ich on 2 diamond tetras- treat with salt and cory cats?

[mooch4056]

woke up this mroning and saw white spots on the fins of both my diamond tetras.

I ve read to heat the tank to 85% and treat with 2 tea spoons of salt per gallon. I have a 55gal tank.

Can I use the salt treatment with the cory cat fish? I have read the scaleless fish can't tolerate meds or salt.

What should I do?

Thanks,

Paul

 

[Marinemom]

Cories do not fare well when you add salt to the tank. In fact they do not tolerate much medication at all. You will have to look up on medication packaging what is safe for the cory cat and what is not. As far as the diamond tetras are concerned are you sure they are sick? How many diamond tetras do you have? They are schooling fish and need to be maintained in groups of no less then six and the more you have of them the better. In a 55 I would suspect you could have a decent size school of them. If the diamond tetras are sick, they could be sick because of stress. More diamond tetras will equal less stress.

Marinemom

 

[mooch4056]

Cories do not fare well when you add salt to the tank. In fact they do not tolerate much medication at all. You will have to look up on medication packaging what is safe for the cory cat and what is not. As far as the diamond tetras are concerned are you sure they are sick? How many diamond tetras do you have? They are schooling fish and need to be maintained in groups of no less then six and the more you have of them the better. In a 55 I would suspect you could have a decent size school of them. If the diamond tetras are sick, they could be sick because of stress. More diamond tetras will equal less stress.

Marinemom

hi marine mom:

am i sure they are sick? well -- they have salt like spots on there fins -- i assume its ich... theres only 2 of them -- maybe it caused the stress -- I dont know -- I just trying to figure out how to treat it with out killing the cory cat fish.... -- my stock is below --in my signature .. i might add more later - if i get rid of something -- but its maxed out

anyway -- i just trying to figure out how to treat this with the cory cats in there -- i was reading that some people just raise the heat to 85 without salt and it has worked?

Any suggestions would be good......

 

[Lupin]

Stress itself is the cause of the ich, not the other way around. What species are your corydoras? Some are subtropical meaning they will be unable to survive in temperature hovering 80 degrees even temporarily. Dissolve the salt before adding to your tank. It worked for my doradid, loaches and other bottom dwellers last time they had ich.

 

[mooch4056]

Stress itself is the cause of the ich, not the other way around. What species are your corydoras? Some are subtropical meaning they will be unable to survive in temperature hovering 80 degrees even temporarily. Dissolve the salt before adding to your tank. It worked for my doradid, loaches and other bottom dwellers last time they had ich.

3 are leapord cories -- one is -- i dunno -- a small grey no marking cory

so... are u saying its ok to use salt with the cories if I dissolve it ?

hey where is ct-death ? -- LOL -- he's pretty good with this stuff

 

[mooch4056]

ok -- here is my understanding of this ....

the fish gets stressed -- the ich finds away into the fish becuase its stressed..... those dots or spots form -- the parasite is in there.... they fall off into the gravel -- they reproduce like 1000 times and back into the water and search for a host again --- its after they reproduce and are back in the water that the heat will kill them... making your tank healthy again ? right?


So shouldnt I wait until the ich falls off the fish and they are back in the "swimming in the water" stage before turning up the heat.....

also i dont feel good about adding salt until I know the cories are safe -- or I find an answer as what to do

hey -- where is ct-death ?

 

[Lupin]

ok -- here is my understanding of this ....

the fish gets stressed -- the ich finds away into the fish becuase its stressed..... those dots or spots form -- the parasite is in there.... they fall off into the gravel -- they reproduce like 1000 times and back into the water and search for a host again --- its after they reproduce and are back in the water that the heat will kill them... making your tank healthy again ? right?

Correct. But ich parasites do not have dormant phases contrary to popular belief. They reside in the fish's gills and will strike once they sense their hosts are weakening. They're most vulnerable in their free swimming stage indeed.

So shouldnt I wait until the ich falls off the fish and they are back in the "swimming in the water" stage before turning up the heat.....

also i dont feel good about adding salt until I know the cories are safe -- or I find an answer as what to do

hey -- where is ct-death ?

The question is how are you going to know when the ich falls off? You cannot see them. You have to increase the temperature and simply keep it consistent for 10-14 days while the salt or medicine is around. If I were you, consider dissolving the salt completely before adding to the tank. It worked for me more than having to add salt straight to the tank without dissolving at all. My bottom dwellers showed no signs of intolerance to salt, at least on treatment.

 

[satanpie]

I have ich on a few of my rummynose tetras, i have 13, i dont think thew ich was caused by stress though. I am currently doign a salt/heat treatment to my tank, my BN pleco seems fine. I bought some stuff called igh-x but decided not to use it, it says fatal if swallowed, how could it be good for the fish?

 

[mooch4056]

The question is how are you going to know when the ich falls off? You cannot see them. You have to increase the temperature and simply keep it consistent for 10-14 days while the salt or medicine is around. If I were you, consider dissolving the salt completely before adding to the tank. It worked for me more than having to add salt straight to the tank without dissolving at all. My bottom dwellers showed no signs of intolerance to salt, at least on treatment.

SO by disolve it.... I should put the salt in water until it is a complete liquid mix? then add that mix to the tank.

So for my 55gal how much salt? -- how much heat? 85 degrees? -- and for how long.... looks like the ich has hit one of my platies too - So i should start this today before it goes wild.....

Paul

 

[Marinemom]

Ick spreads fast so I would start the treatment as soon as possible. It has been known to wipe out entire tanks before. Raising the temp into the mid to high eighties should be fine and as far as the salt I think you are supposed to add twice the recommended amount per gallon of water. If I am wrong someone please correct me.

Marinemom