i bought a chocolate oranda a few days ago & i've since noticed it has ich (also known as white spot) so i went to the petshop & bought some treatment 4 the water. it's called 'anti white spot plus' made by interpet. i've read the instructions but i'm a bit confused about the whole thing.

i've taken the affected fish out of my main tank to hopefully stop my other fish from getting it.the others aren't showing any signs of illness but should i still treat them? i don't want to harm them-this medicine looks quite scary (its dark blue in colour) so i have put a small amount of aqaurium salt in the main tank because i read that the white spot parasite can't live in slightly saline water. am i doing the right thing? & how long should i isolate the ill fish for? i would appreciate any advice/experiences anybody has.

thanks!



Zoey

If you noticed the spots right away its probably not necessary to douse your whole tank.



Ich is present in all aquariums, but is only able to thrive when fish become sick or stressed and their immune system drops.



The cycle of reproduction is mostly dependent on temperature, the higher the temp the faster the parasites will drop off the fish to the bottom and hatch. That is the only time that they can be affected by medication.



I am not familiar with the medication you chose but Im sure its fairly similar to all the others. I prefer jungle labs (jungle buddies) Ich cure, which is dosed at one self dissolving tablet per 10gallons of water.



Just one other thing, make sure you have airation in whatever tank you decide to medicate as it will deplete oxygen very fast.



Just about all the ich meds stain the water, and any other porous material it comes in contact with (like wood, silicone,soft plastics-so its best to remove them temporarily) its one of the ingredients thats proven to work.

I purchased an orange and white oranda once that had Ich. I put him in a separate tank, and raised the temperature to above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. I also used Wardley's Ick Out http://www.aquariumguys.com/ickout1.html , which was also a dark blue/purple color. It cured the ich within a few days.



I've never heard of using salt to treat ich. Best of luck to you!