started as ich

Question
I bough a new fish 10 days a go, he had itch. Started 2 days after being introduced in the aquarium. The other fish was healthy and now as itch also. But the older fish has also a redness in all the body, mostly in fin. I started with a medicine for itch. But I think they are getting worse. What can I do?

Answer
Hi Marta:  Ich has about a nine day cycle before it starts to repeat itself.  When its in your fish's skin it is immune to meds as the fish's skin protects it... It will eventually fall out of the fish an into the grave where it will encapsulate and breed... when those encapsulated cysts break open millions of ich parasites/bacterium will began to swim through the water... they have about one day to find a host (fish) or they will die...Most medications are good for three days... so what you have to do is raise the tank temperature to about 86 degrees depending on what kind of fish you have... raise the temperature slowly... one degree per hour.... this shortens the ich cycle to about three days or so... which means that you are more able to kill the ich with medication.  Add aquarium salt to your tank per its instruction label and find a good medication that contains methane blue or malachite green... keep me posted... dave