# Curing ich without killing snails



## jccaclimber (Aug 29, 2011)

Go buy a submersible heater that will get the tank between 86*F and 90*F if you don't have one already. I say submersible because they hold temperature better and often have a built in thermostat. Turn the temp up, leave it for a week, then turn it back down. I personally set mine to 88*F, but if the entire tank is at 86*F that should do the trick. If you already have a heater that will get there and just can't measure it then get a cheap digital food thermometer at the grocery store and monitor temperature with that.


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

No need to cook your tank. 

Get a bottle of Kordon's Ick Attach, 2Xs a day dose for 3 days, then 4 days of single dose, 8th day do a 50% water change. A 2nd week of single dose days and then another 50% W/C.

Great product safe for inverts and plants.

I started keeping fish in 1964. I've tried everything anyone have ever thought of, This is the best product so far. Most of the old school methods cause too much stress to the fish that are already in trouble due to the parasites.


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## squirrel (Aug 25, 2013)

I just read up on Kordon's Rid Ich+ and since it contains formalin Im reluctant to use it. I have a chemical sensitivity to formaldehyde and don't much like it when my eyes swell shut. It sure is cheaper than another heater though! I guess I could do water changes wearing rubber gloves? I don't really want to bring the chemical into my house at all though. 

And I actually do use my digital kitchen thermometer in the tank - it's great!


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## nyxkitten (Jul 24, 2012)

I agree with jccaclimber and Dogfish.


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## squirrel (Aug 25, 2013)

Ahhhhhh. Kordon Ich Attack DOES look really good. I just have to try to find a LFS that carries this and not just its formaldehyde-laden label-mate. 

Thanks!


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## Caconym (Dec 17, 2013)

Hi there,

We beat Ich back in December, and since then took out flukes or some other external parasites.

The ich was beaten with temps up to 85 (heaters really maxed out) and salt. No casualties during the treatment, I think mostly because we brought the concentration and temps up over the course of days.

After that, we did lose all our otos, but I think that was likely due to them eating a blue green algae bloom.

After THAT, our danios and neons started flashing, so we tried Paraguard, starting at 1/8 dose, up to full dose. All the fish (including Cories and a BN Plec) survived that with no issues.

Either option is supposed to be good for Ich, and in our experience both were fish safe. Our snails survived the salt/temp, but I haven't seen them since the paraguard.


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## squirrel (Aug 25, 2013)

I have another question. Out betta was in the same tank as the new infected embers for about 30 minutes before I separated him for being aggressive. This was a few days before the embers showed any signs of ich. Should I treat the betta as well, or was he not exposed because of a parasite lifecycle thing?


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

Kordon's Ich Attack for sure.

Got ich on the fish in my planted tank (which also has shrimp and snails), Kordon's cleared it up, no problem, no other changes to my normal routine. Just follow the directions on the bottle!

Takes a couple of weeks to completely rid yourself of it, but once you start treating, no more worries. (Note: I have read that in extremely bad cases, Ich Attack won't work as well as the more aggressive chemical options, but as long as you start treating early enough, you should be fine in most situations.)

Amazon carries it if you can't find it locally.


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## squirrel (Aug 25, 2013)

I can't find it locally, and it will take 10-14 days to ship from Amazon. What do you think? Heat and salt?


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

squirrel said:


> I can't find it locally, and it will take 10-14 days to ship from Amazon. What do you think? Heat and salt?


Salt will kill your snails for sure. Heat will kill some, but not all, of your plants.


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## saltykisses (Dec 30, 2013)

Try some of that reef safe weak oodinex ...it's a very weak strain if copper treatment..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I know it's marine stuff.. But .. I think they do one for tropical also now..


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## squirrel (Aug 25, 2013)

kman said:


> Salt will kill your snails for sure. Heat will kill some, but not all, of your plants.


Is heat tolerance in plants species related, or just down to luck of the draw?


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

squirrel said:


> Is heat tolerance in plants species related, or just down to luck of the draw?


I believe it's species related, to an extent, plus an amount of luck as always. Some species tend to do better than others, but there are no promises to be made either way. I don't know enough about it to know which species, but I did see a number of threads discussing the matter when I was researching for my ich outbreak. Kordon's got the job done, though.


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## squirrel (Aug 25, 2013)

I think Oodinex might be harder to get here than Kordon's Ich attack. 

I don't want to put a price on the life of a fish vs the life of a plant, but 6 embers at $2 a piece would be less of a hit than losing my plants. I'm going to do some more research on heat. I really wish I could get the Kordon's product in under 2 weeks!!!


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

squirrel said:


> I think Oodinex might be harder to get here than Kordon's Ich attack.
> 
> I don't want to put a price on the life of a fish vs the life of a plant, but 6 embers at $2 a piece would be less of a hit than losing my plants. I'm going to do some more research on heat. I really wish I could get the Kordon's product in under 2 weeks!!!


I'm rather amazed that Amazon takes 2 weeks to get something to Vancouver? What about expedited shipping?


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## squirrel (Aug 25, 2013)

kman said:


> I'm rather amazed that Amazon takes 2 weeks to get something to Vancouver? What about expedited shipping?


It's not shipped by Amazon. Some company called Vitamin Guys sell it. When I try to order from amazon.com instead of .ca, it says the item cannot be shipped to Canada.

Edited to add: I will buy some for future ich outbreaks but it's not going to be much use to me this time around.


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## squirrel (Aug 25, 2013)

Try to find the snails and remove them and then dose with Seachem Paraguard, in the hope I'm not allergic to a non-formaldehyde aldehyde?


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## squirrel (Aug 25, 2013)

metronidazole???


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## squirrel (Aug 25, 2013)

Update: I wound up simply treating with salt. Since my temperature already hovers around 80, and the thermometers in stock at the closest LFS were all $65+, I decided this was good enough and one less stress for the fish to deal with. I went with the minimum suggested dosage on the box of aquarium salt. It's been several days now, and I did lose the first fish that appeared infected (though I can't find its corpse anywhere), but I think things are turning around. As of this morning there are no visible white spots at all, and the fish are all back out in the open and no longer in hiding. The snails are fine and the plants seem okay so far. I'll give it another several days and then start slowly removing the salt with water changes. My fingers are crossed.


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