Desperate Ich Problems!!

BUT THAT SITE IS AWESOME
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The Skepticle aquarist happens to be one of my favorites as well, because as the name inplies they seem to question evey claim and prove/disprove things with good science.

Any salt that is NaCl will work. Either buy the Aquarium salt from the fish store or just use any food grade table salt that is NaCl (and not KCl).
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As said any NaCl will work. I use Mortons Iodized salt because that is what was in the house. If you are going to go buy something, get the non-Iodized salt simply because you don't need the Iodide, not that it will hurt anything. Freshwater aquarium salt works as well, but usually costs much more. the only thing to watch are marine salt mixes which contain a lot of stuff other than salt.
 
Anyone know how long Ich (or other parasites) can remain in a tank in the absence of fish?
I am guessing that the life cycle is dependent on living fish, and that the cycle can be broken if notfish available for a certain time.
 
The life cycle speed is largely dependant on temps. within the temp range that ich can survive in, colder temps slow things down dramatically, I think the above article quoted it at 4-6 weeks for coldwater tanks, But it's been a while since I read that article in it's entirety. at 80*+ 3 weeks would be a maximum but probably less. If they are in the substrate, they are part way through the cycle, when they leave the substrate and go hunting for a host, they can only live a few hours. So with no fish at higher temps they won't last long. Remember also that temps above 86* F will interrupt their life cycle, so if the tank is empty, crank the temp up to 90* and give it a week or two, if you can't raise the temp that high, take it as high as you can and give it 2-3 weeks for safety.
 
THanks. I am currently cycling with a starter filter squeeze from the LFS at 82F. My concern is the introduction of Ich or other cooties from the LFS tanks. Would cranking up to ~86F adversely affect my cycle?
 
Bumping the heat up will not affect the cycle at all. I highly recommend the use of salt and heat to get rid of ich, no matter what kind of fish you have in your tank. But that's just my opinion/experience... Ich sucks, you want to make sure you kill it all off before stopping treatment (either salt or medications)... *knock wood* I have only had 2 ich outbreaks in the 4 years I've had my tanks -- the first time I had ich I used Rid Ich and followed the instructions on the bottle, and had successful results. The second time I did heat/salt (and at the time it was said that covering your tank and keeping it dark would help, but turns out that's kind of an old wives tale). I continued that treatment for 1 month (yeah, maybe overkill treating for 1 month, but I figured salt/heat wasn't hurting anything, better safe than sorry)...

Good luck in treating the tank!!! And sorry about your neons and platies :(

~Tara
 
bluegopher, You are on the right track, As Tara said raising the temp (within reason) will not hurt the cycle, With no host in the tank, and high temps, the chance of ich surviving untill your cycle is complete is really low. Added salt would be insurance, but I personally wouldn't think it necessary at all. Unless you cycle finishes in a week, the little guys don't have a chance.
dave
 
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