Angelfish Ich

Question
QUESTION: Hi David,

I have a 7.5 gallon tank with 2 angelfish, 2 guppies and and 3 live plants.  A few days ago I introduced a catfish to the tank which had ich.  I did not know (I am very new to this hobby - have had the aquarium for 2 1/2 months).  The Angelfish have caught the disease and are covered with ich.  I first raised the temperature to 86-88F and added salt - 7 tsp  Did that for 2-3 days didn't help.  Then last evening I went to the pet store and got ich medication.  Added that last evening but today morning I checked, it hasn't made any visible difference.  How long should I wait to see if it is working?  Anything else I can do?  I have been changing the water 50% every 30 hours.  Please help!!  



ANSWER: how big is your tank???? 7.5 gallons or 75 gallons??? It takes about 4 days with elevated temp to see a difference in the ICH infestation.  ICH is immune to medication for the first 3-4 days so you have to wait for it to start to breed before you can kill it.  This means you will have to medicate for the next 5 days.  What medication did you get???? dave

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QUESTION: Dave,

The tank is 7.5 gallons.  I don't know what ich medication it is because I am in China right now and I have no idea about what the medication bottle says! All it says (in english)is that it is an ich medication for saltwater and freshwater fish and does not contain any malacite green or mercury. The name is just White Spot Clear. The dosage on the bottle says 10ml for 100L.  Since my aquarium is 30L (7.5 gallons) I have put about 3.5-4ml of medicine yesterday.  The pet shop owner from where I got this mecation told me to put 5ml the first day then 2.5ml the next day and then 1.25ml on the 3rd day.  If the fish are still not ok then I should give a gap of 1 day and then repeat the cycle.  Meanwhile I should not feed the fish!  I am so confused about what to do!
Thanks for all your help!

Answer
Ich treatment requires a warm tank so make sure you can raise the temperature of the tank to about 82 degrees it will shorten the life span of the ICH parasite.  ICH is only vulnerable to medication on the last day of its life so the warmer water helps to ensure that you kill off the parasite.  I would follow the pet stores instruction and if necessary wait two days and change the water and begin again.  You should always feed your fish... a healthy immune system begins with a good diet and fish that eat have a better shot of surviving illness such as ICH.  Dave