Ich question

Yup, keep it up - all the little critters that just fell off your fish are now going to lay in the tank and multiply for a while. Once they've done that, they will head out into the water to seek out a new host - your fish! What you want to do is get as many out as you can (vacuuming the gravel really helps here) before they have a chance to become free-swimming, and also continue with the salt/heat to get any little nasties that are swimming around in the water.
 
that is the idea

when the parasites are in the free swimming stage they are vunerable and the salt and high temperature will kill them off before they find your fish
 
Temp?

Someone mentioned above that ick cannot survive at 85 degrees+. At what temp am I risking being too hihg for the health of my fish (Tiger Barbs)? :confused:
 
Signus said:
The concentration needs to reach 1 tsp at the least and 3 tsp at a max per gallon. You probably have alreayd read up on that, though.
so for my 77g tank I would be looking at around 150 tsp of salt or 50 tbsp? Wow..what's the best method to add this much salt - over a period of minutes, hours, days??
 
I usually mix 1/4 tsp per gallon in a bucket with tank water and then slowly siphon it into the filter so it will mix further. I do this once an hour for the first four hours. That will get the level to 1 tsp per gallon pretty quickly. After I'm at that level I continue adding an additional 1/4 teaspoon per gallon four more times, but stretch it out over a day or two. Just keep track of where your level is so you don't end up off by a bunch. Then when you do water changes, just add 2 tsp per gallon to the change water before or as yu put it in. this will keep the level roughly the same.
Dave
 
If I have cories and plecs should the concentration of salt be dropped any or will they be okay with it?
 
IMO they will be fine with anything in the range of 1-3 teaspoons. I don't know cories specifically, but my royal pleco didn't seem to notice the 2 tsp per gallon for two weeks. my pictus were a little antsy, but they also had pretty severe ich infestations, and they did calm down considerably after the ich fell off. The pictus did not completely return to normal behavior until I started reducing the salt levels, but compared to the effect that meds have had on them in past experience, I would call the salt reaction extremely mild.
dave
 
quick cure use

quick cure is better as a preventive measure when the chance of getting ich is hig. the best product I have seen on the market is called clout which comes in tablet form.
 
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