Continuing ICH treatment

[nursie]

Just checking in...I noticed ICH on my gouramis last Weds. It was there in the pm..not in the am that day. I took them out of the 55 gal and put in a QT tank, but treated both tanks. I continued with my fert dosings, and did my weekly water change and added the salt back in. After the first 3-4 days all the ICH was off the gouramis. I only saw one or 2 specks of what may have been ICH ...or may have been a speck of sand from my substrate on a couple of the clowns. I did loose the 2 otos.
Everyone else seems fine, no spots since Sunday. How long do I keep the salt at full strength with the elevated temps? I'm one week into it...2 more or 3 more? Do I keep the salt at full strength for that long, or let levels decrease with water changes? I certainly don't want it to reoccur.

Other questions...
At what point do I reintroduce the gouramis to the main tank?
When can I get more otos? I have brown algae on my plants that needs eaten! I wiped most off tonight. THe pleco gets it off the broader leaf plants, but it's a PIA!!

 

[the_dougie]

because ich is so contagious, and theres a fair amount of stress on the fish when transferring through tanks, it probably would have been better not to remove them into their own tank at all.
what temperature is your tank? their life cycle is sped up in higher temperatures, so salt treatment can go on for a shorter period of time in high temperature waters.
Overall, I'd wait about a week before stopping salt treatment.

 

[daveedka]

My personal preference is one full week after all signs of ich are gone from the fish. The fact of the matter is that if all ich has fallen off and your tank is above 82*F 4 days is probably enough. I go the week minimum rule to make sure I didn't miss anything, others go longer (2 weeks is often reccomended) It is far better to be safe than sorry, and the possibility that you missed an ich cyst always stands firm so a few extra days is never a bad thing.

As far as recombining the fish it can be done at any point since both tanks are being treated. Then you could prep your qt tank for otto's to come home and start their quarantine period.
Dave

 

[nursie]

Dave..thanks so much for all your help, with your article and answering the panicky pms!! I'm probably right at 4 days after I saw the last cyst in a fish. I'll recombine all fishies and keep up the salt for another week, and then not replace it when I do water changes.

SO I do anything special to the other tank to clean it? Do I keep the salt levels up in it even tho no fish? I do have live plants, driftwool and there are snails.
I do need to clean the filter, but anything else?

 

[daveedka]

Basically since ich cannot live without fish, once you remove your fish from the qt tank, all ich will be dead in short order with or without the salt. My reccomendation is to go ahead and do a high volume water change, normal vaccuming, and then test to make sure the bio-filter is estabilished since it's a new tank. Snails will have no problem with low levels of ammonia, so you could dose with pure ammonia and see what it does in 24 hours, or you could just feed the snail very heavy with fish food and test the numbers 24 hours later. Fish food is very quick to produce ammonia and nitrites, so it will give you a reasonably good test

If you are fully confident in the bio filter ( I don't remember what you did to cycle the q tank) then just water change vaccum, wait a few days to be sure on ich and then get your otto's. The snails will keep the bio-filter going well enough, wspwcially if you feed them (even a little)
dave

 

[nursie]

thanks...When I started the quarentine tank, I transfered over a small piece of driftwood, snails and plants from my main tank. Also some filter media. It was up and going for 2-3 weeks before anyone got in it, and has tested fine.