Help, fish ich!

[BirdSquawk]

One of my older guppies seems to have small white spots on his back and sides, he seems healthy and is eating well otherwise. I just introduced two babies a couple weeks ago, and they do not have spots. The only other fish in the tank is an Otto catfish. Tomorrow i'm cleaning the tank thoroughly and replacing and cleaning the filter. I have aquarium salt, but the one time I used it my treated fish died (he was old). Is there anything else i can try? Thanks.

 

[GaryBV]

There are most certainly lots of medications on the market for the dreaded ick, as it is probably the most common fish disease. I would go to the local pet store, or superstore, or whereever you go for your fish food and supples to see what they have available. Salt isn't really going to cut it, and salt and catfish do not go well together. QuICK Cure comes to mind, but there are many effective cures, but I would say that time is of the essense, and if one fish has it, the other's most certainly catch it even if you can't see it. Here is a link to QuICK Cure on Amazon, but as I said there are many effective cures for it. Do not wait to order online - you will not have that kind of time to treat the fish before it becomes fatal.


[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Mardel-Quick-Cure-Aquarium-Treatment-4-Ounce/dp/B000255MSS/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1387490014&sr=1-1&keywords=ick+medicine"]Amazon.com: Mardel Quick-Cure Aquarium Treatment, 4-Ounce: Pet Supplies[/ame]

 

[MikeyTN]

By raising the salinity level you help killing off when ich goes into free swimming stage. You can help them boost up their immune system by getting a product called "garlic guard" and pour a little bit into a dish and then sprinkle flake food into it to soak it all up then feed it to your fish. Do this 3 times per day! This is gonna foul up your water so make sure you do water change! Cat fish don't deal well with these treatment conditions so it's best to keep them separated.

 

[MikeyTN]

By the way I really don't like quick cure and similar products. I stand by garlic guard!

 

[GaryBV]

I can respect that Mikey but Quick Cure and like products are readily available, and it is easy to administer and not easy to make a mistake using it - and it works. I mean it is using chemicals, but salt too is a chemical. And BirdSquawk if you have snails or live plants, or shrimps and other such living things, salt can kill them, but so can many medications. I hope all goes well for you. Many medications, including salt, may ask that you raise the temperature of your tank to between 80 and 86F - and that can have very detrimental effects on some animals and plants, and will definitley lower the oxygen content of your water, so aeration would be critical. Regardless of treatement plan you use, time is of the essence, so get started quickly.

 

[MikeyTN]

I don't have any problems with people wanting to use quick cure. What I meant to say I personally don't like using chemicals, not that I haven't used them before but I tend to lean towards more natural remedies.