Ich and salinity ............

P

Prez

AC Members
Feb 2, 2005
52
0
0
Hello,

We have a ich problem in our 6gal tank that just appeared 1 day 1/2 ago. We know where it came from and I have been going the salt/temp raise route for the past 1d1/2. We have lost 2 white clouds and our betta already. What's left in the tank is 3 white clouds, 2 amano shrimp and a gold nugget pleco -- (no, she is not the kind that grows to be 3-4 feet long). The remaining fish do not show signs of ich infection (the pleco did have some on her but I can't see it anymore) I will continue the salt/temp route for another week to 2 weeks. I have removed all of the gravel, the only ornaments left in the tank are the piece of driftwood for the pleco and a plastic mountain which the pleco has been hiding out. I added a bubbler and I have also hooked up my HOT Magnum 350 filter using the micron cartridge and a lower than normal flow rate so as not to cause to much turbulence in the water.

My question is this ---- what should the salinity reading be? It is currently at 1.004.

I purchased 2 hydrometers to test the water and I can only find sites, using this method of ridding tanks of ich, that state use 1tsp this or 3tps that or 1tb per......... I want to know measurements please....we have numbers for every other parameter for the tank.


Thank you vm!!
 
Last edited:
That sounds about right. Keep in mind that hydrometers tend to be off--if you haven't had yours calibrated, I'd always consider it to be +/- .002. This gives you a range of 1.002-1.006, all well within tolerance for the fish, and acceptable for the short term treatment needed.

However--that's still way too many fish for a 6 gallon tank. Even the smallest gold nugget species get to be 3-4 inches, and that alone would fully stock a 6 gallon tank.

Oh--and kudos for getting a hydrometer!
 
Ty OrionGirl ...

We have had 3 white clouds, 1 male betta (rip Precious), 1 gold nugget pleco and the 2 amano shrimp for over a year and the water quality has never been bad. I do regular cleanings and water changes, the baddies -- ammonia & nitrItes have always been at zero, even after our 1 week vacation when we asked our neighbor to feed the fish. The nitrAtes have never gone above 20ppm either. These guys were great until I screwed things up last week and just added a real plant to the tank without dipping it first. I should have known better than to trust anything live from Petco, I feel so bad that I killed our betta, he was the first fish we ever bought. Yes, I know it was from the plant because I went back to Petco last night and had a closer look in the tank and saw the gold fish ALL were badly infested with ich!


I purchased (2) hydrometers last night just in case =) -- one is the container you fill with water and place on a level surface to read, the other is the "thermometer/hydrometer" floating glass type.

Temp is now at 84 and all the fish are doing well. They all show no signs of having any white spots/ich on them .... the pleco had some 2 days ago when I first saw it on the betta but, she looks very clean today. I will continue this for the next 10-14 days possibly longer.

Thank you!!! :dive2:
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom