Ich and unidentified tiny organisms

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LoachNovice
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Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 9:06 am

Ich and unidentified tiny organisms

Post by LoachNovice » Tue Jan 08, 2013 11:18 am

Hello,

I am really new to loaches and am having some issues with Ich and possibly something else--I hope someone can help. Here's the background:

I have a 25 gallon tank that has been set up for two months. At first I just put in live plants and decor bought at Petsmart. After a week I added a clown loach. The sales person at Petsmart told me that one clown loach would be fine in 25 gallon tank. That loach is about 1.5 inches and was fine for a month. Then I read that clowns really need to be kept in groups (and that they get to be huge!--an issue I'll have to deal with down the road.) At any rate, I felt bad for my lonely loach and bought him a friend. About a week after adding the second clown loach I noticed Ich spots on the second clown (he/she is slightly smaller that the first loach so I can tell them apart.) I started treating the tank with Kordon Ich Attach and have been following the instructions on the bottle. I have been treating for a week. I also raised the temp in the tank from 78 to 84, but this is hard to maintain as my house is cold and drafty in the winter. (I even put a blanket around the tank!) I also have been doing water changes and gravel vacuuming, but then decided to move then fish to a 5 gallon "hospital tank" since a smaller tank would be easier for me to vacuum and do water changes--I'm small with some back problems and can't carry a lot of buckets of water around all day.

So, after setting up the clowns in the 5 gallon I dropped in an algae chip and went to bed. This morning I noticed tiny organisms on the wafer and in the gravel near the wafer. Even though the organisms are the size of pin heads I could seem them because the gravel is white and they are dark. Also they move independently of the water current. I'm wondering if these tiny things are part of the Ich life cycle or a new parasite? I have photos and will post if I can figure out how (This is my first time on this forum). There are live plants in the 5 gallon, so I'm also wondering what could live on and be transferred by plant? Finally, if I leave the big tank without fish, will the Ich stay dormant in the gravel and re-infect the fish when they are put back? I'd rather not take the entire tank down if I don't have too, since I need a place for the aquatic plants that are currently in it (water lillys java fern, moneywort, moss balls, and the plant that looks just like a peace lilly but the name escapes me now). In case I can't post photos: the tiny creatures are oval-shaped and brownish green, and the size of a fleck of black pepper. (They only way I could photograph them was to take the lens off my camera and turn it backwards to make a makeshift macro lens).

Thanks in advance for any advice and information!

PS. After doing more research, I think the tiny organisms are "seed shrimp" or Ostracoda, which, according to some websites, are harmless and a sign that the aquarium water is clean--I should hope the water is clean, as I'm been changing it every day!

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DainBramage1991
Posts: 274
Joined: Sun Feb 19, 2012 8:56 pm
Location: Northern New England

Re: Ich and unidentified tiny organisms

Post by DainBramage1991 » Tue Jan 08, 2013 9:08 pm

Ich is never big enough to be visible - Except when it's on the fish. Ich does not have a dormant phase and will die within 48 hours if it cannot find a viable host fish. However, from my own experience I know that ich can "silently" infect fish for relatively long periods of time (several weeks or even longer) without any outward sign of illness. In this state, it is most likely being kept in check by the fish's immune system, but not killed off completely. This is one of the reasons that ich can reappear long after it's thought to have been killed off. Been there, done that, for the last 2 months in my main tank.

Kordon Ich-Attack will cause your nitrates to skyrocket, so keep an eye on your water chemistry (ammonia, nitrite, nitrates, pH) and continue with the frequent water changes. It also is not effective on the so-called "super-ich", aka resistant ich, which is what I was unlucky enough to have.

As for the temperature, if you can get it up to 86-87F and keep it there, you'll be in the range where the ich is no longer able to reproduce and will therefor die (a second, cheap heater might be helpful). Keep this up for a minimum of two full weeks after the last sign of infection on your fish. Add extra aeration to the tank, as the water holds less oxygen at the higher temps. Your clowns will handle the high temps just fine, so no need to worry about that.

Avoid any medications that contain copper, as loaches don't tolerate it well.

Diana
Posts: 4675
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2006 1:35 am
Location: Near San Franciso

Re: Ich and unidentified tiny organisms

Post by Diana » Sun Jan 13, 2013 1:18 am

Remove the gravel from the 5 gallon.
Vacuum every other day.
When Ich falls off the fish to breed you can remove most of them from the tank.

The frequent water changes are also good to keep the water in good condition.

If you are using a dye based medicine (Rid Ich is one) do not also use Amquel or Amquel Plus dechlorinator. (Read the label on whatever dechlor you are using)

If there are NO fish in the main tank, then Ich will die without a host. Just takes a few days. Maintain the nitrifying bacteria in that tank by adding a small amount of ammonia daily.

I have no idea what the other critters are, but look up Copepods. That is a group of harmless critters that can live in the aquarium. Some fish eat them, though I doubt baby Clown Loaches are big enough. Maybe they can.
38 tanks, 2 ponds over 4000 liters of water to keep clean and fresh.

Happy fish keeping!

SPENCERSmommy09
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2013 3:52 pm

Re: Ich and unidentified tiny organisms

Post by SPENCERSmommy09 » Tue Jan 22, 2013 9:20 pm

LoachNovice wrote:
I started treating the tank with Kordon Ich Attach and have been following the instructions on the bottle. I have been treating for a week. I also raised the temp in the tank from 78 to 84, but this is hard to maintain as my house is cold and drafty in the winter.

I have Ich on my Clown loach too... I am also using Kordon Ich Attach, I used it the very first time I got ich and it worked wonderfuly! I had a long finned skirted tettra that was just covered in it and I thought we would lose him, but he pulled through. I have been treating this round of ich for about 5 days and I just noticed it got a little worse, I had the same thing happen the last time, I do not know if this is normal for that Ich med or not... just my experiance. But it does say on the bottle that it could take up to 5 weeks to completely kill all the ich... seems like a long time huh?

Well anywho hope the ich clears up soon! Let us know what happens!

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