Subj : Re: Battling ICK on clown
To : All
From : Matthew Clark
Date : Tue Jan 13 2004 08:50 pm
> I slowly raised the tank temp up to 85 degrees, added 2 tblsp of Doc
> Wellfish Aquarium salt, and added a half-dose of Quick Cure
> (formalin/malachite green) and a half dose of Maracyn II (anti
> bacterial for secondary infections).
You're not really treating this right. First, Forget the temperature
increase. A nominal increase in temperature will not kill ich; you'd
have to jack it up to levels harmful to fish to do that (about 90
degrees for a week plus). Furthermore, any increase in temperature
places undue
stress on fish at a time when they are least disposed to deal with it.
An increase in temperature reduces the oxygen saturation of water.
Meanwhile, the fish are already having trouble taking up oxygen
because 1. saturation is reduced by medication/salt and 2. the ich
parasite attaches to the gills, where it leaves tiny little holes when
it detaches, physiologically impairing respiration. (Note that in ich
death is by suffocation; after enough parasites have attached to the
fishes' gills, they become physically unaable to respirate.)I know
that people will respond to this defending the temperature method and
pointing to the fact that it accelerates the parasites' life cycle
(which it does). However, this has no therapeutic effect other than to
make the treatment slightly faster (and thus ease your impatience),
and is greatly outweighed by all the negative effects above.
Second, the use of salt, quick cure, and maracyn II is not only
redundant but dangerous. As above, the more meds you have, the harder
it is for your fish to breathe. The maracyn II is wholly unnecessary
(I haven't seen secondary infections from ich very often, if they
develop you can treat them at that time, and the salt or quick cure
should prevent most secondary infections anyway). Settle on either
salt or quick cure. If you use salt, use a total of 1 tbsp/gallon,
adding 1 teaspoon/gallon every 12 hours to bring it up to a
concentration of 1 tablespoon/gallon (3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon). If
you use quick cure, note that clowns and neons are intolerant to the
active ingredient in these drugs. Therefore, use it in half doses and
at half intervals. Example: if your ich med says 5 mL/10 gallons
every 24 hrs, administer 2.5 mL/10 gallons every 12 hours. One further
note about salt: using simply the dosage of salt you currently have
(1 tbsp/5 gallons)in addition to quick cure is alright and may even
help; however, that salt concentration alone will not kill ich.
I noticed that when I raised the
> water temp the water got cloudy. Why is that? My water is usually
> very clear.
What kind of cloudiness? Do everything I recommended (including
dropping your temp bakc down, but SLOWLY) and the cloudiness shoudl
dissipate. Also watch how much you're feeding.
> Nitrate and Nitrite were a little elevated, but not near dangerous
> levels.
Any concentrations of nitrites certainly isn't helping.
>I planned to change water on the next day.
Not all that economical when you're medicating, although a necessity
if you have a water quality problem.
>I use a
> Brita filter to clean the water before I put it in the tank.
That's fine if you want, but unless your tap water is liquid metal
it's not doing much.
Matthew Clark
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