Help!!!Will salt kill "good"Bacteria???

[meowfish]

I am going to move all my sick fishies to the q tank today and hopefully rid the big tank of ick. If I put a large amount of salt in to the 55g to shock it will it kill or hurt my good bacteria or cycle? And if I leave the tank alone for a month will that sufficiently kill the ick off? Sorry if I seem drastic but I want to make sure that it IS gone I do not want to go through all this again. Lesson learned for sure about quarintine your fish before allowing them to meet your other fish. Thanks all.

 

[OrionGirl]

"Shock it"? Huh? If you leave the tank without any fish in it, preferably at about 86F for 4 weeks, this alone will kill the ich. There's no need to add salt to the tank under these circumstances.

Too much salt can indeed kill the beneficial bacteria. Amounts used for medication are well within tolerance, but I'm not sure how much you think you should use here.

 

[Fishsmurf]

Off the back of that I have question...
If all the fish from this 55g are removed to a Q tank and the tank is then treated for Ick, how long can the tank remain without inhabitants before you had to re-cycle (if for instance you weren't to dose with ammonia to preserve the cycle)?
Just curious more than anything, so if some-one satisfy that curiosity it would be appreciated.

 

[TKOS]

If you remove the fish for a month then all of the bacteria will die as there is no food source. You will have to add ammonia to keep the bacteria going.

If some of the fish have ich then there is a good chance all do. I would treat the main tank at this point and not bother moving everyone over to a qt tank. Just make sure to treat for 3-4 weeks and that should kill off everything and remove future ich from coming back (unless it is reintroduced from new fish).

The standard salt and high heat for 3 weeks generally works wonders on ich.

 

[LittlePuff]

When I add salt, I put it in the filter to dissolve. Is this a bad idea?

Kim

 

[meowfish]

I am moving the fish to the q tank because it will be easier to treat them I thought. My main idea was to add salt,wait a day or so, drain the big tank and then fill up with water and then put the snail and shrimp back into the big tank to keep the cycle in there going. I know the shrimp ans snails cannot get ich. I don't want to treat the q tank with them in it to,since I do not feel comfortable with them two and all the salt in any tank if my shrimp dies I will be devestated, this is my dilema. Since I am cleaning the big tank out I was just thinking to erradicate as much ich at the time as possible. Maybe I am being foolish but so many dead, I am just feeling hopless. So if I am seeming anixious it is all overwhelming me abit... Thanks.

 

[daveedka]

As said, treatment levels won't hurt the bacteria, but elevated levels will. Relax a little, I know this is tough, but the ich cannot survive without a host. Furthermore, you will still have a live filter on the q tank cycled to handle your fish load, so all you need to do is transfer it back after treatment if the big tank bio-filter does die.

ICH is frutrating, but it isn't that hard to kill off, so just smile relax and take it step by step.
Dave

 

[TKOS]

The snails and the shrimp, though, produce so little waste compared to a fish that they will not keep the cycle going, excpet at a tiny level. If you are going to transfer the fish back and forth make sure to keep watching ammonia and nitrite levels and do water changes when needed.

Salt will not hurt shrimp and snails, I have used it before (not for ich) in my tanks and the snails just keep on trucking and shrimp don't seem to crae either at the low levels used in the treatments.

 

[meowfish]

one more small question, when I put the fish from the salted tank into the unsalted q tank untill I add salt to it, will it stress the fish of hurt them with the change of salt to saltless? If so what is the best way to acclimitize them? Thanks and no more questions for now I hope.

 

[TKOS]

Why not add salt to the q tank now before the move and have it already to go with the same temp and close to the same amoutn of salt. Then get the temp up to 86F and keep it there.