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Symptoms: Ick is visible to the naked eye in its encapsulated stage, looking like grains of salt stuck to the puffer's skin and/or fins. While it is sometimes termed whitespot, it is has a raised appearance rather than a simple spot-like mark. Sometimes this parasite is only present in the gills. Puffers may exhibit labored breathing at the surface, or at the flow from your filter. Other physical symptoms include darting and scratching against tank decor or plants.
Treatment: It is advisable that you read the "background" section below to fully understand the life cycle of this parasite. This will aid in your treatment. Read ALL the steps before beginning.
1. Quarantine
the tank. Be aware that in its free-swimming
(tomite)
sand
stages Ick is extremely contagious.
Also check the water quality. Puffers in poor conditions tend to
contract Ick more readily.
2. Add
aquarium salt to aid in the osmoregulation
of your puffer. Salt also has an adverse affect on Ich. Take
note of your species' salt tolerance. Use three (3) teaspoons per
gallon(3.78 liters) as a guideline. If you have a brackish species,
you may use more (use discretion! you don't want to raise the salinity
of your water past the tolerance level--check the parameters for your species).
3. Treat
your tank with Maracide.
If this is not available, you can use malachite
green, aniline
green, and formalin.
Some other brand names are "Quick Cure" and "RidIch". Please note
that all of these chemicals are somewhat dangerous to puffers (it burns
their skin), and the dosage should be halved.
Be sure to follow the directions for your meds, especially the performance
of water changes (25-30% water change after each day of meds).
Treatments will normally be done every 3-4 days, but regardless of the
directions, keep up the regiment for 12-14 days to completely eradicate
this parasite. Steps 2, 3 & 4 done correctly will work together
to eradicate the parasite from your tank. Discoloration of your water
will occur, but is easily removed with fresh carbon when the treatment
is finished. *if you don't want to put the above chemicals into
your tank, you may omit this section, allowing the increased salinity and
temperature to take effect. This, however, isn't the quickest way
to treat Ick.
4. Raise
the temperature of your tank to the maximum
allowable level, taking note of the tolerance level of your species of
puffer. This speeds up the life cycle of Ick, allowing it to be killed
faster as it brings the parasite into its tomite stage sooner.
5. Vacuum
the gravel thoroughly. While performing
water changes, you may want to incorporate this step. It removes
some of the tomites from your tank that may have survived by falling into
the substrate.
6. Watch
your puffer for signs of secondary bacterial
infection or fungus. Treat with anti-biotics as needed.
*My preferred medication (along with the above steps) for Ick is Maracide AND either Maracyn or Maracyn-two.
Background: Pufferfish are especially susceptible to Ick. Understanding the life cycle of this parasite is helpful during the treatment, since it is only vulnerable during its free-swimming stage (tomite). The parasite's life cycle is direct and simple. The trophozites are found in pustules on the fish. This is what we, as aquarists, see as the white spots on our puffers. These trophozites mature, and escape when the pustules rupture. It is at this point that the puffer is susceptible to secondary infections (such as bacteria and fungus), as the pustules leave an open wound. The trophozites settle to the substrate, form a "cyst," and then reproduce asexually. The cyst, now containing hundreds of "tomites" (the free swimming and vulnerable stage of Ick) breaks open, and the tomites search for a new host. The tomite cannot live longer than 48-55 hours without a new host. Upon finding a new host, the tomite burrows into the host's tissue and grows into a new pustule. At the burrowing stage, Ick is referred to as a "theront". The cycle then repeats itself. This entire life cycle speeds up with increased temperature. Since Ick is only treatable during its tomite stage, speeding up the life cycle means being able to kill them off sooner. Treating ick depends upon the aquarist's ability to speed up the life cycle and kill the tomites. Adding salt to the tank also helps, as freshwater Ick is a poor osmoregulator. It is important to repeat the treatment every 3-4 days, perhaps more frequently if you are able to increase the temperature (every other day at 82F, 27.7C). This will depend upon the temperature of your water, as you are seeking to kill the tomites swimming in your tank. You will need to keep up the treatment for 12-14 days to ensure the eradication of Ichthyophthirius multifiliis. Vacuuming the gravel removes the remaining encysted trophozoites.
If you want
to read more, here is some additional information on Ick:
Ichthyophthirius multifiliis means "fish louse with many children"; it
was so named because one parasite may produce as many as 600 to 1,200 offspring.
The parasite penetrates the mucus coat and the upper layer of the epidermis.
By these movements the epidermis is irritated and reacts by augmentation
of the epithelial cells, resulting in a covering of the parasite by a layer
of the skin of the fish. Thus the swelling is a pathological production
of the fish skin as a reaction to the activity of the parasite and not
the parasite itself. The Ich is always situated between the epidermis and
the cutis, where it feeds on red blood corpuscles and disintegrated epithelial
cells. The mature parasite, upon leaving its host, can have a diameter
of 0.2 to 0.5 mm, although some larger specimens have been found of 1 mm.
It sinks to the bottom of the water, where it secretes a soft jelly-like
cyst. Here a series of rapid asexual divisions take place. The speed of
this process depends upon the temperature of the water, warmer water facilitating
faster division. While puffers are constantly being infected and left of
parasites, the infection continues by the ever increasing numbers of parasites.
The time the parasite stays on the fish is also dependent upon the water
temperature. By raising the water temperature you will shorten the time
it take the parasite to leave the host, but speeding up the time it take
the new cysts to develop. This will be useful for medications that kills
the cyst stage of the parasite. The young parasites cannot live long free
swimming either. If they cannot find a host, they die with in a few days.
According to experts, at 68 Fahrenheit no free swimming parasite can live
more than 55 hours. If you were able to remove all the fish from a infected
tank, the tank will be safe again after 3 day, But this is not a viable
option. Complete treatment of a diseased fish will take longer, and you
must treat the whole aquarium as there might be some parasites still present.
The cyst of Ich can often be found on water plants, which explains how
these parasites can be smuggled into the aquarium by plants from a infected
tank. (Axelrod, Shultz 1990)
While some fish develop a natural immunity to Ick, this is rare in pufferfish.
Serum and mucus antibodies from immune fish immobilize free-swimming theronts
in vitro , suggesting several potential antibody-mediated mechanisms of
protection. For instance, antibodies in mucus could block penetration of
theronts into the epithelium of the skin and gills. Because immobilization
can be readily observed in the laboratory and fits a number of different
models of potential mechanisms of immunity, considerable effort in this
laboratory has been dedicated to identifying the target antigens responsible
for this phenomenon, with the ultimate goal of developing a subunit vaccine.
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