What should I do in the meantime?

Question

I've just noticed that one of my silver hatchetfish has ick on his chin and left fin. I know that it spreads really fast, but I can't get meds for it right now, I have to wait until tomorrow. It's a ten gallon freshwater, and all of my readings are good and the temp is 80. I don't have a heater large enought to heat my tank. There are also other fish in the tank including tetras, rasboras and cories. What can I do in the meantime to stop the spread of ick?

Answer 1

most Wal-Marts are 24 hours...they would have an Ick treatment if you don't want to wait until tomorrow. they also have aquarium heaters. as someone else said, the wHoLe tank needs to be treated, not just the one fish. there may be Ick on the other fish & you just can't see it yet.

Answer 2

take the hatchetfish out of the 10g tank and put it into something like a bowl with a towel over it if you don't have a hospital tank, until you can get medicine and a heater.

Answer 3

I wouldn't add salt.  Your cories definitely will not like it.  Once you see the little white dots, your tank is already infested.  There is nothing you can do besides get medicine.  Some people think if you remove any fish that don't appear to have ich they may not get infected.  I've found that removing fish who do not appear to have ich when others in the tank do have ich, is futile.  Your fish can last til tomorrow when you can get medicine.

Ich cannot be killed during most of its life cycle.  It can only be killed when it is floating around in the water searching for a host.  Those white dots you see on your hatchet are actually pus-filled sacs of maturing parasites.  They will eventually burst and all the parasites will be released into the water.

When you start treating tomorrow, treat for at LEAST a week after you see the last white spot disappear.  Most medicines say they will rid your tank of ich in as little as two days, or four days, or some nonsense like that.  Remember, once the white spots disappear, that means the parasite is in your water.  The parasite CANNOT be killed while it is on a host.  So ending treatment once all the pus-filled sacs have burst is pretty silly.  You have to make sure you've killed every last parasite, and this can only been done when it is in the water.  Otherwise, you'll have to treat all over again.

Most ich medications are very irritating to cories.  Cut the dose in half.  If you don't, you risk stressing, and possibly killing your cories.  Because you're using half a dose, treatment may take longer.

By the way, raising the temperature just speeds up the life cycle of the parasite.  Increasing the temperature helps when you're medicating because it gets the parasite into the water where it can be killed faster.  Increasing the temperature when you aren't medicating will just allow the parasite to infect more fish at a faster rate.

Get that medicine asap tomorrow!  Good luck!

Answer 4

you should be ok untill tomorrow the main thing you really should do is get a heater so that you can raise the tank temp up to 85 degs to treat ick.as it will kill it in the gravel  

Answer 5

You can turn up the small heater you have, watch the temp and do not let it go above 85F

Also, add 1 teapoon for every 5 gallons of aquarium salt, and that helps 2!

Answer 6

Definately take the fish out, nothing wrong with being more safe than sorry.  Put him in a clean bowl or bucket using the same water from your tank, and treat both tanks.  Go out tomorrow and grab a 10 gallon from Walmart and a heater (two while you are out)

Answer 7

You're right, don't add the salt, corys are sensitive to salt. Your fish should be fine until tomorrow when you can get the medicine. I know its hard having to wait to medicate them but they'll be okay for tonight. But you should seriously think about investing in a heater for your ten gallon, its best to have one to avoid temper fluctuations which stress fish. But don't fret about the Ich, it won't do him irreversible harm to wait until the morning.