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I have 4 Clown Plecos (Panaque maccus) who have had Ich for 12 days now. It went from a few white spots to complete body coverage almost overnight. I started treatment by increasing the temperature to 82°F (28°C) and adding Salt at a concentration of 1TB per 10 gallons. They looked miserable after four days and so I stopped the salt treatment and began using Rid-Ich plus (malachite green & formalin). It's been a week and they are all still covered in white spots and are looking worse. I doubled the dose yesterday to every 12 hours as suggested by the directions for "stubborn cases". Things are still getting worse, I see cotton-like growths(secondary fungal infection?), reddish skin, frayed fins. Maybe it's not Ich? Any ideas? I can't see what I might be doing wrong or missing.

Details:
20 gallon tank, daily 25% water changes, 82°F, pH=6.8,
ammonia=0ppm, nitrite=0ppm, nitrate=<5ppm,
HOB filter (No Carbon)& sponge filter, sand substrate, 1 airstone

It looks more like Chilodonella than Ich to me. Treatment is the same, but Chilodonella takes longer to treat.

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Mats

I recently used this product on P. maccus with great success.

http://www.thatpetplace.com/ick-guard-tabs-8pk

I have five in a 15 gallon that somehow contracted ick (I am baffeled as to how since they are the only fish in the tank and had been there for four months). Anyway, raised the temp to 84F and treated with the above product and the ick was gone in 72 hours.

-Shane

MatsP wrote:It looks more like Chilodonella than Ich to me. Treatment is the same, but Chilodonella takes longer to treat.

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Mats

In all of the searching I did I never came across Chilodonella. If I had known I would have started treatment with Rid-Ich on day one, instead of wasting time with salt and heat. Thanks for the info, it will be very useful in the future. I lost 2 of the Clowns today but the other 2 are eating and look like they might start to recover.

Shane: I saw that at the store but went with the product that most people seemed to have good results with. I might try it out if I ever run into this again, I especially like how it protects against secondary infections. Both of the Clowns that died started growing fungus on their body yesterday.

I turn up the heat a few degrees and add salt. Natrual is always better. Good luck

in2plecos wrote:I turn up the heat a few degrees and add salt. Natrual is always better. Good luck

Natural is only better when it works. It was clearly a waste of valuable time in my case.

I lost a third Clown yesterday but the fourth is looking completely normal today. Not surprisingly my L201 tank has been cross contaminated. I started Rid-Ich treatment as soon as I saw the first signs, they were in the middle of prophylactic treatment with metronidazole and praziquantel. As with the Clowns, the number of spots has increased even though they have already been under treatment for four days. I'm expecting things to get worse before getting better, like with the Clowns.

One of them has developed this strangely symmetrical discolored patch. It has gotten larger and lighter over the last 3 days. I suspect columnaris (SaddleBack)?? I'm new to keeping plecos and I would really appreciate any help or ideas?