please help treating Ich or whitespot

[gretag]

I think my fish got infected and suggested to give them methylene blue or malachite green.

do I have to change the water before medication? do i have to turn off the filter? will the beneficial bacteria live without water? after i put the medication should i put salt also? and how much should i put if i have to? how long should the medication going? how often shoud i change the water during medication? please help

thanks,

[FLATLANDER]

Hi,
For all the Ich outbreaks I had in my tanks I used the store bought med. "Ick Cure", probably malachite green, and as far as I can remember the instructions on the bottle called for removal of charcoal/ammo chips from the filter and keep filtering using a sponge only. Also raising temp. to 78 F was recomended to speed up the life cycle of the Ick. Water change should be donne before you add the stuff in the tank. The salt will help also. I remember putting in a tablespoon salt per 5 gal. of water. The easiest way to prevent Ich from your tanks is to keep up your water changes and to keep the temp. of the new water same as that of the aquarium water so as not to shock the fish. Hope this helps. Good luck.
BTW, let us know what tank size, fish, planted tank or not and water chemistry if you test for any ammonia, nitrite etc. so more detailed help can be offered in the future.

[gretag]

thanks for the information, i have them treated with methylene blue and salt . change 50% of water before medication

[Twilight]

Raise temps to 82 degrees. By adding salt initially to a new tank..... one teaspoon if more than enough....you can help prevent these problems. Quick Cure is suppose to be the best med.

http://aquascienceresearch.com/apinfo/salt.htm

[terror]

my new angels seem to have developed white spots also ,..
can only salt be used to treat white spot/
or should malachite green be used?
i'm hesistant to use malachite green sincer mi have anubias and java moss in my tank..

advice pls:)