I think my Bristlenose has Ich

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Fantoman

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Hi all, i've now got my tank setup and I added my first fish a few days ago.

A small bristlenose catfish about 1 inch big. However after looking at him last night, he looks like he may have ich... He has about 6 little white raised spots over his body that I can see.

I have seen elsewhere about the salt and heat treatments for ich, but I have also read that bristlenose catfish can be very sensitive to salt.

My tank is a 4ft 55g tank, so approximately how much salt would I add to that size tank and over how long so as to not stress the fish further.

If anyone can give some advise on this, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!:sick:
 
It sounds like ich. Bristlenoses can be sensitive to salt so what I would do is go out to your LFS and ask for an ich remedy, they all work fairly well, so choose what you think is best. treat per the instructions on the packaging and if you want you can raise the tempature as it will help kill of the ich parasite. Once there is no visible remaning ich, continue treatment for about a week, with the tempature at a regular level.
 
I found a site about ich and it reccomends a new treatment ....it says it can treat within days and not weeks. Sounds like it would work.....

Treatment: Most sites will give you an elaborate procedure for treating with harsh chemicals that, in my experience, do more harm than good. I've found a much better way. Go to your local fish store and get something made from Copper Sulfate Pentahydrate. I recommend Had A Snail. I have found that it will end the infection in a matter of days, instead of the weeks it can take with conventional medications. It also has no effect on your fish, unlike malachite green, which is extremely hard on them. The only drawback is that you must remove all your invertabrates: The reason it's effective is that it kills ALL invertabrates, from the Ich parasite to shrimp. Invertabrates include snails, clams, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, and crabs.


heres the link
 
People with saltwater tanks have been using copper for years. There is a product (not sure if it can also be used in freshwater) called SeaCure, which is copper sulfate and works quite well. Mardel makes CopperSafe (also copper sulfate), which can be used in freshwater, though I have never used it.

Additionally, IMHO Clout is a miracle cure for Ich and other parasites. But it can stain decorations and possibly the silicone seals blue, so you may want to skip it.
 
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I've been doing a little more research on this, trawling through the forums here looking for any other instances of people with brisle nose cats with ich and it appears that my bristlenose may be able to take more salt than I thought...

A couple of threads in the Catfish forum mentioned that bristle nose's are less sensitive to salt then most pleco's....

I've also checked the ideal living conditions for a bristle nose and the ideal temp range goes up to 82 degrees, so I am assuming I could probably pump the temp up to 84 degrees over a couple of days without putting too much stress on the fish. Hopefully that combined with 1 tbsp of salt per 5g of water added over a couple of days will hopefully do the trick.

I have read conflicting reports however on the use of table salt or cooking salt as opposed to aquarium salt, some people say that they have had no problems with table salt while others say that the iodine in the salt will kill the fish and that aquarium salt is best. The problem I have is I am unable to get to the LFS for a couple more days due to work and there is no LFS near my work.

Any further ideas?:confused:
 
sounds like you have it. Tempature is one of the most effective treatments for ich, so that in combination with salt will probably take care of your problem. Also people in the freshwater community have been using copper sulphate for years as an ich treatment. My father used this when he kept tanks as a child, and that was some time ago. If you intend to use this method, try "aquari-sol", by Aquarium Products. It's quite afordable and it has alway, always worked for me.
 
A) The amount of iodine present in table salt is so minute that you would have to pickle the fish before there was sufficient iodine to cause a problem. Where this myth came from, I do not know, but it is in fact a myth--iodine is not harmful in low doses.

B) Bristlenose can tolerate quite a bit of salt. I've dosed with 1 tablespoon per gallon, and never lost one.

Copper medications still don't treat the full life stages of ich--and many medications will wipe out your biological filtration.
 
Copper's every bit as harsh as any other chemical treatment. It's particularly dangerous in soft water aquaria, for some reason.
 
I too would use the salt and high temp method. Use it for 3 weeks to make sure and get all of th eich. No sense adding copper to the tank, especially if you have snails or shrimp as it will kill them.

As for iodine, I actually add it to my betta and shrimp tank for the shrimp to molt. Does nothing to harm the betta and I am sure it is a much higher dose than anything from salt (which is generally potassium iodide by the way).
 
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