even more slowly when the treatment is complete:
Example:
Day 1: Water change with thorough gravel vac. Add 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons slowly. Dissolve the salt in some water and pour it into the tank over several hours.
Day 2: Add 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons slowly. Dissolve the salt in some water and pour it into the tank over several hours.
Day 3: Water change with thorough gravel vac. Add 2 teaspoons per 10 gallons of replacement water (this equals the level in the tank). Then add 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons slowly. Dissolve the salt in some water and pour it into the tank over several hours.
Day 4: If the fish are handling that level of salt OK, you can try adding more.
Day 5: Water change... always match the level of salt in the replacement water with the salt level in the tank. Always emphasize gravel vacuuming. This is removing some of the Ich that may have fallen to the floor to breed. While it may not be removing them all, I have heard of a cure that used ONLY daily vacuuming of a bare bottom tank. The Ich never had a chance to breed.
At the end of treatment you are not likely to be continuing daily or every other day water changes. Go back to a weekly schedule. Do a few water changes with about 3/4 the level of salt, then a few with half as much, then a few with 1/4 as much salt, then go on with regular water changes with no salt added. This will lower the level of salt slowly and safely.
38 tanks, 2 ponds over 4000 liters of water to keep clean and fresh.
Happy fish keeping!
Happy fish keeping!
weird thing is that the one dot seem to disappeared so I thought maybe Inky got it from the white rock. But today I saw about 5 to 6 dots on Inky.
and they are all towards the back end of her like tail and such. and they are not close together. None by the face.
My other fishes are a Giant Danio and a very small Clown Pleco.
Within the past couple of days I started to gradually raise the temps and so far everyone is doing good and it's at about 84.
So now to start the treatment. Also none of the other two have Ich.
Let's hope I don't lose anyone.
Inky pic in my avatar.
and they are all towards the back end of her like tail and such. and they are not close together. None by the face.
My other fishes are a Giant Danio and a very small Clown Pleco.
Within the past couple of days I started to gradually raise the temps and so far everyone is doing good and it's at about 84.
So now to start the treatment. Also none of the other two have Ich.
Let's hope I don't lose anyone.
Inky pic in my avatar.
Diana with the salt treatment is that with or without the carbon filter in place?
Also can you help me on the last paragraph? As in 3/4 and 1/2 of teaspoon and when do I add these to start the taperoff and with the weekly water changes or ??????
Also is it best to do the salt treatment or use maybe 1/2 Ich medicine since loaches and plecos are scaleless?
Also can you help me on the last paragraph? As in 3/4 and 1/2 of teaspoon and when do I add these to start the taperoff and with the weekly water changes or ??????
Also is it best to do the salt treatment or use maybe 1/2 Ich medicine since loaches and plecos are scaleless?
If you are using salt, it does not matter if the carbon is in the filter.
Most fish medicines will get removed by activated carbon, though, so remove it if you are using anything else.
Rid Ich seems to be the Ich medicine that is best tolerated by Loaches and other sensitive fish. Here is one way to dose it that keeps a theraputic level in the water without going so high that the fish might be bothered.
Dose at half the rate in the AM.
Dose at half the rate in the PM.
Over the course of the day some of the medicine breaks down, so by the end of the day when you add the other half the morning dose is partially broken down.
I would keep the light off when using a Malachite Green product, I read somewhere that it is light sensative. I do not know if the formulation in Rid Ich is or not.
Do not use Amquel or Amquel Plus if you are using any dye based medicine. (read the label on the Amquel)
You can combine UV and salt, but do not combine Rid Ich with either salt or UV, or any other medicine.
Keep up the water changes, emphasizing gravel vacuuming.
At the end of the salt treatment you will not remove all the salt from the water in one large water change. Do smaller, weekly or twice weekly water changes with lesser amounts of salt each time so that over the course of perhaps a month the salt level will come down.
An example of one way to do this is to do one or two water changes with 3/4 of whatever dose of salt you were using, then a few more with about 1/2 the dose, then a few more with 1/4 the dose.
You do not need to do this with other medicines. One or two big water changes and add fresh carbon to the filter and the medicine is gone within a few days.
Read Clint's post about Ich. I added a long item in there with a lot more info about Ich.
Most fish medicines will get removed by activated carbon, though, so remove it if you are using anything else.
Rid Ich seems to be the Ich medicine that is best tolerated by Loaches and other sensitive fish. Here is one way to dose it that keeps a theraputic level in the water without going so high that the fish might be bothered.
Dose at half the rate in the AM.
Dose at half the rate in the PM.
Over the course of the day some of the medicine breaks down, so by the end of the day when you add the other half the morning dose is partially broken down.
I would keep the light off when using a Malachite Green product, I read somewhere that it is light sensative. I do not know if the formulation in Rid Ich is or not.
Do not use Amquel or Amquel Plus if you are using any dye based medicine. (read the label on the Amquel)
You can combine UV and salt, but do not combine Rid Ich with either salt or UV, or any other medicine.
Keep up the water changes, emphasizing gravel vacuuming.
At the end of the salt treatment you will not remove all the salt from the water in one large water change. Do smaller, weekly or twice weekly water changes with lesser amounts of salt each time so that over the course of perhaps a month the salt level will come down.
An example of one way to do this is to do one or two water changes with 3/4 of whatever dose of salt you were using, then a few more with about 1/2 the dose, then a few more with 1/4 the dose.
You do not need to do this with other medicines. One or two big water changes and add fresh carbon to the filter and the medicine is gone within a few days.
Read Clint's post about Ich. I added a long item in there with a lot more info about Ich.
38 tanks, 2 ponds over 4000 liters of water to keep clean and fresh.
Happy fish keeping!
Happy fish keeping!
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