Icky Loaches

[funkymunkey29]

I am new to this site and I'm not even sure if I'm posting this in the right place. I have 18 clown loaches with ick. They have been sick with it for about 3 weeks now and I feel I'm losing the battle. This is how I lost my last batch of 12. In the beginning I was using jungle ick guard 2 which didn't seem to be doing nothing. So I did a major water change and changed the meds to mardel Maricide. I have only been giving them half doses. Does anyone know if you can give them whole doses of this and should you do water changes in between? I have the temp raised to 86. Any advice would be appreciated. But I would perfer to stick to the same meds and not start trying a bunch of new things. I don't think they can take much more. Thanks

[helen nightingale]

welcome to LOL funkeymunkey. you are in the right place to ask about your loaches.

i am not familiar with the medicines you have used - are you in the US? without knowing about them, using half doses sounds like a wise thing to do as loaches can be sensitive to the meds. somebody who knows more should be able to help soon enough.

could you tell us a bit more about your tank? how big, how much current there is, what sort of filter you have? what was the temperature before you raised it? what sort of other fish do you have in the tank? have you increased the airation in the tank?

that sort of info may help those who know more than me to give you better advise.

all the best to you and your sick loaches

[chefkeith]

Sorry to hear about the ich problem.

Here's a copy of one of the most popular ich articles on the net written by Daveedka. It details using the salt method. Salt will kill ich theronts.

http://www.aquariumboard.com/forums/articles/25.htm

Salt is safer to loaches than ich is, but it might be too late either way, since you've been treating them for 3 weeks already. I'd give it a try anyway because it's usually the safest treatment if administered properly.

Increased water temps helps speed up the life cycle of ich and high enough temps may kill ich.
BUT, higher water temps also reduce oxygen content in the water and also increase bacterial reproduction levels.

If the the clowns are in bad shape, it might be best to reduce the water temperature so that the clowns can get more oxygen and so that they use less energy to get the oxygen. Decreasing temps also help so that bacterial infections don't overwhelm the fish.

If you see the clowns gasping for air or breathing hard, reduce the water level of the tank low enough to where it takes them little to no effort to get surface oxygen. Water depth will only be a few inches high (2-4") in this case.
Don't feed the fish until the ich is gone.

Btw, large water changes can possibly cause osmotic shock, so be careful when adding water back into the tank if the water from the tap has a much lower/higher TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) than the tanks water.

[Diana]

Are you sure this is Ich? There was a thread here recently with pictures that looked like Ich at first glance (White spots on the fish) but may have been something else. Spots were more neatly spread out, whereas Ich spots can be in any sort of place, several grouped together, some areas of the fish with none...