ich log
02/01/2010: Woke up this morning to find my Keyhole cichlid and my Blue ram with 3-10 white spots each. That means Ich. Checked again later and Marbled hatched was covered with a few too. Not sure if he was also this morning, or if it’s a new development. Immediately dissolved 1/4cup of aquarium salt into 24oZ of water. Poured salted water slowly in tank. Turned heater up. Thus far, fish are acting perfectly normal other than the occasional swim under the driftwood to scratch their backs. Have done as much research as possible on ich, mostly rereading things and adding to what I already know. Considering garlic treatment as well tomorrow.
02/02/2010: This morning most of the parasites have burrowed out of the blue ram. I cut up 2 cloves of garlic and mixed them with thawed bloodworms and various pellets. Then fed some to each tank. The fish devoured pellets and worms, left garlic pieces which I later siphoned out. Did a 50% water change on both 10g and 20g long. Siphoned out every inch of 20g long in hopes of scooping up as many parasites as possible. All fish still acting normal. Heater was not working properly, have hopefully remedied the problem. Added half a dosage of salt to the new water.
02/02/2010: This morning most of the parasites have burrowed out of the blue ram. I cut up 2 cloves of garlic and mixed them with thawed bloodworms and various pellets. Then fed some to each tank. The fish devoured pellets and worms, left garlic pieces which I later siphoned out. Did a 50% water change on both 10g and 20g long. Siphoned out every inch of 20g long in hopes of scooping up as many parasites as possible. All fish still acting normal. Heater was not working properly, have hopefully remedied the problem. Added half a dosage of salt to the new water.
I did the garlic treatment only the one time and whether or not it helped is inconclusive. It certainly didn't hurt. Siphoned the entire bottom of the tank every day to every other day. Replaced percentage of salt as estimated was lost through the siphoning. I did this for 3 weeks, even though there were no signs of ich after the first week. You have to make sure it's all gone before ending treatment, and that means you keep treating until enough time has passed for it's life cycle to complete a few times. Also, the reason I got ich was because I didn't quarantine a few of my new fish. ALWAYS QUARANTINE.
