ich / white spot

I would first raise the temperature up to 83-84 before adding meds. That med might kill you apple snails if leave them in there, but if you take them out and you put them into another tank, the bacteria might spread. If the med contains copper, you can never add snails into your tank again.

Most people treat Ick by raising the temperature to 83-84. Ick is cannot survive long at that temperature. But if that doesn't work, you have to use salt, but then your snails might die. Salt and Heat are surefire ways of killing Ick, IMO.

Don't leave the temperature at 84 for a long period of time, it might kill some fish.

I actually don't know. If I were you maybe 5 minutes every hour or something? Never had trouble with ICK yet.

Actually, the temp needs to be 85F and it needs to stay that warm for approximately four or five days. The reason is the hot water kills off the free floating ich parasite. The hot water can't kill off the parasite once it has attached to a fish. But once the parasite has attached to a fish, it only lives for a few days. So, keeping the water warm for four or five days kills off the newly produced parasites.

A small amount of aquarium salt will speed the process along.

For safety's sake, move your apple snail. If you don't have another tank, put the snail into a plastic tub. They will survive for that time without a filter, they can breath air. But make sure that the snail can't escape.

I heard that raising the temperature does not kill the ich parasite, but speeds along their life cycle. so they go from parasite on fish, to protected incubator stuck on plants or gravel dividing into hundreds of new parasites (both life cycles cannot be killed without killing fish), finally to free floating babies which seek a host (fish). This is the only point in which they can be killed. I would suggest moving your fish to a quarentine tank. Then, slowly raise the temperature to about 83-84F. Then, slowly add 1tsp uniodized salt (aquarium salt or pure sea salt) to the water. by slowly I mean over several days. The salt kills the ich while they are free floating. And by speeding up their life cycle, you can kill them all faster. Keep the fish in 83F water with the full dose of salt for at least 2-3 weeks. Then you can be sure every last ich parasite is dead!! When you reintroduce your fish to their orrigional home, they will Never get ick again. Just be sure to quarentine new fish (without salt for at least 4 weeks, or with it for 2-3) and watch to make sure they are healthy. It doesn't hurt to quarentine new plants or inverts for a few days in a seperate tank, either (without salt).