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Why Ick Guard Turns Your Water Blue!

The ick parasite can be a problem for fish keepers of all levels of experience and experienced fish keepers with decades of experience can end up having problems with ick in their tanks.

This is why we commonly see people reaching out with a range of questions about ick treatments for their tanks and we have noticed a number of people asking why ick treatments, specifically ick guard turns water blue when used.

The reason that ick treatments such as ick guard turn your aquarium water blue is due to it containing malachite green.

Depending on the specific ick treatment, malachite blue and methylene blue can be included in some ick treatments that can also add a blue tint to your aquarium water once used.

There is generally no risk to your fish from the active ingredients in treatments such as ick guard but some invertebrates and plants may have issues.

That’s why we have dedicated articles going over treating ick in planted tanks and one on treating ick in tanks with shrimp to try and prevent our readers from having problems due to these active ingredients.

Why Ick Guard Turns Your Water Blue!

Ick guard turns aquarium water blue due to it containing “victoria green” that is actually malachite green with this being a common ingredient in many ich treatments.

Other than being able to tint your aquarium water blue or green depending on the dosage of ick guard used, there are generally no other side effects for using malachite green to treat ick and it can have excellent anti-parasitic properties.

With ick being a parasitic infection, the anti-parasitic properties of malachite green can be handy and help to treat the ick breakout in your tank quicker.

This blue and green tinting effect does not happen every time that you use ick guard and it can seem a little random as to when your aquarium water will and won’t turn blue or green when using products such as ick guard.

This is one of the reasons that even experienced fish keepers can end up reaching out and asking why their ick guard has turned their aquarium water blue or green.

You can use ick guard in the exact same tank within weeks of each other with one treatment not tinting the color of your aquarium water while the next treatment in the exact same tank with the same water parameters being able to tint the water blue.

How To Remove The Blue Look From Your Aquarium Water!

The easiest way to remove the blue look from your aquarium water after using treatments such as ick guard is to implement a scheduled partial water change over a month.

Changing around twenty percent of your tank water each week can quickly remove the blue tint while also having a minimal effect on your tanks water parameters.

We have seen some people on social media recommending that you just do a full water change in your tank if it does have a blue or green tint in its water due to an ick treatment but we would never recommend this.

There is usually a minimal risk to your tank’s water supply with some setups actually having a larger problem with a full water change in the tank than the blue tint.

A partial water change of twenty percent of your tanks water each week spread over the course of a month or so will drastically reduce the effects of the blue look to your aquarium water.

Just be sure that the ick in your aquarium has been treat before you start to try and remove the blue tint to the water as there is no point in starting your partial water changes if you are still adding ick guard to your tank as it will just keep on adding the blue tint to your new water.

How To Treat Ich In Your Tank Without Chemicals!

Some people prefer to try and treat ich breakouts in their aquarium without chemicals with the blue water tint to their aquariums being one of the reasons they will look for alternative treatments.

The best ick treatment that does not include chemical is simply increasing the water temperature of your tank but this does not work will all types of ick and it may not be suitable for all types of aquarium setup either.

We also have a dedicated article going over what to do if your ich treatment is not working that may be helpful to you.

If you are wanting to try and treat the ick in your aquarium by increasing the water temperature in your tank just be sure to avoid going over the maximum water temperature tolerance for the tank mates that you keep.

If you do have fish, snails or shrimp with a relatively low maximum water temperature threshold then this may not be a suitable for you.

Another chemical free ick that you can try that will not turn your aquarium water blue is garlic infused fish food with this being an increasingly popular treatment option.

It leverages the anti-parasitic properties of garlic to naturally help your fish fight off the ick parasite and can have a surprisingly high success rate considering there are a number of garlic infused foods pre-made and ready to go available on the market.

Conclusion

That brings our article going over why ick guard turns your tank water blue to an end. This is usually nothing to worry about and many people accept it as a potential risk when treating ick in their tank but there are alternative ick treatments available that you are able to use if needed. For the most part though, the alternative treatments tend not to be as effective at treating ick so it is a trade off between dealing with the ick quickly or risking your aquarium water turning blue.