[AquariumNoob]

So, i have a peacock bass/cichlid in my tank with really small white dots all over him. My guess is ich.. I Was going to treat it but noticed that most medicines say not suitable for tanks with scaleless fish... I happen to have a channel cat, 3 4-line pictus cats, a polypterus, a dragon fish/goby, and a pleco in there with the bass. If im not mistaken most of those don't have scales.. im not sure as to how they would do with the extreme heat and salt treatement either.. I know the peacock bass comes from hot areas so he'd probably be alright but other fish like the channel cat would probably be fried.
Can someone please chime in? When i first saw it i didnt think anything of it but now theres a bunch of little dots on him and im not sure what to do.

 

[Oceangirl]

No problem! Here is what to do, go Order a LARGE bottle of Seachem Paraguard, and make sure you have a Good heater. I had Ich in a planted tank, with scaleless fish and shrimp! You will need to get the heater up to 85.
1st day dose Slowly turn the heater up VERY slowly, like 1 degree up per 1-2 hours. Then after lights out, dose 1/4 dose of Paraguard
2nd day 1/2 dose after lights out @ night and 1/2 in morning no lights for 2 hours
3rd day full dose in the morning with at least 2 hours no lights after dosing. Then Another full dose at night after lights out
4th Same full dose in the morning and full dose for night after lights out
5th Same full dose in the morning and full dose for night after lights out
6th Same full dose in the morning and full dose for night after lights out
7th WATER CHANGE DAY!! Do 50%,m doing a VERY good vacuuming
Start again, full dose morning and night treat till spots are gone.
I did water changes every 3 days, vacuuming the substrate VERY well before doing in the morning. Its also best you limit the light, it will help with stress.

 

[AquariumNoob]

Im not so sure i have enough time to wait on shipping. I went to petco earlier and picked up a bottle of some herbal stuff thats supposed to help and says nothing about being dangerous. Its safe with coral as well as most inverts so im going to give that a shot. Putting the sick fish in a 5 gallon clear plastic tub so i can better monitor and dose the medicine and all. Going to also put a bit in the tank in case any other fish have it but i believe the only one hit was the peacock bass. Very possibly due to sick feeder fish. I bought a 10 gal tank from petco (yay 1$/gallon sale) so i set that up underneath the 75 as a quarantine tank so i can get feeders in there and QT them for a week and give em some meds and stuff before they are used as a food source.

 

[lauraleellbp]

You're going to need to treat the main tank as well, it's going to be infested with the parasites, so if you cure the fish in your hospital tank you'll just re-infect them as soon as you put them back in the main tank.

 

[AquariumNoob]

figured id do a half dose in the main tank so as not to harm any of the more sensitive fish.
The medicine ive got is kordon ich attack. The Herbal formula.

 

[AquariumNoob]

So, i got aquarium salt earlier and put a bit in, but im worried about using the full dose so i dont damage plants. Whats a good dose that wont kill my freshwater plants? Also, i have pictus cats and stuff as listed in the original post and am wondering if the salt is safe with them, too? Will cranking the temp up to ~85 safe for those fish? The peacock comes from tropical areas so i think hell be alright, but the channel cat and stuff probably wont be a fan. Please help!! Trying to get this stuff under control before it spreads.

 

[Snowflake311]

Bring the heat up to 90f and add extra aeration the heat alone will kill all but one kind of ich. Do a large 80% wc add new water and put your temp up. After 3 days do another big water change keep the heat up for a week. I no longer use meds or chemicals heat alone does the trick every time.

 

[Fiftymeatballs]

Bring the heat up to 90f and add extra aeration the heat alone will kill all but one kind of ich. Do a large 80% wc add new water and put your temp up. After 3 days do another big water change keep the heat up for a week. I no longer use meds or chemicals heat alone does the trick every time.

+1 Heat works very well for ich. A constant temp of 86 for a week worked in my tank. Just make sure to up the oxygen, warm water does not hold O2 well. Make sure you keep those temps long enough for the lifecycle to complete. I believe the heat only kills the free swimming parasite after hatching.

 

[Fiftymeatballs]

I just read that Channel catfish are best kept at 77-82 and for max growth kept at 85. So 86-87 to kill ich for a week is no big deal. The temp is not long term enough to have ill effect, the ich is what's going to kill them if you don't act soon since most of your fish are scaleless.
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/catfish/channel.php

 

[Fiftymeatballs]

You don't need the salt in my opinion either. You can kill all your plants with it too.

 

[Aqguy]

With high temp your fish will have a much higher metabolism and need to eat more ,the temp will speed up the cyst ick falling off the fish ,but it can still live in your tank for 2 weeks.

 

[caique]

Safeguard 4 Canine dewormer 1/10 of a gram per 10 gallons, treat one day if they begin to get better leave them alone, do a 30 percent water change in a day or so, if they don't get better treat again and then do a water change the next day, if they are still not better, repeat above, I have never had to treat more than twice and this tank has never seen Ich again.

I learned about this from Aqua Forest in San Francisco, call George if you have any other questions. They treat all there display tanks this way, with no concern for fish, snails, plants, or shrimp.

This same drug (fenbendazole) is used to get rid of planaria and works like a charm.