According to the ich lifestyle, I should be fine removing the salt now. Normally I would leave it in for 5 days after the last spot but this evening will be 3 full days after the last spot showed. My fish look fine but they seem to be overly frightened right now swimming to the farthest corner of the tank everytime myself or anybody else comes near the tank. They hit the gravel and decorations when this happens and I am afraid that they will injure themselves. I would like to start removing the salt tonight so I can get the plants back in the tank very soon and hopefully the fish feeling safer again. Anybody see any problems removing the salt after day 3?
Removal of Salt after 3 Days
- Thread starter rrkss
- Start date
I'm glad to hear your ich problem is clearing up. I know you had a tough time with it. I'd wait another week though just to be on the safe side. Just because you can't see any ich spots, it doesn't mean that they're not in the gills.
I starting treating my tanks for parasites (probably ich) using salt on 12/13/05, 20 days ago. I still haven't seen an ich spot for certain (I think I saw 1) during this treatment, but I've seen plenty of flashing. I haven't seen much flashing lately though.
My plants look like crap now, algae is blooming, but my fish look very healthy. Actually my clown loaches look more colorful than before, so I'm kinda happy about this. The plants, I think they'll recover, they kinda needed a major trimming anyway. The bristlenoses and snails are probably happy about the algae too. So I won't complain much about that either.
I'll continue my salt treatment for another week. 4 weeks total was my plan and I'm sticking to it.
I starting treating my tanks for parasites (probably ich) using salt on 12/13/05, 20 days ago. I still haven't seen an ich spot for certain (I think I saw 1) during this treatment, but I've seen plenty of flashing. I haven't seen much flashing lately though.
My plants look like crap now, algae is blooming, but my fish look very healthy. Actually my clown loaches look more colorful than before, so I'm kinda happy about this. The plants, I think they'll recover, they kinda needed a major trimming anyway. The bristlenoses and snails are probably happy about the algae too. So I won't complain much about that either.
I'll continue my salt treatment for another week. 4 weeks total was my plan and I'm sticking to it.
I jumped the gun and did my first massive waterchange. The fish have completely stopped flashing for 3 days, no spots and all signs of ich have vanished. Now that the fish have been cured, my next goal is saving the plants since I spent lots of time and money on them. Interesting that you are going through and algae bloom. The salt killed all the algae in my tank and I am experiencing cyanobacteria. I am hoping that some algae will re-establish and when my plants go back in, the cyanobacteria will be starved to death.
I have been looking back at some of your old threads, starting on Dec. 8th. I was wondering how many tanks you have? How many ich outbreaks have you had in the past 4 weeks? In which tanks did the ich outbreaks occur?
Also, since the rosy barbs didn't show any signs of ich in your q-tank for 3 days, why would there be any difference between now and back then?
Sometimes, 3 days with no signs of ich is not long enough. Ich could still be in the fish’s gills or it could be in the substrate. Temps in the substrate may be much different than the temps of the water, so that part of the ich life cycle can vary in time (especially if the tank is in a cold basement).
Also, since the rosy barbs didn't show any signs of ich in your q-tank for 3 days, why would there be any difference between now and back then?
Sometimes, 3 days with no signs of ich is not long enough. Ich could still be in the fish’s gills or it could be in the substrate. Temps in the substrate may be much different than the temps of the water, so that part of the ich life cycle can vary in time (especially if the tank is in a cold basement).
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I have 5 tanks right now. One 55 gallon, one 29 gallon, two 10 gallons, one 20 gallon and soon to have a small 3 gallon tank. I've had two ich outbreaks in the last few weeks. One outbreak in the 29 gallon tank and this outbreak in my 55 gallon tank. The 29 gallon tank outbreak happened because I had just finished fishless cycling it and added all the fish at once. That was treated for 9 days with maracide and the ich got completely cured. The current outbreak is in my 55 gallon tank. Even after the first waterchange tonight, my salt content is at 2 ppt which should still kill ich parasites if they are hatching. My next waterchange will be tommorow evening bringing down the salt content by another 33%. Each of these waterchanges are coupled with a gravel vacuuming. This means that the ich will be exposed to a lethal dose of salt for 8 days at 81*F for the last 4 days of that treatment. The room is kept at 74*F so that would be the absolute coldest temperature this tank's substrate could possibly be though unlikely.