Ich Emergency

So, I should get my water tested to check for elevated ammonia or nitrites and if they are high, get them fixed. I’m assuming there is some chemical to do that. If I go that route will it affect my ich treatment?

If there are no problems with my water, then it is probably either stress from the ich, heat, or salt. If this is the case I really can not do anything except continue the ich treatment.

I have not had any fish die today, but if they continue to die, then it most likely is something other than ich, correct?
 
Water changes are the best solution for ammonia and nitrites, the few chemicals out there are borderline on being Snake oil, and dillution is really effective. You will have to replace whatever amount of salt you remove, but aside from that water changes will do nothong but help you situation.


The larger white spot you mentioned is definately something other than ich, and likely a fungus. My cure for fungal infections is simply clean water and patience. Salt is said to help them as well, but I haven't seen much success with that route. there are anti-fungal meds out there if it gets worse.

I'd just keep an eye on everything aside from that. Salt does cause some stress but minimal IME. Heat causes more stress than salt in most cases IME but it usually doesn't do a lot of damage if oxygenation is adequate.

Observe and wait. How many days since the last ich spot fell from your fish???
 
The last ich spot fell off on the 10th, I was planning on continuing with the salt and a tank temperature of 83 until the 17th. So, really all I can do is change the water are keep the salt level constant?

What do you think killed the majority of the fish? It seems like the last time I had ich it took a lot longer for the fish to die of ich. This time many were dying without really showing signs of ich, I just knew that I had ich in the tank. Could a temperature spike combined with a lack of O2 kill so many fish in a short time?
 
Neons were probably a little sensitive to salt. Also, you need to get an airstone going in your tank. Much of ich is unseen to our eyes. It is in the gills, gills get inflamed, fish have trouble breathing. Couple this with higher temps in water and even less o2 available to the fish and they die. We put a bubble wand in my husbands 75g and kept the temps at 88-90 for 3 weeks, and had the 2 teasp. salt per gallon. No trouble, no death. After 3 weeks, no ich.

Regular water changes during the treatment are beneficial for 3 reasons. First, when you do them and clean the gravel you are sucking out some of the ich itself. Second, by keeping your water as clean as possible you are lessening the risk of secondary infections. And third, cleaner water helps the fish deal with any stress due to the ich itself, the salt and/or the heat.

The important thing is to add back the amount of salt per gallon in your clean change water. Don't stop the ich treatment too soon, you don't want it to come back! Get another pump/airstone going asap.

Cathy
 
What do you think killed the majority of the fish? It seems like the last time I had ich it took a lot longer for the fish to die of ich. This time many were dying without really showing signs of ich, I just knew that I had ich in the tank. Could a temperature spike combined with a lack of O2 kill so many fish in a short time?
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Without knowing the answsers to some other questions, that would be the best guess I could hazard. otto's and neons are pretty sensative as mentioned, the heat is a distinct possibility. Ammonia is also a distinct possibility, but something would have had to be amiss with your bio-filter for that to be the issue. Nitrite poisoning is blocked by Chloride, so the salt should have prevented problems with nitrite. Either way your plan is spot on. if you intend to go the full 7 days (It's a good Idea) then you can probably start slowly reducing heat while finishing the treatment out. I'd drop it a degree or two at the most each day until you are back to normal tank temp, and keep the salt in there for until the 17th.
 
Cathy G said:
Neons were probably a little sensitive to salt. Also, you need to get an airstone going in your tank. Much of ich is unseen to our eyes. It is in the gills, gills get inflamed, fish have trouble breathing. Couple this with higher temps in water and even less o2 available to the fish and they die. We put a bubble wand in my husbands 75g and kept the temps at 88-90 for 3 weeks, and had the 2 teasp. salt per gallon. No trouble, no death. After 3 weeks, no ich.

Regular water changes during the treatment are beneficial for 3 reasons. First, when you do them and clean the gravel you are sucking out some of the ich itself. Second, by keeping your water as clean as possible you are lessening the risk of secondary infections. And third, cleaner water helps the fish deal with any stress due to the ich itself, the salt and/or the heat.

