whetu Posted January 4, 2005 Report Share Posted January 4, 2005 Howdy all, I seem to have the dreaded ich (white spot) in my tank. I have clown loaches, gold barbs and ottos in there. It's a heavily planted tank with a gravel substrate and driftwood. The total capacity is around 122 litres (32 US gallons) but with all that stuff I estimate it's holding more like 100 litres of water. I bought the only two meds available at my local fish store - Blue Circle White Spot Cure and Malkon (malachite green). Has anyone tried either of these to treat ich in clown loaches? After studying the life cycle of ich I'm very sceptical about the claims of the Blue Circle product that it cures ich in a single treatment, and it doesn't tell me anywhere on the bottle what the active ingredients are. If I go for the Malkon, how to I calculate a dose that's going to be both safe and effective? I've read that malachite green is absorbed by anything porous and/or organic in the tank, so the dose may need to be increased to account for that. With all my plants and driftwood, how on earth do I calculate a safe dose? :-? Any help will be gratefully received. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livebearer_breeder Posted January 4, 2005 Report Share Posted January 4, 2005 I tried Malkon but didn't have a lot of luck with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plecs Posted January 4, 2005 Report Share Posted January 4, 2005 turn your heater up to 30C, that will force it to leave the bodies making it easier to kill. Just half dose the malkon, better to under than over dose with loaches. even if it takes longer. But make sure you turn the heat up! plecs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted January 4, 2005 Report Share Posted January 4, 2005 Make sure you add extra airation when you turn the heat up. My loaches have currently got it really bad (it just seemed to come out of nowhere, no new fish lately, nothing) and I lost an ~10cm loach the other day. The havent tried malkon, but the whitespot cure seems to be doing its thing for everyone else except the loaches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kim Posted January 4, 2005 Report Share Posted January 4, 2005 white spot cure is the best!! if your fish have it really bad dose it day 1 and day 2, if its not to bad dose it day 1 and day 3! turn the temp up but i normally only think 28 as that is warm and does the trick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetu Posted January 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 Thanks for your replies everyone I'll try a conservative dose of White Spot Cure today, followed by a second dose tomorrow, while also increasing the water temperature. Does anyone know the active ingredient in White Spot Cure? It seems that we're all flying a bit blind if we don't know the ingredients but are doing something other than the instructions say... The instructions on the bottle say "Usually one treatment is sufficient, if the parasite persists repeat the dose after 3 days.... It is not necessary to discontinue filtration or increase temperature." The stuff in the bottle looks like a malachite green solution but the instructions are not consistent with the advice I've located for using malachite green or the life cycle of the ich parasite. The Skeptical Aquarist says "It's absolutely essential to keep on medicating till the last encysted theront has released its tomites, and the last tomite has been eliminated by the medication." This page discusses how (and why) malachite green works for ich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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