Hello everyone, this is my first post!!
Back to the subject, I have a 1,010 gallon (4000 liters) tank with 50ish central american cichlids and tilapia (Oreochromis hybrids) and 2 Oscars(Sorry for the salinity but they are doing great at the moment except for the ich). Yep I did the research and they can live in brackish water. The tank is fairly new (about 1 week old), the sump filtration and canister have been cycled for appox. one month with live shrimps (still alive and breeding@5.2 salinity). At first I was thinking oh well the parasites' gonna die off cuz of the osmotic pressure so didn't really do anything except watching the fish pretty much all day long, now I've seen more and more white spots on my fish though they are still very active and eating etc, well, at least most of them, some prolly was hiding due to stress or ich and I couln't see them if I didn't go check out the caves with a flashlight. The source of the ich protazoa doesn't really matter, the point is...the water is at SG 1.006 manually tested and the conductivity is showing 5.2 (PPT, 0.52%). Has anyone actually successfully eradicated ich just by raising the temp to around 88 F (31 C) and with dosed salt recommended online and elsewhere - 0.05%?? I am thinking maybe it's time I use some meds but the tank is a bit too large and these meds are gonna cost a fortune plus I am afraid the damage the meds might do to some very young fingerlings. I know wrong water chemistry parameters will stress the fish (i.e. Oscars) and then compromise the immune system, but the question is...why the ich is getting worse if they are supposed to die in this salinity?
Thank you in advance for your inputs!
Current water parameters - pH 7.48, salinity 5.2, temp 29 C (84 F), ORP 412, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10, GH 18d, KH 8d.
Back to the subject, I have a 1,010 gallon (4000 liters) tank with 50ish central american cichlids and tilapia (Oreochromis hybrids) and 2 Oscars(Sorry for the salinity but they are doing great at the moment except for the ich). Yep I did the research and they can live in brackish water. The tank is fairly new (about 1 week old), the sump filtration and canister have been cycled for appox. one month with live shrimps (still alive and breeding@5.2 salinity). At first I was thinking oh well the parasites' gonna die off cuz of the osmotic pressure so didn't really do anything except watching the fish pretty much all day long, now I've seen more and more white spots on my fish though they are still very active and eating etc, well, at least most of them, some prolly was hiding due to stress or ich and I couln't see them if I didn't go check out the caves with a flashlight. The source of the ich protazoa doesn't really matter, the point is...the water is at SG 1.006 manually tested and the conductivity is showing 5.2 (PPT, 0.52%). Has anyone actually successfully eradicated ich just by raising the temp to around 88 F (31 C) and with dosed salt recommended online and elsewhere - 0.05%?? I am thinking maybe it's time I use some meds but the tank is a bit too large and these meds are gonna cost a fortune plus I am afraid the damage the meds might do to some very young fingerlings. I know wrong water chemistry parameters will stress the fish (i.e. Oscars) and then compromise the immune system, but the question is...why the ich is getting worse if they are supposed to die in this salinity?
Thank you in advance for your inputs!
Current water parameters - pH 7.48, salinity 5.2, temp 29 C (84 F), ORP 412, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10, GH 18d, KH 8d.
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