With ich being such a common problem within the fish keeping community that a wide range of fish keepers can have problems with in both freshwater and saltwater aquariums, we see a large number of questions about treating ich each month.
With Ich X being a very popular option for treating the ich parasite on fish, we have noticed people asking if Ich X stains things in an aquarium tank or not so wanted to publish this article on the topic.
There are a number of different formulas within the Ich X range now but none of them should be able to stain your aquarium glass or acrylic panels that make up the sides and base of your aquarium tank.
If you have used silicone sealant in your aquarium or used some types of plastic tubing in the tank then Ich X may slightly tint and stain the color but this is not as noticeable as people may thing.
One quick thing that we would like to quickly mention is that the regular Ich X treatment and the Ich X Marine treatment are the most popular options within the Ich X range.
For this article, we will be focusing on them as they are what the majority of our readers will probably be using either of those two products but the other formulas in the Ich X lineup may be slightly different and they may be able to stain things in your tank.
Will Ich X Stain My Tank?
Ich X should not stain your tank with both glass and acrylic tanks being fine and not having problems with their color tinting if you need to use Ich X to treat an ich breakout with your fish.
Just be sure to stick to the standard dosing of Ich X to make sure that you don’t have any problems with the various chemicals being too strong in your tank as this could technically cause staining.
Now, this is where a number of different conditions come into play as there are a number of tank decorations and accessories that you may be using in your tank that may end up being stained by Ich X.
These are usually silicone or PVC but there are a small number of other things that Ich X can stain even if you use it in normal doses in your aquarium so keep this in mind if possible!
We have seen people on social media report that they have had various issues with some ich treatments staining some artificial substrates or gravel substrates that are coated in glow in the dark paint.
This is due to the active ingredients in the ich treatments on the market being able to react with them and either stains them or tint their colors but we have not seen any reports saying that Ich X was specifically causing this issue but it could be something to remember if you are using an artificial substrate in your aquarium tank.
Will Ich X Stain My Aquarium Sealent?
Ich X can seal some types of silicone sealant with it being able to tint white silicone a yellow color and also cause other silicone colors to stain.
This is true for both aquarium safe silicone and regular silicone as both can be tinted by the active ingredients in Ich X as well as some other ich treatments on the market right now.
As we covered in our article on how to reduce your aquarium silicone curing time, it is very common for people to submerge their silicone sealant in their tank before it has even fully cured.
Not only will this cause various issues with your sealant being safe for use in your aquarium but it can also can problems with the silicone becoming more susceptible to staining.
Even some fish flake foods has strong dye colors in them that has been known to be able to stain silicone in an aquarium, especially if your aquarium is running at tropical temperatures.
The issue is, if your fish are having problems with ich then getting the ich fixed as fast as possible is more important than worrying about your Ich X staining your sealant in your tank.
Will Ich X Stain My Aquarium Tubing?
Ich X and some other ich treatments have been known to be able to stain some tubing used for fish keeping.
This will depend on what the tubing you are using is actually made from though with PVC tubing usually being the one that is more likely to be easily stained by treatments such as Ich X.
If you are having problems with the tubing on your main display aquarium being stained by your ich treatment then it’s usually not a serious issue as most types of aquarium tubing can easily be released without having to break the bank.
We would just advise you to wait for the ich to clear and be well and truly gone from your tank before you look to replace your tank tubing to prevent you replacing everything only to have to use an ich treatment again right away.
A large number of people in the fish keeping hobby who use tubing will use rubber tube these days anyway.
This shouldn’t have any problems with Ich X being able to stain the tube so once it’s fit in your tank, you should be able to use any ich treatment required without you having to worry about your tubing being stained.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over if Ich X stains your aquarium to an end. Unfortunately, like most questions that we see like this, it will come down to an “it depends” rather than a standard yes or no when answering the question. This is due to there being a number of different variables that all come into play but we have tried to give examples of when Ich X may and may not stain your aquarium all the way through our article to help as many of our readers as possible who are in this situation and worried about staining.
