Free Swimming Ich

[emmanuelchavez]

I'm guessing I have some free swimming ick in my 5 gallon tank, but I'm not sure. I can't seem to find any description or pictures of what this stage would look like. I even read d3sc3n7's article on ich/ick many times over and couldn't find my answer (GREAT article btw).

Has anyone seen this stage before? When I woke up this morning, and turned on the lights on the 5 gallon, I saw very, very small bubbles of 02 rising from my plants - and I thought, this was cool. But then I saw some of the things I thought were bubbles started switching direction and "swimming" downward. I don't know how else to describe it other than, they seemed to move around in the same manner baby brine shrimp would. These things are about the same size of bbs as well.

The only new fish I've gotten are the dwarf gourami pair - but they went into the 10 gallon, and nothing seems to be going on there. So I figured maybe they came in with the new plants I had just bought. I checked in the 15 gallon, which has some of those plants too, and I saw nothing. (If anything, the only things I saw on the plants in the 5 gallon were snail eggs and what I'm going to assume are cory eggs - more on that later). Maybe it's possible they've just been in their dormant stage for a while?

I stared my fish down for a couple of minutes, and didn't find any signs of ich on them, or anything else. I did find one of my pygmies dead this morning though .

When I get home, I'll be dropping in 7.5 watt heater in there to try to bring up the temp to the mid 80s, and I'll also be doing a water change. I wanted to use salt treatment, but with my cories in there, I don't think I should... unless, maybe I use half-dose? Would Coppersafe cause any harm to my cories?

Can anyone think of anything else those little swimming things could be?

[emmanuelchavez]

Anyone? I was going to go get some things I needed for my DIY CO2 system, and some ich medication (if it is in fact ich) after work today.

[TabMorte]

I think D3 did a thread on Ich. Get the copper safe in ASAP if it's free swimming, now's the time to kill it.

[Meghan]

I thought I had free swimming ich at one point also. I had what looked to be little white dots floating in the water. I did use a dose of coppersafe- it didn't do anything, so I assumed it wasn't ich- especially after reading d3sc3n7's article.

Here's an exert from d3sc3n7's article:
ICH has a 3-Stage life cycle. It can start as a dormant parasite in your tank (stage 1). You wont see it, you will have no clue its there. Once matured, it will become free swimming in the tank (stage 2)...on an endless search for a host...I.E. your poor fish. It's looking for those tasty fish, and it WILL find them! Now is when your fish show the white dots (stage 3).

So I guess the question is How Long Does Stage 2 Last?....

I hope someone else can give some insight... Good Luck with it!

[emmanuelchavez]

I think D3 did a thread on Ich. Get the copper safe in ASAP if it's free swimming, now's the time to kill it.

coppersafe won't harm my pygmies? I'm going to get it anyways, in case of a future outbreak, but I may crank up the heat to 85 and see if it dies like that. If they're still there tomorrow morning I'll probably use coppersafe.

Will using coppersafe eliminate the possibility of ever having inverts or snails in that tank?

[emmanuelchavez]

So I guess the question is How Long Does Stage 2 Last?....

Doesn't it last for 3 days on average? That's probably why I'm all panicky about it. Do I wait and confirm it's ich, in which it may be too late, or do I assume those little swimming things are ich and treat as such?

[TabMorte]

Careful about raising your temp too fast. THAT will hurt your pygmies. I wouldn't go over 80F personally.

[brian1973]

ich can not be seen in the free swimming stage. This was posted in an earlier thread..

[emmanuelchavez]

The heater will take at least a few hours to start raising the temp by 1 degree. so in a matter of 12 hours, it would raise it close enough to a temp to hopefully kill any ich, if there's any. When I used to have the heater in there, the temp would start reaching 85/86 during the day, and the pygmies were fine.... I didn't want to risk it, or lower their life span, so I took it out.

[brian1973]

emman...ICK CAN NOT be seen while its in the free swiming stage, this was asked in an earlier post i am trying to find it so you can link to it