The important thing is to add back the amount of salt per gallon in your clean change water. Don't stop the ich treatment too soon, you don't want it to come back! Get another pump/airstone going asap.

Cathy
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I just wanted to add to what Cathy said. I just went through a bout of ich in one of my tanks--my most prized tank wouldn't ya know it--but all went as well as I could've hoped.

First I did a 25% water change. Then I raised the temp in the tank up to 88 degrees, but only 2 degrees per day, one in the morning & one in the night.

I added the salt by disolving it in a cupful of tank water before adding it back to the tank itself (slowly building up to 1 1/2T per 5G over 3 day period). I added a 2nd air pump with a buble wand, amped up the bubbles on the 1st air pump and lowered the water level by 1" to increase oxygen.

I did daily small water changes, each time compensating for the amount of salt removed. All spots had disappeared off all species by day 5. I continued this treatment for over 2 weeks. Finally I began doing bi-weekly 25% water changes to get rid of the salt.

There were no reoccurrences & no problems of any kind. Luckily I didn't lose any clown loaches or any other fish...Best of luck to you!!
 
corbinld said:
I just wanted to add to what Cathy said. I just went through a bout of ich in one of my tanks--my most prized tank wouldn't ya know it--but all went as well as I could've hoped.

First I did a 25% water change. Then I raised the temp in the tank up to 88 degrees, but only 2 degrees per day, one in the morning & one in the night.

I added the salt by disolving it in a cupful of tank water before adding it back to the tank itself (slowly building up to 1 1/2T per 5G over 3 day period). I added a 2nd air pump with a buble wand, amped up the bubbles on the 1st air pump and lowered the water level by 1" to increase oxygen.

I did daily small water changes, each time compensating for the amount of salt removed. All spots had disappeared off all species by day 5. I continued this treatment for over 2 weeks. Finally I began doing bi-weekly 25% water changes to get rid of the salt.

There were no reoccurrences & no problems of any kind. Luckily I didn't lose any clown loaches or any other fish...Best of luck to you!!
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Why did you only use 1 1/2 tsp per 5 gal? In the article by David Sullenberger, he suggest 2 tsp per gal of water. I was just wondering your reasoning. I am in the process of treating my tank for what I observed as the beginning stages of ich. I have not lost any fish and my fish seem to be tolerating the 2 tsp per gal of water and the whole process in general. All the white spots have fallen off of the one fish that did have the tell tale white sprinkles. I chose to use Davids prescribed tx using salt for treating my ich because it was the only non med treatment I that I had info for and it was reccommended by several individuals in these forums.
 
fishn10s said:
Why did you only use 1 1/2 tsp per 5 gal? In the article by David Sullenberger, he suggest 2 tsp per gal of water. I was just wondering your reasoning. I am in the process of treating my tank for what I observed as the beginning stages of ich. I have not lost any fish and my fish seem to be tolerating the 2 tsp per gal of water and the whole process in general. All the white spots have fallen off of the one fish that did have the tell tale white sprinkles. I chose to use Davids prescribed tx using salt for treating my ich because it was the only non med treatment I that I had info for and it was reccommended by several individuals in these forums.
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I too am currently treating for Ich. I dosed with 2 tsp per gallon as per the article. Everything seems to be doing fine. All white spots have fallen off and everyone seems healthy. I am going to continue to treat for two more weeks because I just added my GT back to the tank(my GT introduced the ich).
 
Fishn10's,
Amount of salt per gallon depends on the species of fish in the tank. Soft water fishes don't handle salt as easily as hard water fishes. So, if my ram tank got ich, I'd probably only add 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons, maybe 10. But, that heat would be up to 90. (Many strains of ich are killed by the heat alone.) When you start reading articles about salt/heat and ich, the amounts of salt can vary from 1 teaps. per gallon to 3 teaspoons per gallon. That's why most say go with 2, it is right in the middle.
Hope this explains,
Cathy
 
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