Hello . I received four S.eupterus (one inch in size) about 4 days ago, in that time to my horror I discovered they have ICH!!!!.
Upon reading the standard treatments I would usualy use for this disease could harm them or even kill them in some cases.
I raised the temp to 28oC to try and slow it down a bit as I know this helps ,but Im stuck for a safe cure for my new cats .
Any ideas guys?
28 C is not hot enough. I crank the temperature up to as high as 33 C, and this is usually very effective, even in the absence of other medications. Of course, this remedy presupposes that the fish are not already so far gone that the higher temperature alone will push them over the edge.
If you use this procedure, there are several precautions you need to take: (1) make sure there is strong aeration in the tank (e.g., add a power head or two, but stop before the fish are getting swept away by the current -- which can happen in small tanks like 10-20 gals), (2) keep the water and substrate clean -- this not only provides a favorable overall environment for the fish, it keeps down biological oxygen demand (from decomposition, bacterial load, etc.), (3) maintain pH in a neitral range, and make sure ammonnia and nitrite are zero, (4) feed, but sparingly, (5) keep a close watch on the fish, and lower the temperature somewhat if you see signs of acute distress. Keep the lights off, and maintain this regimen for at least a week, thereafter lower the temperature by 1-2 C/day till it gets to about 29 C, and keep it there for another 2 weeks.
Some catfish ARE sensitive to standard medications, but S. eupterus is fairly robust, and there are a number of medications which can be used in conjunction with the high temperature treatment. Tell us what you have available, and we can advise you from there.
Getting ich once is good for fish -- assuming they survive, of course! -- because that often (but not always) innoculates them against ich for life.
Thanks Dinyar. I have some "Malachite green" here and was thinking off a half dose with a temperature rise .
Contains in order / Malachite green,Acriflavine,quinine sulphate.
Oh yer 55 gallon tank ,two powerhead and 7 watt air pump plenty flow and air.
Yes, that should work fine. The quinine sulfate will also act against oodinium ("velvet"), which can sometimes be mistaken for ich.
To get the temperature up to 32-33 C in a 55 gal tank, you will probably need more than one heater. Monitor temperature carefully to ensure it gets to and stays in the desired range. Many aquarium thermometers max out at about 30 C or even less.
I'll give that a try then , getting 33oC should be no problem ether.
Also I have a Guppie rearing tank if the fish get too stressed with the treatment , with guppy fry even(fave food) so they wont mind that .
Ok 5 1/2 hours after treatment all cats out and playing as they used to .
Big girl came and asked for food (first time in 2 days) so all looks good so far .
Hope all the same in the morning .Good night
All ok 24 hours later,temp just under 32oC all fish look ok apart from the large S.eupterus ,who still has slight clamping of fins and a few whit spots on its chin.
Done water tests.
ph 6.6
ammonia NH3/NH4 = 0 ppm mg/L
Nitrite NO2 = 0 ppm mg/L
Am I correct to presume the ph at 6.6 is due to the temp rise ?
Just done 15% water change ph up to 6.8 ,thats looking good .
As for the drop in PH due to temp was just something I discoverd from my Aquaponic Expermients days .
Well no deaths so far but Ich still growing on fish ,suppose thats normal .
There are eight Syno and one common pl*co of the catfish ,only two of the syno have Ich (they sleep together) and the Pl*co has no signs of infection at all.
Sounds like they are just about over it. Keep a close eye over the next month once the ich has gone. When I purchased my 3 baby eupterus they were infected. Did roughly the same as yourself 29C water temp, treated with king british ich treatment, took about 3 weeks to clear. Mine are in Rift tank so water is a bit harder but regular water changes will only help your cause. Mine are 1 and 1/2 year old now and as was said earlier despite a couple of other outbreaks seem to have developed a resistance to ich.
Good to hear that Rich2408.
I was going to take drastic measures soon ,I'll hold on an bit with them .
Im using the king british ich treatment at the moment and going for 15% water change a day with temp at 32oC . Have heard covering tank with a blanket for 48 hours kills all Ich,sounds dodgy to me .
How often did you apply the treatment by the way?
By this time you should be seeing no ich. If you are still seeing it, raise the temp another degree C and increase the dose of the medication to full strength.
