Urgent please help i think its ick

[MaggieLynn]

So i woke up this morning to find that two of my girls have been fighting they are QT and i have been doing 1 tsp of AQ salt per gallon the help regrow fins. i just went to check on them and one of them has little white specks all over her i will try to get a pic up. all i have is jungle lifeguard which i guess is crap =/ please help

[Pitluvs]

I've got the ick here too. After doing raised temps and salt/daily water changes... we lost carnage. We're using Super Ick by API. Our tropical tank has it too. Good luck!

[MaggieLynn]

i had already had her in a qt for treating nipped fins from a fight so the aq salt dose is kinda the same, i just changed her water, added a heater, added salt, and ill add more tomorrow. so far everyone else is fine. she is alil more active now and is eatting

[Pitluvs]

Ich is always in your tank, usually and comes up when someone is stressed or injured. Every fish owner comes across it at least once. Hope it clears up for you asap!

[MaggieLynn]

well i figured out it started between 8 and 10 so i caught it within hours of finding it. she is ramming up against the heater cord and is knocking some off. she looks alil bloated and clamped too. but she will eat. i feel so bad i want to help her. i dont see it on the other girls, she has been in the QT for atleats 8 hours with AQ salt before the actually ich was visible. and she was recovering from a fight. so if it started in the QT tank should the other girls be ok?

[Pitluvs]

I have no idea :( This is my first outbreak, I'm new to fish (3 months in) and all my fish have it here. Its very contagious, I'd keep an eye on the others too.

[MaggieLynn]

i dont understand. i was a careless fish keeper since ive had bettas like you know the basic no heater small 1 gal with a filter clean it once a month feed once a day type deal, none ever EVER got sick or anything, but now that i spoil all my fish and actually get attached to them one gets ick and i have to deal with damaged fins one the girl with ick and a diff fish T_T and this is my favorite girl in my sorority. ill keep an eye on all of them. it is going to be a pain if the girls in the 10 gal get it

[flowerslegacy]

Here is an awesome link on ick and how to actually kill it. http://www.exoticpetvet.net/aqua/parasites.html

Yes, it's HORRIBLE, but you can get rid of it if you have patience! I have/had it in my 25 gal and none of the meds actually killed it. I tried two different drugs, lost 6 fish and still had it after 2 weeks of dosing. I was so mad!! You'll see by the article that it has a very specific life cycle. All the meds will kill it, but only at certain phases of it's cycle. Depending on what cycle the parasites are in, some of the "bugs" will make it past the med dosing. Also, because it's a parasite, it does not lay dormant. You'll see in the article why most folks think it does lay dormant. With all of this said, I raised my temp and increased the salt. I'll be done at the end of July. I started in mid-June. I also went so far as to buy a cheap hydrometer (salt monitor) to make sure my salt dose was always at a constant level. I haven't lost anymore fish and all the spots are gone. One of my goby's was flashing and panting with tons of spots when I started the salt treatment. It took a few days but now he's feisty again!! So take heart. I hope this article helps. Pitluv's - Im so sorry you lost Carnage. That breaks my heart!! STUPID PARASITE!! I vow to be the Ick Slayer!!

[MaggieLynn]

Thank you so much. i wanted to cry when i walked in just 2 hours of showing my dad the fin damage, and saw the ick. i decided to up the salt dose from adding salt every 12 hours to every 6 and changing water every 12 that way the parasites that she knocks off arent still in there. i can see some on the thermometer and i watched her rub one off.

[flowerslegacy]

Sorry MaggieLynn. I know it's awful. Remember - salt is only removed from the tank when you do a water change. You'll need to keep the salt at the same level. So for example: Let's say you have a 10 gal tank and you initially add 1 Tblsp of salt/per 5 gals (2 Tbsp total). When you change 5 gals of water, you'll only add 1 Tblsp of salt back to the tank. You don't want to overdose with salt! Also, be sure you dissolve the salt in treated water before you add it to the tank. You don't want to add big salt chunks to your water! I feel your pain over this whole ich thing. It's awful. I ended up with four quarantine tanks because I'm scared to death to anyone new to my tanks without watching them for a couple weeks! Geesh!