Ich treatment with Danios

[slease]

I'm treating my 10 gallon for ich right now. The specks of white are showing on a few of the fish as of now. I'm in the process of adding salt and raising the temp, but I'm not sure what temp danios can safely withstand. The fish profiles say they should only be kept at heats up to 75. But is it safe to raise the temp between 80-85 for a short term to cure the ich? Any suggestions would help. Thanks.

[vaheelsfan]

Somebody can correct me on this if I'm wrong, but I don't think that raising the temperature actually cures ich. When the temperature is raised, the ich goes through each stage of it's development faster. The period where ich is hatched and is in the water looking for a host is the period where I believe treatment is effective. Raising the temperature just gets you to this stage faster, but I also assume that it stresses the fish more. The one time that I had an ich outbreak, I didn't raise the temperature and haven't had an outbreak since. You'll just have to treat the fish for a longer period if you keep the temperature where it is now.

[slease]

Well, I won't jack up the temp too high then so I don't overstress them. Is iodized salt a no no when treating for ich? And if it is does anyone have any chem facts as to why. Thanks

[falcon]

Well, I just went through the same thing. I also have zebra danios in my tank. The highest temperature that I have gone up to was 87.3F. It did not affect danios at all; still very active and eating like crazy. I have used sea salt to treat the fish. In the process, I've lost one clown loach(one cleared up and one is still covered in the spots). I lost 5 rummy noses and 1 cardinal. I've also lost 2 or 3 otto cats and one corry cat. Corry cats and otto cats are sensitive to high temperature/salt, I think. My discus are doing fine though.

My 5 remaining rummy noses look fine. 1 or 2 of the cardinals still seem to be covered in spots. Will see what happens over time. I have used the treatment for a week and I did 45% wc today and did not add more salt. Over the next couple of water changes, the salt should be gone.

My tank is planted as well.

I hope this helps.

Falcon.

[slease]

How much salt did you put in per gallon? Sorry to hear about your fish loss, one of my mollies just died(he was the one that introduced the ich).

[falcon]

I put in 1 table spoon of salt per 5g.

[TKOS]

You need to get that temp up to 83F to really get things speed up. It may still take a couple of week though as you must continue to treat after all signs are gone. The stage you see is the final of three stages and the salt doesn't affect the first egg stage. 1 tsp per 5 gallon is what I would use. And make sure to do goo water changes as well every day - 10-20%. At higher temps the water will hold less dissolved oxygen so the fish might look like they are gasping. Water changes will help add more oxygen, and probably remove some free swiming ick as well. You will also need to top of the tank water once a day due to evaporation but do not add new salt to the top off water or the concentration of salt will increase to deadly levels.

Salt with iodine is fine as the iodine levels are too low in table salt to hurt anything.