Ick parade of death

[Missy]

 :'(
Sorry to report that I've lost 2 to my ick infestation. The first casualty was my 6 year old fantail-he was the most heavily infested, and then had fin rot on top of that. On Satuday morning he was jsut barely floating along and I took him out-he was barely alive, still lots of parasites on him, and his scales were just falling off. I put him in a bag of pond water and put him to sleep in the freezer.
I was very hopeful yesterday as everyone looked perkier. The 6 year old comet, who was the second one to show signs, seems a lot better. His tail looks much clearer, still some red veining however. Many less spots on the body than before (today looked even more clear). However, today I just went out to feed and one of the new watonai was belly-up. He had a few icks on his tail and I was thinking he would pull through, but no luck. I looked him over carefully and he did have some along the endge of his tail fins, but nothing like what the other two big guys had. I guess they were just too much for him. His gills looked clean though and no secondary infections that were obvious.
I really liked him too-he was mostly silver with some pretty bright red patterns on his back.
Koi looks good, comet looks a lot better and is eating well, second watonai appears hungry and completly uninfested-the third watonai I have not seen for a few days at least-he was the shyest one from the get-go and had not yet learned to come to hand-feeding before ICK, so I'm hoping he is lurking around the bottom and hasn't croaked.
So I have been treating continuously for 10 days with the 25% water changes done every 3 days as directed on the Quick Cure bottle. I was going with 3 oz but I cut back to 2 as the 3 ounce dose seemed hard on the smaller fish, espcailly the one that just died.. Today I'm due for a 25% water change if I want to continue the treatment.
I'm not sure what to do. Comet still definitely has a few spots on him. Should I keep on? How long is "too long?" I wonder if the treatment was part of the watonai's demise-every time I put the medicine in he seemed a little distressed, even after I cut back on the amount.

[tracey_shafer]

If your still seeing spots then it is not working and you should keep treating until you can get some of the proform C ordered and in. I am happy to say that mine are all done with the treatments and I only lost six of 30 babies. These were about 1 to 2 inch fish so they have done well with the treatments. I put them in clean salt water when we were done with the proform C treatments and they are eating and doing better day by day.
Good luck.

[tranquility]

Missy I'm sorry you lost two of your favorites...hope you get it nipped in the bud soon....
Lawanna

[Missy]

I'm ordering some ProForm-C, but I don't know how much better it will be than QuickCure. It's exactly the same thing-formalin and malachite green.

[miguynmkoi]

Sorry you are having a terrible time with the ich. 

I recently brought home 2 deadly carriers of ich    They were quarantined for 18 days, looked fine so we introduced them to the pond.  Almost right away ich spots appeared on the newbies.  Out they went into quarantine.  They struggled with the pet store bought ich meds and finally died after contracting many other symptoms.  This lasted for a week.  No fun, especially for these special fancies.  They both died within 2 days of each other.

Well this also got me concerned about the other fish in the pond.  I've had these other fish at least one year since I started this new pond last 4th of July.  Unfortunately I noticed some ich spots on some; their tails and fins.  I went to a local pond expert shop and they told me to try Nox-Ich.  There wasn't any necessary water change or replacement.  Doesn't hurt plants or bio-filter.  Just 3 days of treatment (1 teaspoon per 75 gallons).  I bought a 16oz bottle for $9.95.  That was almost 2 weeks ago.  Now we're all fine. 

I don't know about anything else as this is my first encounter with ich in over 10 years of keeping fish outdoors.  But I do know I will not get any more new fish  for a while.  Totally stressed out by the incident.

Good luck with your herd.

[Missy]

Miguynmkoi-what are the ingredients in Nox-Ich? I didn't run across that one in my research.
I ordered the ProForm C from Pond Dr. Also got some food that is milled with antibiotics, just as a  precaution, will feed that for 10 days.

[Missy]

This whole thing has got me really freaked out about adding anything to the pond. I admit I did NOT quarantine my new watonai, and I suppose they could have brought it in, though I feel certain that Steve at Raingarden would not sell ick-infested fish. (He did NOT tell me that no quarantine was necessary, he just said many customers don't do it) I also have brought a LOT of new plants in ths spring from various sources, so it could have come in on that. And we have had an ungodly amount of rain this spring, maybe that contributed by messsing up the pH or something. I feel like from now on when I bring any new plants in from a pond that has fish in it, I should  do a preventive 3-day treatment cycle. And I'm for sure buying a quarantine tank!!!! It's such a  bummer-my fish have always been very healthy. I have never had a fish disease in 6 years.

[miguynmkoi]

Don't worry Missy!  I felt the same way when I did qt the newbies and still got ich! 

Nox-Ich: Sodium Chloride 0.50%, Malachite Green 0.50%, for control of external parasitic diseases including ich and velvet.  Use for 3 consecutive days.  If problem persists after initial treatment, skip one day and treat again for another 3 days.  For ponds: 1/4 cup treats 900 gal.  18oz treats 7200 gal.

My qt is a 25 gal barrel that filters through another barrel of waterplants.

[RWinn]

so when you get a new fish would it be a good idea to go ahead and do an ick treatment even though they dont show any signs of it

[tracey_shafer]

so when you get a new fish would it be a good idea to go ahead and do an ick treatment even though they dont show any signs of it

No that is not what they are saying. What is very important is to QT every new fish for at least 6 weeks before adding to your pond. You can do QT with salt if there is no sign of illness.
 But what you should do is PP or do a bleach treatment on any plants you are adding to your pond. Esp if the plants have been in a pond that had other fish. That will kill eggs and ick ect.
Missy I am glad you are getting the Proform in finally and I hope you don't lose any more wet pets. And while they might have some of the the same ingre. they really do not all work the same. You would see most koi people keep the proform C on hand for their fish medical chest than any other of the ick cures you can find at a local fish store. And it has a long shelf life.
Don't feel too bad about not treating your plants or Steve's fish I am know my babies did not get ick from anything but the birds coming to my pond.

[Missy]

They can get it from BIRDS?!??!?!? Is nowhere safe?????

[Julles]

Missy, I'm so sorry to hear this.  I was thinking about you Saturday, and wanted to post to ask how your fish were doing.  Now I read this, and it's so sad.  I hope you can stop the mess before any more fish subcomb.