another ich question

[koipoloi]

Hi, I am a relative newbie. Never dealt with ich before. I have been reading tons on this great site but now I have a question.
I have a 29g community tank was cycled with aid of a filter from another tank.
Ammonia is 0, Nitrites 0, nitrates are negligable.

I have 5 cories, 5 cherry barbs, 4 zebra danios and 3 platies.

The platies were the last addition to the tank and a day or two after I got them I discovered they had ick. I did not use a qt tank so now I want to get a handle on the ick before the other fish have problems. After reading the ick thread I added 6 tablespoons of salt slowly over a 24 hour period. temp is 80F The platies seemed to get better right away. The white spots went away and they acted better. Now it is 2 days later and on one of the platies the ick is back. She is lethargic but does eat. The other 2 platies and the rest of the fish don't have any apparent ick anymore. I realise it takes a while for the salt to kill the free swimming ich but is it common to find the spots dissapearing and returning like this? Should I just give it time, add more salt, or do a wc and add some type of ich med. I really don't like the idea of using the ich meds if I can cure it with salt.

 

[bubbles42151]

The salt and higher temp. method will definitely work (I've used it many times). You just have to be patient. You'll have to keep up the treatment for about two weeks in order to completely eradicate the malady. I have found that sometimes it seems to get a lot worse before it actually gets better so try not to worry too much and stay consistent with your water changes.

Good Luck

 

[Rbishop]

And, when doing the water change, be sure to add salt back for the size of the water change...

 

[koipoloi]

Thanks, all except the one still look ich free. Just waiting for the salt to do its trick.