ICK & THE HEAVILY PLANTED TANK

My understanding, and my experience agrees. is that salt won't hurt you plants (short term for treatment anyhow) I treated my ich with salt, and had no problems with my plants at all. I used iodized table salt at 2 tsp per gallon and raised the temp to 86*F for two weeks. then brought the temp back down, and let the salt go away through water changes. I do this in my q-tamk as well which hhas a few plants growing in it also.
HTH
Dave

Hi,

You've read about all of the possible ways to treat ich. All I can add is my personal experience that raising the temperature to the low 90s and keeping it there for a few days cures it without any side affects, but I have never kept otos.

Salt also works against ich and other external parasites. To much of it, or some of it for too long a time, will harm plants and some fish, the "scaleless" fish in particular. But Dave has used 2 tbsp. per gallon without any problems. so . . .

Cardinals are beautiful but they are all wild caught and go through a number of hands before we see them. Acclimating them to an aquarium can be very hard. I've given up on them.

Good luck!

Bill

Don't know about the dosing of ferts but make sure that temp is a minimum of 86F, not close to it. And keep it there for a week after all signs of ich have gone or you are just asking for another outburst in the future. And yes, adding the salt over successive water changes is best.

adding the salt slowly is definately best. In reality anything over 5ppm salt will kill the ich. in other words one tsp per gallon will probably be plenty, but the fish can handle more than that so insurance is good. the reason I do 2 per gallon is that it is the middle of the reccomended dosage and leaves me a big margin in each direction. The temp over 86 will interrupt the life cycle of ich by itself, but it has to be maintained very well at that temp or above. anything below 86* is still a help because it speeds up the life cycle and gets the process over with quicker. The salt will kill the ich either way, but at low temps, it needs to be a long term treatment which is something to be avoided if possible. either way maintain treatment for at least 1 full week (two is better imo) after the last sign of ich on your fish.

As far as the fert dosing, I'll defer that to the more experienced folks here. I'm still a plant geek in training.
Dave

Although I've not kept every type of fish out there so I can't say for sure. The salt method has always been less stressful to my delicate fish than anything else I've used. I don't take the temp quite that high personally, but do put it well above 80* during treatment almost everyone reccomends the 86* mark so it is evidently working for many. One thing I should have mentioned is that ethe elevated temps make it harder for the water to carry o2. Make sure you ripple the surface a little extra during the treatment.
Mst importantly, don't get too discouraged when you are doing the best you can. The fish might not have been able to handle the ich with or without the treatment. and no matter what treatment you use stress is involved. Is the ich still on the fish? or has it fallen off by now? the salt actually kills the ich when it hatches out of the substrate and goes hunting for a new host. once it leaves your fish it should never come back. Also I typically add in 1/4 tsp per gallon increments about every two hours. in other words over the course of 8 hours you should be able to get the level up to 1 tsp per gallon (assuming you are home all day when you start). You definately want to make sure you have enough salt before the ich goes hunting for a host. you don't want the life cycle to repeat in a tank with stressed fish. Roght now you are at less than 1/3 tsp per gallon so you you'll need to bump it on up quite a bit.

Crap! My rubber lipped plec decided to come out of hiding today and is completely covered with white dots....I am assuming it's Ich :sad

This is not good......I have ottos and clown loaches...salt + heat is not good for these fish.....

I have treated loaches and dwarf plecos for Ich by salt and heat (mid-80sF) without any issues, ditto Cory cats, ditto Otos. Rubberlips are cooler water fishm but so are many cory cats - watch the fish's respiration and boost oxygenation if needed. Salt is not harmful short term if dosed carefully and properly. This is not a chronic use situation.