Please help!

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winthrop
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 12:19 pm

Please help!

Post by winthrop » Thu Nov 14, 2013 8:16 pm

My clown loach is covered in small white dots and I treated last night with Super Ich Cure. Tonight he is kindof swimming sideways and upside down and so is my little marble hatchet. I don't know what to do!
Can anyone help me?!
Thanks, Eli

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

Re: Please help!

Post by Diana » Sat Nov 16, 2013 6:44 pm

Massive water change. Add activated carbon to the filter. Change it after 24 hours.
Perhaps the medicine was too strong. Remove as much of it as you can from the water with water changes and activated carbon.
38 tanks, 2 ponds over 4000 liters of water to keep clean and fresh.

Happy fish keeping!

winthrop
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 12:19 pm

Re: Please help!

Post by winthrop » Sun Nov 17, 2013 5:59 pm

Thank you so very much for your advice.

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

Re: Please help!

Post by Diana » Thu Nov 21, 2013 5:47 pm

Ich is not cured that fast, either.

Have the water changes helped your Loach to swim in a normal manner?

Are there still Ich spots on him? These will be falling off and reproducing. Keep on vacuuming the floor of the tank to remove these.

Ultra Violet sterilizer can help, too.

There are much gentler medications you could try. One that many people here use for Loaches is Rid Ich. You would dose it a bit differently from the label, though.
Dose only half as much, but dose twice as often. The reason: You want to keep the medication in the water at the proper strength as long as there is the possibility of Ich. The medicine is active against the babies. The label says to dose at a certain rate, knowing that the medicine breaks down over the 24 hours between dosing, so they suggest a larger dose to start with. But Loaches and some other fish do not do well with certain meds. If you dose only half as much it breaks down. So dose twice as often, such as 6AM and 6PM. That way the medication is still strong enough to kill the Ich babies, but the fish are not exposed to the higher dose.
Do not use a UV sterilizer with any medication except salt. Some meds may be broken down by the UV.
Also, read the label on your dechlor. There are some (Amquel) that specifically state that you cannot use a dye based medicine (and Rid Ich is one) with this dechlor.
38 tanks, 2 ponds over 4000 liters of water to keep clean and fresh.

Happy fish keeping!

winthrop
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 12:19 pm

Re: Please help!

Post by winthrop » Thu Nov 21, 2013 6:31 pm

Thank you. He has lost all his spots and is swimming normally again. Yesterday I did a 25% water change but I did not vacuum the gravel. Mainly because not real long ago I had an ammonia bloom (I think, although I don't understand that either because it has been a very established tank) and I don't want to remove any needed bacteria.

As for treating with Super Ich Cure, I did do a half dose. I dosed once, waited 48 hours and dosed again. He seems to be all better. Should I do anything else?
Thanks for any advice.

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