HELP with ich and UV clarifier.......

[kimura]

Started this last week in a previous post but here is the low down up till now. I bought 10 histironicas that were weak and i didnt notice they had ich. The whole tank (75 gallon loach only and temperarily overstocked)developed ICH now. I started treated the tank with ich meds once a day with a 25 percent water change for about 6 days. The results stayed about even. The loaches werent getting severely worse but it wasnt going away either. So i switched to twice a day meding per the instructions with 2 water changes and it It got better for the last 4-5 days now.

BUT its still not going away! SO i bought a tetratec UV400 ultravioltet clarfier. I hooked it in line with a pump since i didnt want to destroy my main filter tubing. While reading the instructions it says i should not use it while using medication. can anybody explain that to me? why would it matter? also it lists the maximum flo rate based off the aqurarum size. this UV light will work on up to a 200 gallon tank but why does it have separate maximum flow rates depending on tank size? i think my pump might be maxing out the flo rate for my tank size but since its way less than the light is capable of doing is there anything i should worry about? should i still keep medicating?

any help would really be appreciated. thank you.

[mistergreen]

UV breaks up molecules. So, it'll break up medicine making it ineffective..

However, it also breaks up DNA, ich DNA. I've found UV sterilizers work great against ich by itself..
Bump up your temperature up to the low 80's to speed up the ich life cycle and let the UV run for a few weeks. The ich should clear up.

Make sure to aerate the water so there's enough oxygen for the fishes. Warm water retain oxygen poorly.

[kimura]

yeah i have a large air stone underneath my main filter output so the rising bubbles hit the filter flow. i also have another air pump plugged into my powerhead . the temperature is about 83 right now and i've had it raised since i started treating. so i should stop medicating for ich but keep doing water changes?

[mistergreen]

yup, sounds like a good plan.

[Glostik]

I had an ich outbreak in my loach tank.

I bumped the temp to 92 and ran my UV, all the ich was gone in 7 days, no deaths.

[mistergreen]

no need to go to 92.. That's extremely high.

[andre]

I have experienced a similar results last January as I got several almorhae with ich. Incidentally it was during a heat wave and the temperature remained high for 9 days (30.5 31.4 30.7 30.5 29.5 29.5 29.5 29.5 29.5 Celsius or 86.9 88.5 87.26 86.9 85.1 = = = = = Fahrenheit).

Two UV filters 9W were also operating. Seeing that it worked fine a couple of weeks later I noticed that the shop still had 4 indviduals covered with spot. I got the all four for free. I followed the same treatement and it worked again.

No chemicals were used in both cases, only heat and UV.

The fish have been healthy and growing well since then.

[kimura]

i was getting really worried because it looked like things were getting worse fast.. there were a few that had many 10-15 and most others only a few but TODAY only the heavily spotted loaches showed any spots.

on a side note i found that my yoyos didnt appear to get many ich spots. of the 4 species in the tank right now the yoyos seemed the most resistant. my sids and kubs seemed to take the worst of it.

the stronger more dominant loaches also seemed less prone to developing spots.

thanks for the help but the UV light is doing worlds better than the meds. i was starting to think i was gonna loose the whole tank. havent lost anybody yet and i think they are gonna pull through

[kimura]

just wanted to say thanks again for the advice. had to run the UV clarifer for 2 weeks doing 30-40 percent water changes every day but the tank beat ich. didnt loose one fish to it and everyone was really happy with the fresh water.because of this i've decided to increase my water change frequency because i see how much the fish love it. on another good note most of the algae died and along with the waterchanges caused all my anubis and anachris to grow like crazy. the new tank for the histies is being matured right now and should be ready in 2-3 weeks. ill post pics later. glad that this is finaly over.

[chefkeith]

You just used UV to treat the ich? How do you know that you wiped it out then? You might not see ich on any of the fish, but it could still be in the gills.

[kimura]

i raised the temperature and ran the UV for a full 5 days after the last sign of ich. everyone said 3 days was enough so i ran it for 5 to be safe. after hooking it up there was a spike in the number of dots and then slowly i started to see less and less until i couldnt see a white spot. as far as i know the parasites dont last that long without a host so it should have been long enough. i guess there could have been some in the gills but then those would have hatched and got at least 1 on the outside of a fish so i could see it. anyways its been about 2 week since i took the UV off and no ich!!

[Pixelated_Pirate]

Is it ok to run UV sterilizers all the time... or should you only use them when there are problems in the tank?

[mistergreen]

Some run it all the time.
Some run it only when there is trouble.. It saves the life span of the bulb.

[Diana]

Thanks for the detailed posts about this Ich episode.
Which Ich meds were you using (That were ineffective?)

There are different instructions on a UV for a couple of reasons.

If you run the water through it too fast the bugs (or algae spores) won't be exposed to the light long enough to be killed, so this is why there is a maximum flow rate: any more gallons per hour, and you won't be killing anything. Different bugs need longer or shorter exposure times.

The goal is to circulate ALL the tank water through the unit as often and an fast as possible, so it all gets treated before the bugs can reproduce. This gives you a minimum flow rate, which varies with tank size.

Gotta have the right unit for your tank so the numbers work out correctly.

[kimura]

i was using rid ich+ by kordon dosing once a day with a water change for the first week. when i realized it wasnt working i got worried and dosed twice a day for a week with slightly smaller water changes since the ordeal was wearing me out.( the physical work and the worry). i also cleaned the filter and powerheads to help with flow and get rid of any ich i could.

after that i bought a tetra tech 400 which had a 5 watt bulb and hooked it in a loop using a quiet one 2200 and 1 inch tubing. i was worried the flow might be too high so i bought the weakest pump i thought would do the job and cremped the hose a bit with the tank lid. i used fluval intakes and outputs and placed the pump strategicly in the corner with the weakest circulation. it helped create a vortex and really circulated the tank. i've beat ich a few times before using this med when i got a weak fish from the pet store and he infected the tank. only the 3rd time its every happened that i can remember. for the record the tank was horribly overstocked and i am doing 25 percent water changes every 2-3 days until i can transfer the histies to their own tank which is a 65 gallon 4x2x1 in the cycling process. the overstocking most likely contributed to the ease of the ich spreading.

everyone is happy tho. two of the hisites have grown over an inch since i got them slightly breaking the 2 inch mark . the rest are about 1.5 with a few runts. the biggest one turns out to be the guy that only had 1 eye. Go figure.(we call him willy after the pirate in goonies). the smallest one i had that had the worst case is doing great now. he had clamped fins, was covered in ich and was so skinny i thought he had a parasite. my wife named him monday because she said he looks how she feels getting up for work on monday. that fish has the biggest heart and never gave up. hes putting on weight and doing fine. normally i dont name fish but these were exceptions. ill try and post some pics when i find a new photo server to use.