The Aftermath of Ich

[biondoa]

As you may or may not recall, I have been fighting a battle against Ich in my 75g for about 4 weeks now. It was a losing battle. I lost all but 2 of my cardinal tetras. Strangely they were the only fish to be affected. The angelfish and the rainbow fish have never shown any sign of the parasite. The 2 cardinals that are left are not very happy just being a duo, and I have 5 threadfin rainbows in my QT who have been there for 4 weeks. During treatment, I raised the temp in the tank to 82 degrees and treated with Jungle Ick Guard. In my opinion, it was a useless medication, although maybe it protected the other fish. I don't know. I have read about and understand the life cycle of the parasite, and I know that you cannot kill it while it is on the fish, but only once it falls off and moves into the next phase of its life. When I started I had close to 20 cardinals and now only 2. So how do I move forward now? The remaining two cardinals are not showing any spots, and all the other fish are seemingly healthy. I want to get more cardinals (from a different source) and add the threadfins to the tank as well. Should I retreat with the Ick Guard, and then wait another week? How long should I wait to add fish? Is there anything else I should do before I add fish? This is a heavily planted tank, so I don't want to add a lot of salt if I can avoid it.
Thanks for your help.

 

[Tifftastic]

Personally, I wouldn't retreat as that could cause more stress on the remaining fish. I would however wait a week or two before adding more, just to be sure.

 

[Rbishop]

Any new fish definitely need QT in another tank.....

 

[biondoa]

As I said, I have 5 Threadfin Rainbow Fish in the QT. They have been there for 4 weeks. They are fine. What I am asking is when will it be safe to move them to the tank that had the outbreak of Ich?

 

[SnakeIce]

Well ich can exist without being visible because they can attach to the gills themselves. So generally suggested to go two weeks beyond the last sign of the parasite. That is long enough to get the last seen through it's cycle, and to go a cycle or two beyond depending on your temperature. Keep the plants safe, but go as high as you can go considering that, since that speeds it along.

 

[Aquanero]

Make sure you do some good water changes and vacume the substrate as much as possible. I would wait two weeks after the last sign of ich before introducing any new fish. Also make sure water parameters are the same between the two tanks to prevent stressing the new fish upon introduction into the new tank.

Also cardinal tetras are warm water fish, you said you raised the temp to 82. What do normally keep the temp set to? I've always kept them at ~85 below ~81 long term they will start to fade the 70's will kill them. Neons on the other hand will do fine at lower temps. Another point is cardinals are one of angelfish's favorite foods so if you have large angelfish tey ecoe very expensive feeders.

 

[Gregg]

While not particularly a fan of Jungle Ich Guard, one of its key ingredients is victoria green, which along with malachite green is less effective & more toxic at lower ph and softer water.
So any product containing this may not work well in a soft water low ph aquarium.

Ref.
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Ich.html

I would give it 2-4 weeks after the last known evidence of ich before introducing you new fish.
You might consider also using a Medicated Wonder Shell as a preventative. I have bought and used these for some time and they work safely and well as a preventative for ich, but not so much as a treatment.

 

[biondoa]

Thank you for that. My tank is definitely not low ph. it is about 7.5. I assume that the medicated wonder shell is in the link. I will take a look.

 

[Gregg]

Mineralization also plays a role in MG effectiveness.

The ref I provided has a link to the Medicated Wonder Shells

 

[Aquanero]

Tetras are sensitive to these meds so go with a half dose if you are going to treat with MG. An alternative is to buffer the MG with triple sulfa in stubborn cases that require full a dosage of MG. Triple sulf also helps to prevent secondary infections such as costia common after heavy infestations of ich.