Light plays a role in the "hatching" of ich "spores" (can't remember the scientific terms for these), and total darkness DOES help. Nothing dodgy about it. I don't usually bother because it's a nuisance, and it gets in the way of keeping a close eye on your fish, but you may want to give it a try.
Think I better Try the blanket and full dose, the large Syno has quite a few scars now from rubbing on things in the tank.
Have two 6" air stones with power head blowing accross surface for oxygen , temp still 32oC cant get up higher unless I turn up heating in house, but the drop in the night might not be to good for the prossess .
Added treatment and put blanket over tank last night. Within 4-5 hours the temp was at 35oC and fish were very stresses with this, so I removed the blanket and maintained a temp of 32oC .
Today the fish are all compleatly ridden with spots , but no deaths so far and all feeding ok .I gave them a small amount of food and all feed ok which is good as they were off food . Hopefully I'll kill them off in the next 24-48 hours when they drop.(Tomont thats the bugger I gotta get )
Congrats on losing your spots! Ich in its various life stages is viable for a while, something around three weeks, so don't discontinue the higher temps for at least another two weeks.
I regularly treated clown loaches, and other sensitive fish with a teaspoon per gallon of salt, added every day for three days, along with a 30% water change, with careful substrate vacuuming, and a temperature of 86 degrees. It speeds the life cycle of the ich parasite up, and allows you remove the tomites at the substrate to keep them from rising in the water to reattach to the fish and start the life cycle over. If you have a diatomaceous earth filter, or a UV filter, they will also greatly reduce the nubmer of spores that make it back to the fish while they are weakened. I continue the daily water changes until the fish are clear of ich, then I keep an eye on them for two weeks, then reduce the temperature. Hope that helps.
At last no spot. Just a few scars on large syno ,and no deaths .
Thank you for you're help Dinyar you may have saved my cats, it was looking a bit nasty at one point there .
Thanks for the tip Barbie ,I'll bear that in mind if there is a next time (hope not).
Glad to hear the ich has gone...
Always stick with manufacturers recommended dose rate, never mix treatments ever. Always keep the water changes going and feed lightly. These are always sound tactics when treating ich.
Thanks Rich. All looks well now ph and colour of water looking good , with 10% water change every day for 2 weeks and temp at 29oC as Dinyar said I think its under control .J
There have been some nasty ph and nitrate shifts in the tap water at the moment ,this might be what started this off, Iâ??m not sure though but it would be nice to know what went wrong.
I have had ich in my tanks about 3 or 4 times and whilst I have always managed to succesfully treat it I am pretty sure that a major cause of most outbreaks comes down to water quality. Good to see you know water parameters.
Aaargh! One of my synos now has white spots, this after every other species of cichlid in the tank has been flashing for just over a week.
I first dosed the tank with Interpet Anti White Spot+ (formaldehyde based) on the 8th and a second dose on the 11th.
Folllowing the instructions I should do a 30% water change tomorrow and dose again.
Should I raise the temperature beyond 29C if I have juvenile cichlids? I am assuming most of the directions given here are for species syno tanks?
I used "Malachite green" not Interpet Anti White Spot+ (formaldehyde based).
The treatment here is the same as for any tropical fish really ,catfish and invertebrates can have some problems with these treatments so I wasn?t sure about giving them a full dose, S.eupterus is a hardy catfish so they all survived the high temp and medication.
But as said get the temperature as high as you can and hold it there for a week, the life cycle is faster at a higher temperature and you should have killed the ICH by then.
6 days at 5oC and 10-12 hours at 26oC (interpets figures).
As well as the regular 10-20% water change I placed a net full of Active carbon in the tank by one of the pump outlets ,this is very good for removing Toxins and Medications after treatment.
duh! sorry mate, I thought those were treatment durations! that was a bit frightening!
I turned the tank up from it's normal 26.5 to an indicated 30, it had reached 28.4 by this morning.
Can I quickly ask if the water change is to help remove medication or the cysts (by vacuuming the substrate) or both in fact?
I?d say a bit of both really ,
Follow the instructions on the packet for dosage and water changes ,remember you ARE using a different medication to what I used and it my effect the fish in a different way.
that's not right shewerly? that'll kill everything in the tank won't it?