*sigh*

I have a fantail who I believe has ick... small white saltgrains all over his body... lays on the tank bottom.... I used quick cure for 3 days as recommended... no change... so I'm stumped.

Water quality- good except the nitrates are a little high...

Forgot to mention- he eats when fed, not as heartily as usual though, then swims around for a few short minutes and back to his hiding spot...

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

hi hi

is this the same fish that was sitting a few days ago?

some of the things that will help us help you are if you can anser the questions in the red box...

size of tank, numbers for the tests, number of fish, etc..

Ich is always there.. it becomes a factor when the fish is weakened by stress or by dirty water, or both
getting an understanding of your situation will help us get taco swimming again.
-Toot

Like tooter mentioned, if the water quality isn't up to par,
then the meds will only do a minimal amount of good. Ideal
water params would be ammonia 0, nitrItes 0, nitrAtes 5-20,
ph level 7.0-8.5. Water changes for the next couple days
should help to bring those back in check. Make sure to use
a dechlorinator and temp matched water with each water
change.

To deal with ich you'll want to get a heater and raise the temp
to around 80*f. Make sure to have adaquate aeration in the
tank when doing this. Higher temps equal lower oxygen levels
in the water. Then you'll want to turn off the light on the tank
and cover the whole tank with a towel or blanket. On every
3rd day you'll want to gravel vacuum the bottom of the tank
to remove any dormant ich particles in the gravel. Along with all
of this you will need to either:

1) medicate with a product containing malachite green
such as Rid Ich+ found at your local fish store
(Petco, Petsmart etc.) Make sure to remove any carbon in your
tank, it'll absorb the meds rendering it uneffective.

OR

2) treat with salt, add salt to a total of 3 tsps per
gallon in increments of 1 tsp per gallon every 12 hours.
Use any salt which does NOT have anti-caking agents in it.
Dissolve it first in a container with a little tank water
before pouring it in.

Remember when doing water changes to add enough salt
for the amount of water that was removed. With the water
changes use water closely matching the tank temp and add
a dechlorinator appropriate for the amount of new water going
into the tank.

Keep up the treatment until the fish has been completely
ich-free for at least 6 days past the last sighting(which might
well take a couple of weeks)

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask away.