How do I get rid of Ich in new pond?

[Giovanni]

How do I get rid of Ich in my pond? Can I use Salt (noniodine), Garlic, or medicate the water. Or should I just drain the pond and start over with new water, fish, and all? My pond is approximately 1200 gal.

 

[JRS]

You must have a bad case? What do you think started it? Usually brought on by stress and/or poor water conditions. Minor cases can be treated by correcting the issues that caused it in the first place. No point in starting fresh, the parasite is always present. Infestations will also die out without a host fish after a while. How many fish? Size? Easier to treat in a tank and monitor if you can maintain good water conditions.

 

[Lisak1]

Much more information would be helpful @Giovanni - how big is the pond, how many fish, hold old is the pond, what kind of filtration do you use? How many fish are infected? Did you recently add new fish to an established pond?

It may be treatable, but more information is required before any useful advice can be offered.

 

[CometKeith]

How do I get rid of Ich in my pond? Can I use Salt (noniodine), Garlic, or medicate the water. Or should I just drain the pond and start over with new water, fish, and all? My pond is approximately 1200 gal.

I’ve used malachite blue. You have to follow all the instructions carefully including the water changes.

 

[Mmathis]

Agree with needing more information. From what I recall about ich is that it has distinct life cycle stages and you have to catch it during all phases. It’s not a one-treatment and done thing (unless I’m wrong and am confusing with something else).

 

[Giovanni]

You must have a bad case? What do you think started it? Usually brought on by stress and/or poor water conditions. Minor cases can be treated by correcting the issues that caused it in the first place. No point in starting fresh, the parasite is always present. Infestations will also die out without a host fish after a while. How many fish? Size? Easier to treat in a tank and monitor if you can maintain good water conditions.

Probably got it from a Pet smart brought fish. New pond build, planktonic algae problem because other plants have not established themselves yet. Will it spread to all my other fish?

 

[Giovanni]

Much more information would be helpful @Giovanni - how big is the pond, how many fish, hold old is the pond, what kind of filtration do you use? How many fish are infected? Did you recently add new fish to an established pond?

It may be treatable, but more information is required before any useful advice can be offered.

Pond is approximately 5'x8',and 4' deep; have about 20 - 30, 2 1/2" can't all goldfish and Ruby reds (only the goldfish have the ich); pond is about not quite 60 days old. Using a bucket size aquarium filter and AIR bubbler for now until I can tie it in to my system. About 6 of the goldfish are infected, 3 beyond saving due to finrot.

 

[Mmathis]

Probably got it from a Pet smart brought fish. New pond build, planktonic algae problem because other plants have not established themselves yet. Will it spread to all my other fish?

That’s why many of us quarantine new fish before we add them to an established pond. What is making you think it is ich?

 

[cas]

I bought a fish with ich years ago, and this is all the information I found out about it:

Ich is free-swimming until it attaches itself to the skin of a fish. The ich organism then forms a tough outer shell, or cyst, while it feeds on the fish’s bodily fluids. This encysted stage grows large enough to be seen with the naked eye and appears as a tiny white spot on the fish. After the cysts grow to a certain size, they break through the skin and drop off the fish and attach to any stationary object where they begin their reproductive stage. Then hundreds of free-swimming ich organisms can arise in less than a day and to re-infect the fish.

4 stages of Ich life cycle	How long each stage lives
Trophont-the parasitic stage on the fish	will mature and leave the fish after 3-7 days at 75-80 degrees
Protomont- parasite leaves the fish to encyst on the substrate to reproduce.	Will encyst within 24 hours, may be killed before it encysts.
Tomont- This is the reproductive and longest lived stage	can last up to 72 days (2 ½ months)
Theront- Free swimming looking for a host. This is when it can be killed.	At 86 degrees they will die within 24-48 hours with no host.

While ich is encysted on the fish or in their reproductive cyst, no medicine can affect it. But once it’s free-swimming, it can be killed. Since the life cycle of ich takes at least three days at 80 degrees to complete, ich must be treated for at least four days (at 80 degrees) or preferably for a week. At colder temperatures the life cycle takes longer, so the treatment would need to be longer.

Life cycle is dependant on temperature: 4 days at 75 degrees, 8 weeks at 43 degrees, and can last as long as 72 days.

Most strains of ich can not reproduce in temperatures greater than 86 degrees. If the temps are consistently above 86 degrees for 10 days, ich may be eradicated.

In winter the parasite can exist in the cyst stage.


To treat ich: Best to treat when water temps are above 75 degrees.

1. Formalin. It may damage the biological filter and deplete oxygen levels. Its toxicity increases with temperature and acidity (PH below 7). Ich Guard II by Jungle contains formalin.

2. Malachite Green. It is a carcinogenic and is hazardous to breathe and handle. It is light sensitive (sun??). It may damage the biological filter and can stain.

3. Rid-Ich by Kordon or Ich Guard by Jungle consists of zinc-free malachite green and formalin. The combination of malachite green and formalin is the most widely used to treat ich.

4. Kordon Ich-Attack is an all herbal treatment safe for all fish and the biological filter. It also combats fungus and other diseases. It contains five natural organic herbals and is totally free of chemicals (such as formalin and malachite) and all heavy metals, including zinc and copper. Does not affect pH of the water, or its oxygen content. Treat pond same time of day for 8 days when water temp is > 75 degrees.

 

[GBBUDD]

Pond is approximately 5'x8',and 4' deep; have about 20 - 30, 2 1/2" can't all goldfish and Ruby reds (only the goldfish have the ich); pond is about not quite 60 days old. Using a bucket size aquarium filter and AIR bubbler for now until I can tie it in to my system. About 6 of the goldfish are infected, 3 beyond saving due to finrot.

No don't give up because of fin rot totally controllable fins are like toe nails for us they grow and can be cut but there are cuticles that are bones that are the little pin prices when you pick them up cut those and the fish will feel it and will bleed the rest can be cut off. But from the sound of it you need to get some kind of filter going. STOP FEEDING and watch the fish.

 

[CometKeith]

Pond is approximately 5'x8',and 4' deep; have about 20 - 30, 2 1/2" can't all goldfish and Ruby reds (only the goldfish have the ich); pond is about not quite 60 days old. Using a bucket size aquarium filter and AIR bubbler for now until I can tie it in to my system. About 6 of the goldfish are infected, 3 beyond saving due to finrot.

Hi. So it sounds like you have a pretty classic case of new pond syndrome. I didn’t see that you had a biological filter in your setup. A well functioning bio filter is extremely important in that they will nurture the two types of beneficial bacterial needed to synthesize fish waste. The fish can be treated but until you can get a good nitrogen cycle up and running you will have sick and dying fish as a constant problem. You need to correct the root cause and not just the symptom. Every experienced ponder will tell you that having healthy water is extremely important to limiting disease. We have all made mistakes when learning how to keep pond fish so I hope you are not discouraged. When I started 12 years ago I lost all my fish but one to disease. I’ll never forget thinking how sad that fish must be all alone! Well flash forward to 2021 that same fish has 50 friends to play with in a healthy and happy pond!