Newblie Loach keepers with ich

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joietan
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri May 18, 2018 10:01 pm

Newblie Loach keepers with ich

Post by joietan » Fri May 18, 2018 10:53 pm

Yes i made a mistake by not quarantine them. Dont have any quarantine tank yet

I just bought clown loaches from 3 different suppliers within 2 weeks. Have 17 clown loaches from 4cm to 7cm at tank.
My tank is 60cm x 40cm x 30cm about 20 US gallon. Substrate is 2.5 cm dirt with 1 cm gravel on top.
I have 1 x HOB filter, 1 x sponge filter. I recently added additional air stone to better aeration.

Usually my water in tank is at room temperature about 30degre celcius.

But i lowered it to 27degree using fan thinking plants would live better. Then i bought a Lamp, then i saw tiny spots ich on some loaches.
So i now remove all the fan and light.

I asked a supplier where he has loach farm and he said treatment is 1 teaspoon / gallon (4 liter) and water change 30% everyday.

It is day 3 now.
Due to hot summer here in Indonesia. The water temp is 32degree celcius to 30.5 degree at night. I have 1 digital termometer and 1 mercury termometer. Both indicating above 30 degrees.

More ich can be seen on more loaches now. Some are flashing.
So far i have been putting total 9 tsp salt into this 20 gallon tank. and 50% water change on day 1 and 2.

I recently read the sticky post "Dealing with Ich" by Graeme Robson. Salt is not reccomended.

A friend gave me Sera Costapur which contain malachite green. I have also Seachem Paraguard.

Has anyone ever have experience using Sera Costapur ?
Researching the internet it seems Loaches are sensitive to Salt and medication. So should I go by heat alone and water changes alone?
Naturally i want this ich dissapear as soon as possible. But how long should be patient and expect some improvement ?

Thank you.
Joie

joietan
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri May 18, 2018 10:01 pm

Re: Newblie Loach keepers with ich

Post by joietan » Fri May 25, 2018 7:44 am

I have since changed water 50% alot every 3 days, so the salt is may be no longer existent.
Asked my friend for advice. Heres what i do.

I have since using only heat. it is day 8 now. I have put on a heater on day 3 and somehow my aquarium temp is 32.5 - 33 deg celcius now.
The ich seems to start disappering. I have to look very hard to find it. May be just 2 clown loaches has few ich.

Flashing is no longer observed.

In that tank i have also 3 otocinclus. They also seem ok with 33 deg celcius (91 F).
I may keep this temp for another 2 weeks just to make sure ich is gone.

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FishyLady
Posts: 519
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 1:46 pm
Location: Hay on Wye, Hereford

Re: Newblie Loach keepers with ich

Post by FishyLady » Wed Jun 20, 2018 4:20 pm

Hi,
Isn't 17 loaches plus 3 ottos a lot for your tank? Also what does flashing mean

Val
Better the chaos of creativity than the tidiness of idleness.

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

Re: Newblie Loach keepers with ich

Post by Diana » Thu Jun 21, 2018 8:57 am

How are things going?

Hope you have plans for a bigger tank! Those baby Loaches are going to grow... and grow...

Heat will kill Ich, as you are finding out. It is good that you have plenty of water movement, this helps to add oxygen to the water.
Water changes, especially vacuuming the bottom of the tank will remove a lot of the Ich organisms that fall to the floor to breed.

Yes, most plants are not very happy at that warm temperature.

I am surprised the Otocindlus are OK with that temperature, usually I see them listed as preferring cooler water.
38 tanks, 2 ponds over 4000 liters of water to keep clean and fresh.

Happy fish keeping!

joietan
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri May 18, 2018 10:01 pm

Re: Newblie Loach keepers with ich

Post by joietan » Sun Jun 24, 2018 1:20 am

Yes I have 15 clown loaches now, and 3 otocinclus.

2 clown loaches were dead because of skinny disease (that is after the ich). Isolated them and treated with fenbendazole but died at day 7.
Flashing is when the fish makes sudden moves like scratching its body.

The loaches most are now about 5cm, biggest is 8 cm. I didnt have the experience when buying those skinny ones. Next time i will get only bigger size.

Yes my 70 litre aquarium is too small for them. I found it after i read this forum. But i am not allowed to buy bigger 300 littres yet. So i will have to settle with current size. The goal is to keep loaches only tank, may be with some otocinclus.

The heat only method to treat ich works surprisingly well.

The temp was about 32-33 deg celcius for about 14 days. I did water changes about 30-50% every 3 days. No meds no salt. Now its returning to normal temp about 30 deg celcius.
It has been 2 weeks at 30 deg celcius. No ich is present. I guess the fishes won the battle.

Clown loaches are originated from my country at indonesia with tropical termperature so i guess it is still comfortable at high temperature.

Thank you,
Joie

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