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

Marinemom said:
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
Click to expand...

What's twice the recomended amount? I don't even know the regular recomended amount.

I have to go to work and I wont be home until 8:30 pm ish ..... Leaving now... I'll raise the temp now before I leave, and add the saltto the tank when i get home....


Paul
 
i have to disagree with the cory cats. . . i treated my tank for ich at 1 tsp. per gallon and 83 degrees for two weeks and my bronze cats never showed any signs of distress. it's long-term exposure to salt that stresses them out and wears them down.

i see you also have a 55g. i took into account the amount of sand and driftwood in my 55g tank as well as water removed to increase aeration at the higher temp, so i used 48 tsp. in all. (by lowering the water level a bit you get more surface agitation, which icrease the oxygen content of the water) in order to reduce stress on the fish from sudden change in the water, i added 1/4 of the dose at a time. 1/4 in the morning, 1/4 at night, 1/4 the next morning, and 1/4 the next night. i simply used a water bottle, filled it with tank water, added the salt, and shook it until it dissolved completely.

also, if you usually do weekly water changes, do a big water change before starting treatment.
 
Beware of any kind of freshwater catfish and salt!!!
 
so -- several of the fish have it now..... a silver hachet -- 2 of the cherry barbs and one platy .. sigh

i turned up the heat to 86 -- as ive been reading that above 86 most strains of ich wont survive --feels like bath water to me...

i am kinda of at a lost of what to do .... some people say add the salt the cory cats will be fine -- others say don't (shrugs)

has anyone here ever had success with just the heat treatment ?

I know it speeds of the life cycle of ich -- but what about above 86 degrees -- does it die then to ?

Should i just cave in and use the dang salt with the cories in the tank -- or take the coryes and the mystery snails out and treat the tank ?
 
Mooch! I thought we talked about this (happy posts remember! ;))

As for the temp issue: 86 degress - if it kills off any strains of ich - really will only serve to accellerate the life-cycle. This wil make the ich reproduce and thus affect your fish more, but also too allow you to target their life-stage that we can treat more readily.
Everything that I have read and discussed with local aquariests have all indicated that 96 degrees is required to kill off ich, but of course most fish will die at this temp as well over a short period.

As for the Cories and the use of Salt - Yes you will be fine. I have done many times regrettably, but 2 things to be concerned about...Acclimation and Duration.

1) Ramp up your concentrations slowly and back down again slowly! *Most definately pre-mix before adding salt*
2) Try to irradicate the ich quickly (within 2 weeks) and the Corys will do just fine.

Look at my Avatar and Sig...I have never lost a Cory to Ich or the treatment of Salt. I will however say that my Corys definatelty showed signs of stress when I salted to quickly (I take 36 hrs to ramp up my tanks now and they show no signs of distress) or when I farted around with 1/2 doses of salt hoping that would work and it took me 3 weeks to treat...

Signs to look for are lethargic behaviors (probably the most common), followed by lack of feeding or lack of interest in food, paling in color, staying near a heater, etc. (Again, all symptoms of practicaly any infection...)

One last thing, raising the Temp shuld only be done after the salt (treatment) has been introduced.
 
Last edited:
ct-death said:
Mooch! I thought we talked about this (happy posts remember! ;))

As for the temp issue: 86 degress - if it kills off any strains of ich - really will only serve to accellerate the life-cycle. This wil make the ich reproduce and thus affect your fish more, but also too allow you to target their life-stage that we can treat more readily.
Everything that I have read and discussed with local aquariests have all indicated that 96 degrees is required to kill off ich, but of course most fish will die at this temp as well over a short period.

As for the Cories and the use of Salt - Yes you will be fine. I have done many times regrettably, but 2 things to be concerned about...Acclimation and Duration.

1) Ramp up your concentrations slowly and back down again slowly! *Most definately pre-mix before adding salt*
2) Try to irradicate the ich quickly (within 2 weeks) and the Corys will do just fine.

Look at my Avatar and Sig...I have never lost a Cory to Ich or the treatment of Salt. I will however say that my Corys definatelty showed signs of stress when I salted to quickly (I take 36 hrs to ramp up my tanks now and they show no signs of distress) or when I farted around with 1/2 doses of salt hoping that would work and it took me 3 weeks to treat...

Signs to look for are lethargic behaviors (probably the most common), followed by lack of feeding or lack of interest in food, paling in color, staying near a heater, etc. (Again, all symptoms of practicaly any infection...)

One last thing, raising the Temp shuld only be done after the salt (treatment) has been introduced.
Click to expand...


Hi ct

dont worry -- i will get a happy post going soon! lol


Ok -- well i havnt added salt yet.....

so should i lower the teperature first before i slowly added the mixed salt ?

Paul
 
mooch4056 said:
Ok -- well i havnt added salt yet.....

so should i lower the teperature first before i slowly added the mixed salt ?

Paul
Click to expand...
The problem with raising the temp is that you are enabling the Ich Parasite to multiply at a much faster rate! This in turn is actually stressing your fish/tank more than is necessary.

The purpose of rasing the temperature is stricly to accellerate the life-cycle for the treatment (ie. salt) to act upon the free-swimming larvae quicker and thus reduce the treatment (stress) to the tank/fish any more than necessary.

By rasing the temp w/out a treatment in place you are in effect doign the opposite of what is required by increasing the # of parasites that can affect your fish.

You need to get your salt sarted ASAP. At this point, reducing the temp and then rasing it back up will only further stress your fish, which could spell doom... :(

With temp rasied, your priority must be to get treatment started immediately.

P.S.
With Corys, as discussed, acclimation to salt concentrations are important to consider. As a suggestion, when I treat my tank with Corys with salt I add ~3 Tablespoons (pre-mixed with tank water) every 3 hours or so until my concentrations are built up. In a 55G tank, this would take about 36 hours FWIW. (3 teaspoons = 1 Tablespoon)
 
Last edited:
ct-death said:
The problem with raising the temp is that you are enabling the Ich Parasite to multiply at a much faster rate! This in turn is actually stressing your fish/tank more than is necessary.

The purpose of rasing the temperature is stricly to accellerate the life-cycle for the treatment (ie. salt) to act upon the free-swimming larvae quicker and thus reduce the treatment (stress) to the tank/fish any more than necessary.

By rasing the temp w/out a treatment in place you are in effect doign the opposite of what is required by increasing the # of parasites that can affect your fish.

You need to get your salt sarted ASAP. At this point, reducing the temp and then rasing it back up will only further stress your fish, which could spell doom... :(

With temp rasied, your priority must be to get treatment started immediately.

P.S.
With Corys, as discussed, acclimation to salt concentrations are important to consider. As a suggestion, when I treat my tank with Corys with salt I add ~3 Tablespoons (pre-mixed with tank water) every 3 hours or so until my concentrations are built up. In a 55G tank, this would take about 36 hours FWIW. (3 teaspoons = 1 Tablespoon)
Click to expand...

Dang it! Everything I do is wrong. I read your post about the lower tempature before salt -- lowered the temperature and bolted out the door for work. I should have waited for your response.

I get home from work today around 4:30

sigh... anyway ..... so ok -- 3 table spoons every 3 hours. I will start that when I get home. Do this for 36 hours... so all together thats how many table spoons per gallon ?
 
2 teaspoons per gallon is the recommended concentration.

For your 55G that = 110 teaspoons or roughly 37 tablespoons (whichever you prefer)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom