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Which ick medicine to use?
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archive: Which ick medicine to use?
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Jamie
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Thursday,
August 02, 2001 - 09:49 pm
I have a 2 week old 29 gal. tank with 2 dwarf gouramies,
one betta, and two red tail sharks. One of the gouramies
has one white spot on a fin, and it looks like ick to me.
I have some left over medications (they're not very
old). One is Jungle brand Ick guard II, and the other
is Jungle brand ick guard I. which one do I use, and should
I quarantine the sick-o or leave it and treat it along with
the others who appear to be healthy?
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Kick
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Thursday,
August 02, 2001 - 10:53 pm
Jamie, if you see ick, then the whole tank needs to be treated
as this parasite starts in the substrate as cysts. However,
in your case, the ick may have come from the tank in which
you purchased your fish. It may have already been on the
fish and you couldn't see it yet or from the water that
you might have added along with putting your fish in the
tank. I assume since you have these medications on hand
that you have kept fish before, but I am going to give you
a little bit of advise. This tank has too many fish for
a new start-up. And the stres from your water conditions
could have resulted in the ick.
With a tank this new, you should have only added 2 fish
at first. Do you understand the nitrogen cycle of an aquarium?
It will be to you benefit to read about this so that you
understand what happens in the first several weeks to months
in a tank.
Now to answer your question, the Ick Guard II is what you
want to use. The red tailed sharks are actually catfish
and have no scales. Any scaleless fish or ones sensitive
to Malachite Green cannot withstand this medication. That
is why the Ick Guard II is on the market. If you read your
bottle it will tell you that the regular Ick Guard should
not be used with scaleless fish and some varieties of tetras.
It probably would also be beneficial to you to read some
of the previous posts concerning ick, stocking your tank
and having a betta in with the other two species. This is
really not a good combination for the betta, and there really
should only be one RT shark per tank as when they grow older
they will become aggressive. Hope all this helps. Stick
around. There is a lot of good information on this site.
If you have not done so yet, click at the top of this page
under the advertisement and go to the main site. Lots of
info there. Good Luck!
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Jamie
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Thursday,
August 02, 2001 - 11:07 pm
Thanks Kick! I'll use the Ick II right after I change
the water in the morning. I have had fish once before, but
just when the tank stablized, I left for an extended vacation
and gave the fish away. I have spent a fair amount of time
doing research, and it's amazing how many different
things you read and hear about fish. Several sources (mostly
friends and family) say 1/2 inch of fish per gallon
of water to cycle the tank. I do check the water chemistry
a couple of three times a week, and I will change the water
pretty often (weekly?) until it is stable. There
is a great fish shop in my town - they do fish and scuba
equipment only - they have been great, and this site of
course is a big help.
I figure on adding a couple more fish sometime in september.
wish me luck!
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Jamie
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Friday,
August 03, 2001 - 10:01 am
Allright - I used the ick II. How long am I supposed to
leave the carbon filter out? And, should a second dose be
given tomorrow? I don't want to leave the filter out
for too long, but I want to make sure the ick is taken care
of. At least the gouramie doesn't look any worse today.
The ammonia level hasn't gone up very much at all, but
this time I tested the water after I put in the meds. does
that affect the reading? thanks in advance!!
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joycedonley
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Friday,
August 03, 2001 - 07:55 pm
Jamie I'll let Kick help with the rest, but leave carbon
out until you are done treating. Carbon will suck the meds
right out of the tank!
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joycedonley
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Friday,
August 03, 2001 - 09:06 pm
Jamie if you are the one with the Whisper filter there may
be a problem if the carbon is the only filtering media associated
with it. You can't treat for ich with carbon, but if
there is no media in the filter the tank may recycle. Check
the directions on your meds and as soon as you are done
treatment add the carbon cartridge back. Keep it wet with
TANK water in the meantime in a pail or something and hopefully
it may maintain some bacteria. I don't use ich II so
I am not sure how many days?
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Jamie
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Friday,
August 03, 2001 - 10:07 pm
Joyce - my Whisper has a sponge, and I put the carbon filter
in the bucket with the water I took out before I treatet
for ich. (that was luck - I just haven't bothered
to dump the bucket yet.) The filter is FILTHY! should
I use the same carbon and just rinse the filter bag thing,
or use new carbon? The last time I cycled this tank, I changed
the carbon when it got dirty. I don't know what happened
to those fish after I gave them away. I feel like I've
read so much and asked so many questions already, but still
am lost on so many things!! I wonder how many fish I'll
go through before I get it all straightened out?? What a
horrible thought.
Thanks for all the help - I'm sure I'll need more
soon!!
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joycedonley
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Saturday,
August 04, 2001 - 08:30 am
Jamie my first year I also went through a lot of fish, so
don't get discouraged! As long a you have some filter
media ie. a sponge that you keep in the tank your bacteria
is there. I wan't sure if your whisper had a sponge
still in it or not. It depends on how old the carbon is
to replace it. Usually the directions say monthly, but I
have kept mine a week or so longer.You should rinse it bi-weekly
in some tank water so it doesn't get too dirty.I only
use carbon to pull meds out of the tank. You don't have
to keep carbon running in your tank, it's really a matter
of preference. Always rinse any filter media by the way
in tank water so you don't have to worry about chlorine
and such destroying your good bacteria. I really like my
biowheel and have heard that it is a great method for filtration.
