Ich in my pond!!!!

[White Lightning]

I got a new fish about a week ago and she seemed to be doing fine for the first few days..... she has really deteriorated over the last two days. Her fins have began melting away and she is covered with white spots. I immediately did  a huge water change and treated with ich guard. Two of my other fish are showing early signs as well. (one koi and one big comet) The rest seem to be okay for now. My pond is roughly 300 gallons. I only had enough ich guard to do my initial dose so I will have to buy more tomorrow as the bottle said to treat every twenty four hours until ich clears. I have never experienced ich in all the years I have been keeping fish. The only reason I had the bottle in the first place was because it came with a bunch of stuff that I had boiught from somneone getting out of the hobby. I am sure there are several brands on the market that treat this parasite, can anyone recommend what they may think is the best? This really sucks...

[Sue]

Petcettra had some pond medications left when I was there yesterday, 70% off or something like that. I didn't check what types they had but it might be worth your $ to check there first.

[Fishnut]

Sorry to hear of you troubles!  Don't worry though, of all the parasites pond fish can get, ich is the easiest to treat.  Ich is just little white spots though...nothing more.  If the find are melting away, you likely also have fin and tail rot.  Salt helps cure both those diseases and it's quite inexpensive if you buy the non-iodized salt from the grocery store.  Just make sure there is not anti-caking agent in it.

My favourite medicine for treating ich is Nox Ich.  Every time I use it in conjunction with salt, the ich is gone within a few days.

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