loaches with ich

Question
QUESTION: I have a 54 gallon freshwater corner tank which just started September '08. I
keep temp of 78 degrees (until today).  I have a total of 39 fishes: 1 Cardinal
Tetra, 1 Danio, 1 Roseline Shark (size of a pinky finger), 1 big Clown Loach (a
little bit bigger than a thumb), 1 Metallic Guppy, 2 small Clown Loaches (size
about an inch of a pinky finger), 2 Bala Shark (approx. 2 inches size each), 2
Green Coral Gourami, 2 Marigold Swordtail, 2 Dalmatian Swordtail, 2
Plecostomus (1 Red Hi Fin and 1 Bushy Nosed), 4 Neon Tetras, 4 Assorted
Male Guppies, 5 Rummy Nosed Tetras, 5 Black Skirt Tetras. and 5 Red Eyed
Balloon Tetras. Thaat's so far the fishes left out of the 53 of them since Oct.
12. (Everytime a fish dies, I can't seem to find it and eventually when I see it,
it's possibly being eaten by other fishes too! Is that okey?)  I changed 30% of
the water, added 2 1/5 tbsp. salt and vacuumed the gravel on Oct. 27, then
changed the filter on  Nov. 9. I did 30% water change & vaccumed the gravel
again on Nov.12.  On Nov. 16 (Sunday night) when I got home from work, I
saw the two small loaches have a lot of white small dots scattered all over
their bodies!!!  They seemed to be frisky and the rest of the fishes are looking
okey. I did the test kit and the follwing shows: ammonia  = 0 , pH = 7.6,
nitirite = 0, and nitrate = 10 - 20.  I previously added the salt because I was a
little paranoid that one of the small loaches has like one tiny spec of a dot on
his tail and I'm thinking it might be an Ich. This time it's way lots of white
dots all over their bodies!!!  I called our local aquarium store and told me to
get some medicine but she is not sure if it is an Ich or velvet.  She also told
me to increase my water temp so I placed it to 84 degrees. Please help me
what to do? I am a bit more confused this time how often should I feed my
fishes, once or twice a day? Am I feeding them too much? (Everytime I feed
them which is once at night with flakes and pellets and sometime added with
1 cube of brine shrimp or 1 cube of blood worm, they get freaky like they
were starved for a long time!) How often should I change my water. vacuum
the gravel? How often should I clean my filter since it's fairly new? I also
noticed that most of the fishes have long poop. Is that a problem? Pardon me
for having lots of questions but I just want to make sure that I am doing the
right thing to have healthy fishes. Thanks for the help.

ANSWER: Hello Anna Marie:  It is david from the local fish store.  I suspect your loaches have ICH.  So raising the temperature to 84 was a good thing to do. You will also want to stop by the store and pick up a bottle of SUPER ICH CURE.... Do not let them sell you anything else.  During medication you will want to take the carbon out of your canister filter...but just the carbon.  This would be a good time to think about a hospital tank as well.  They have those 10 gallon kits there for about $50... it is cheaper and more effective to medicate your fish in a hospital tank and better for the rest of the fish who are not sick.   I feed my fish twice per day... but only what they will eat in 3 minutes of time. You can opt to feed yours once or twice... that is up to you.  Change 10-20% of the water once per week and gravel vacuum at that time.  Feed them more brine shrimp and less pellets and the long poop should go away.  Keep me posted... dave

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks Dave for the info. You've been very helpful. I'm a new aquarist so I
am anxious if I'm doing it right or not. Anyways, I went to the local store and
they gave me Kordon's Ich Attack because they don't have the Super Ich Cure.
The medicine I got is 100% organic which they say is harmless to other fishes
since loaches are scaleless and they need this. I already started my treatment
last 17th. I did thought of getting a quarantine tank but they say I really don't
need it so I can cure the whole tank if Ich might start to other fishes. So far,
it's just the two small loaches and my only big loach is okey.  I also read
online that I can treat  the fishes every 3-4 days total of 12-16 days to
conform the Ich's life cycle. Is that okey, just on the safe side? I am planning
to put on Angels by December when the fishes are better so I want to make
sure that Ich is totally gone.
        I did take the carbon from the filter, cleaned and rinsed the stone. My
other question is that everytime I clean my Fluval filter and reattach it back,
the tank is spewed by dirty water, I guess the ones that got stuck in the hose.
But this is just temporary and the water clears eventually. I don't know but I
have not tried to take out the hoses and clean it while I'm cleaning the filter.  
So I should change the carbons every month when I clean the filter, right?
         I believe the high temperature causes more algaes to grow, right? But I
guess it's better than having Ich on my fishes. Thanks for all the help.  :=)

ANSWER: the higher temperature shortens the life span of the ICH parasite from nine days to about 3-4 days so that medication is more effective then killing it off.  Algae you can wipe off with your scrubber.. .ICH... you need to treat with heat... Im wondering if you now... this is the same dave that came out to your house and set up your tank....

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Dave,
    I can not believe it's you!!! THE Dave we love so much, who helped us set
up our aquarium!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
    Richelle woke me up today and said that one of the small loach is dying so
I rushed and went to buy a 5 gallon hospital tank, and SUPER ICH CURE. I
changed 30% of the water from the big tank and placed the medicine. I took
the two small loaches and placed them in the small tank and treated with the
Ich medicine but unfortunately the other one died :-(  I could have done it
earier.  You are again right about buying the other medicine. Hopefully, this
will work this time. Since there is only one loach left in the small tank, do I
still treat it the next three days? Do I see the effect of it immediately? We are
sad that he is lonely in the small tank, (he saw his partner died).   :=(  :=(
         I have a total of 38 fishes  now so I am not adding anymore until I am
done with the treatment and hopefully by December, we can add the Angels.
         I've been calling Capitol to talk to you but you've been gone for a while.
Your regular days off or going on vacation? Sadako is not there, too as I was
told she is on leave for medical issues (knee surgery?). We pray she gets
better.  Take care of yourself, too. I am glad and feel more secured that I
have talked to you online. Thank you very much!!!

P.  S.  Do you mind giving me your email address?
         Promise I won't bug you too much   :-)  :-)  :-)

         Anna Marie & Richelle  :=)  

Answer
continue to treat the loach with super ich cure... make sure the tank is warm... 82 degrees is good.  It will help to kill off the ich parasites.  My email address is davids@the-mermans-garden.com.  I am still at capital aquarium though only on the weekends...

dave