When you decide to add one keep the old filter going for
a month so the biowheel can get enough bacteria on it to
take over.
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joycedonley
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Saturday,
August 04, 2001 - 11:05 am
Last note be sure to never let any filter MEDIA dry out.
If it is not kept wet in the tank water the good bacteria
will die off. By media I mean a sponge, filter wool, carbon
bags, peat bags,biowheel...I am sure there are others.
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Kick
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Sunday,
August 05, 2001 - 12:20 am
Jamie, I don't mean to contradict Joyce, but let me
clarify something for you. The carbon is put into the tank
to help keep the water clear. It does very little concerning
the bacteria. Your sponge is taking care of that for you.
I know lots of folks who never even use carbon and depend
only on a sponge filter for the biological filtration of
the tank. If the carbon is over a month old, it has lost
is capacity to do the job it is supposed to do, and will
not be able to remove the medication. Just throw it away
and after the ick has cleared, put in a new one. The sponge,
however, should not be replaced until it is shot. Once it
is, you should definitely have enough bacteria in the substrate
to be able to replace it. Rinse with the tank water before
inserting into your filter as this will "capture"
some of the bacteria the old one has housed.
I would only treat with the IG II once and wait to see if
you start to see any clearing of the ick. Overdosing is
just as bad as the disease itself and can cause other problems
in the fish. If your case is not too bad, one dose ought
to do it. Once you see no more ick, you will need to clean
your gravel as this is where the ick comes from to begin
with...cysts that dwell in the substrate. Do about a 30
percent water change, clean the gravel good as possible,
return your carbon filter and move on. However, do not purchase
any fish for at least 2 weeks until you make sure that the
ick does not reappear or introduce more ick into the tank
from a new purchase.
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joycedonley
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Sunday,
August 05, 2001 - 09:52 am
Thanks for the clarification Kick..I just meant the carbon
is also filter media.
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Jamie
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Sunday,
August 05, 2001 - 01:43 pm
Oops - i had already used two doses of the Ich II stuff.
Now, however, the fish that had the ich spots is being tormented
by the other gourami and the betta. His dorsal fin and tail
fin both have tears. I don't have another tank to move
anyone to, and I'm not sure if I can really justify
the cost for a $4.00 fish. Maybe some sort of divider? I
checked the only pet store that is open between Sat. and
Tues. and they don't have anything like that in stock.
I guess I'll break down and go to Walmart.
ALSO - one of the rt cats got his poor little head stuck
in the UG pump. He was pretty mangled when I found him (dead
of course). I'm pretty sure there are little bits
of him throughout the tank. I'm paranoid that he may
have been there for quite some time (overnight and until
just now) and now everyone else will get some kind of
awful disease because of it and die sometime today. I just
changed the water 2 days ago (25%), the tank is
new - is it a good or a bad idea to change the water today?
I'm such a bad fish mom!!! HELP!!
thanks in advance!!!!!!!
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joycedonley
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Sunday,
August 05, 2001 - 01:58 pm
Jamie I hope it is a RT shark not RT catfish. The RT catfish
get huge and shouldn't be kept in a 29gallon tank...they
are tankbusters. If small pieces of a dead fish are floating
around chances are the other fish will eat it up, so I wouldn't
panic as long as you removed most of it.If you just changed
25% of the water and you are medicating you may want to
hold off on the water change. Your directions on the meds
probably advise a water change when you finish the treatment.If
your fish start gasping at the surface and quit eating you
may have to do a small one. Be really careful not to keep
overdosing and follow the directions. As far as the dead
fish goes I don't see how that could happen and it's
really horrible! Are you sure your connections are secure?
Petwarehouse.com sells dividers as a last resort if you
can't find one at Walmart. It may take a few days to
ship to you. I think you can get a small 5gal tank for about
7.00 if you shop around. That size is fine for a qt tank.
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joycedonley
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Sunday,
August 05, 2001 - 02:02 pm
Saw your other post to Kick 3gallon eclipse is a great idea.
Good luck.
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Shan
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Monday,
August 06, 2001 - 12:04 pm
Jamie, I had aggressive fish too, I couldn't get a divider
right away and put the aggressive one in a breeder net until
I got one.
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Kick
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Monday,
August 06, 2001 - 06:09 pm
You can move the betta to a bowl easily enough. The gourami
is the same classification as the betta, but if he is very
large then this is probably not a good idea. Apparently,
you have written to me elsewhere (I will go look now),
but if you are thinking of a 3 gallon eclipse and want to
spend the money for the betta, this would be fine. However,
I would not put both the gourami and betta in this close
of quarters together. Will look for your post and add to
it if necessary.
As for the RT getting caught in the UG filter. Can you explain
how that happened? Do you have your uptake tubes covered
with carbon filters? I would not leave the tops of these
tubes open because you are going to see more disasters if
this is how the RT lost his life.
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