Ich and a 120 (the faster the better)

C

canucksfan1

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Feb 26, 2007
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Gibsons, B.C.
So my tank has been doing awsome but i had an oscar in there for a while and it was stressing my fish bad, i have recently moved all my fish around and now only have my aro and 3 SDs in the 120. The only problem is i think i have ich now. It took out all but 1 of my clown loaches (which doesn't look like it will make it thru the night) so i have to get rid of the ich.

What is the best way to do this on such a large tank??? I don't think heat and salt is the best idea considering i would need 240 teaspoons, but i dunno what are your opinion
 
I have a 120 too, but its still cyceling. Hope sum 1 can help you.
 
Heat and table salt for me.....
 
size has nothing to do with treatment... heat and salt is still the best method.. I would recommend this to a person with a 50000G tank just the same as someone with a 5g tank (although I might suggest buying the salt wholesale lol)

The thing is.. thats really one of the only reliable methods-- most of the ich treatment chemicals arent good... dont work well and can be harmfull to stock

BTW... USE NORMAL TABLE SALT!!! I have seen some posts around here about using aquarium salt or epsom salts... this may work on mild cases of ich.. but it will mess with your PH in some cases... and its expensive and less effective than table salt
 
Dunno what type of aquarium salt you've seen but its pretty cheap. A liter carton is like $4 in my town. It did not raise my PH nor do I see how it could if its just salt. Please explain how table salt with iodine and caking agents somehow works better than salt specifically blended to be safe for fish? You might literally save like 1 dollar if that lol

I just recently treated my 125 gallon for ich using salt and heat. I used 25 tablespoons of Aquarium Pharmeceuticals freshwater aquarium salt which is 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons.

For 120 gallons you need 24 tablespoons or 1 and 1/2 cups of salt. Much easier than trying to measure it out in teaspoons eh? BTW you'll read about 100 different suggestions for how much salt to dose. 240 teaspoons is 5 cups. Thats way too much salt. From my research the most common answer and the answer printed on the actual salt cartons I saw was 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons.

So provided you own a heater you can cure ick for something like $4. Thats alot cheapter than most other fish ailments you're going to come across.

I did a TON of research when my tank got ich like 2 months ago. I tried several expensive ich medicines like Coppersafe, API Super Ick Cure and Jungle Tabs Ick Cure. None of them got rid of ich. Salt and raising my temp to 82 cleared ich up in like 4 days time. The salt isnt' going to kill your beneficial bacteria and is safe for your fish. Salt is a natural cure. You aren't turning your tank into a marine tank is not that much salt. The salt also gets removed as you do water changes so it works out well.
 
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actually if you buy salt in bulk it is much cheaper than aquarium salt.
we(my wife and I) purchase both kosher and sea salt in 50Lb bags for about $20 per bag.

really all you are looking for is NaCl as it messes with osmotic pressures of the free swimming ich.

salt works but the method for using it may vary. it is considered the safe route.

I have tried and tested coper safe, ich guard etc.. they all work when used as directed but there may be some fall out when using some of these meds.

also I have had success using just plain old heat. 86-88f no ich after it emerges in the free swimming state.
 
well it seems to be working already the spots on the clown loach are completly gone none of the other fish had any signs so all looks well, hopefully it will stay that way now. I don't know why exactly i even got an outbreak i haven't added fish in a couple months that i can remember.

Oh well will keep the salt in there for a couple weeks and hopefully all will be well
(oh and i have seen anything from 1 tsp per 5 gallons to 2 tsp per gallon) i did about 24 to 30 tsp
 
Save your money but using a hospital tank. I'm not sure how big your fish are but hospital tanks don't need to be huge.
 
Sounds like you've gotten a good result, but just to add my 2 cents worth....
I have trouble with measures like 'a spoonful'. I've read a bit, and have just successfully treated 1000L (250G) at 3ppt (parts per thousand). Slowly raised the temp and aeration, slowly intro'd the salt (in solution), kept the substrate clean, reduced feeding by 50% and was prepared in case my biofilter ceased cycling. Suggestions are that carbon filters are removed.
I ran my treatment up in temp and salt soluton over three days, held it at 30C/3ppt for five days, and another three days to pre-treatment conditions.
I got pure NaCl used for livestock feed and in aquaculture for $6/25kg (55lbs).
I'm pleased to hear the loach is OK. I thought they didn't react well to salt.
Good luck.
 
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