Ich and Skinny... the choices....

[Stonecoloured]

Good afternoon all,

I have a batch of 20 little (1.5-2inch) clowns that have been in my care for 2 weeks. They are in the Q tank and despite my best efforts (Blood Worms, Melon, Meat, Flake and Cucumber) they are still skinny... They eat and then don't put the weight on. Now they have started showing signs of ich.

My question is which one do I treat for 1st? Or can I treat for both? I have looked through the medicines and they doesn't *seem* to be mixable. I've not had to treat for either of these symptoms for years, so this has snuck up on me; any advice would be gratefully received.

-x-

[mickthefish]

i would treat the ich first as priority, the faster you can get rid of that the better.
if you can get hold of WS3 made by King British, it's the fastest cure i know for ich.
then try a treatment for the skinny.

mick

[Botia Robert]

Loaches can take time to settle in. Small clowns can be a challenge to get started.

Some people like to medicate straight away other like to wait.

Firstly consider raising tempreture to about 30 C.

Secondly consider providing exceptional water quality. Try a 25% change with gravel vaccing every other day.

[Diana]

Do not mix meds unless both packages say that they are safe with each other.
Ich can kill in just a few days.
The various problems that contribute to skinny disease can be fought later. For now, deal with Ich.

Whichever treatment you decide on, do LOTS of water changes. This will remove the phase of Ich that has fallen off the fish and is ready to reproduce. The more of these you can remove the less re-infection there will be.

[starsplitter7]

Make sure when you raise the temp and do th treatments that they get lots of oxygen. I usually drop my water level a bit ti give extra oxygen.

[Stonecoloured]

Thank you all for your help!

I've got a UV filter I can start running on the Q tank - would that alone get rid of the Ich or would I still need meds? The tank is cycled and stable so I don't think the UV would upset the balance.

If I need meds I'll grab some tomorrow, but if I can just use the UV I'd feel better (not too keen on meds)

Many thanks

-x-

[chefkeith]

UV shouldn't be used with most medications. UV alone doesn't eradicate ich, but it does help keep the populations lower.

[Stonecoloured]

I've started treating for Ich - using half strength medicine and Temp upto 30. I have also added another air stone so the oxygen should be fine.

In Hindsight I should have treated straight away – would have saved me from pulling 7 corpses out over the last 2 days. I just thought they were underfed, as we the case with the tetras I got from the same guy, unfortunately this is not the case. So this week I am treating Ich, afterwards I am treating for Skinny! Yay!

-x-