Ich and I'm confused...

[Ozma]

Added some new fish a few days ago (sorry, don't have room for a quarentine tank!) and now new fish and one old is sporting some lovely white dots.

I have a planted tank with guppies and neons. Can I treat with salt (I have read that can't use salt with neons and plants)? If so, do I need aquarium salt or is table salt ok - with or without iodine - again, I've read many variations....

How quickly can I raise the temperature?

Or should I go straight to some meds?

 

[Faramir]

Any salt will do. Don't believe the iodine mythologisers.

RTR is the man to tell you the dosage. His article http://www.aaquaria.com/aquasource/salt.shtml suggests at least 1 tsp/gallon. I believe you work up to that concentration over a couple of days, and make sure you dilute it back out again by water changes afterwards.

 

[Ozma]

OK, I've slowly bumped the temp up to 80 degrees so far in the past 3 hours and found some formalin/malachite green in the back of my cupboard.

What is the best thing for the tetras and plants - the salt treatment or the chemical at half the recommended dosage?

 

[wetmanNY]

When formalin has been stored a long time, hot and cold, it can throw off a white precipitate called paraformalin. Paraformalin is very toxic to fish. Paraformalin is at the bottom of all those "Death in a bottle!"style of remarks about the toxicity of formalin you might read at second-rate bulletin boards.

Malachite green is more toxic at low pH, more toxic at high temperatures, more effective/toxic in water low in organics. The manufacturers overestimate how much you should use.

If I thought you'd follow a link and sit down and read for half an hour I'd suggest www.skepticalaquarist.com but then that's just me I guess...

 

[Ozma]

Actually I have read it THREE times today and hence I AM CONFUSED. Maybe its just me, but I can't follow the subtle nuances of the writing style and can't tell what is "tongue and cheek" and what is bluntly put (Or maybe its the constant chatter at my elbow by my unsupervised kidlets), hence I am the confused aquarist....

 

[Cichlid Woman]

My never-fails ich treatment: Ich Guard by Jungle. (Note: the granules, NOT the weaker Ich Guard II, which does not work in my experience.) Use the Ich Guard at half strength, being sure to take out any carbon in your filter first.

If, twenty-four hours later, ...

... you still see ich on the fish, do a partial water change and dose again, half-strength, with the Ich Guard.

... you no longer see ich, don't do the water change; just let everything sit for another four or five days.

Works for me every time, and it's even safe for my clown loaches and cories. And you don't raise the tank temperature with this method, neither do you add salt (which is bad for the cories).

HTH.

-- Pat