Need advice for a salt water dip

There definitely is a heat resistant form of ick out there. It used to be that ick wouldn't survive in temps of 86F or higherl. Until superick came along! Dealing with ick and sensitive species is hard enough with normal ich. I don't recall seeing any other posts on here about people having super ich, but I've read about it over on the discus forum. Tay have you consulted with loachesonline? They are the loach experts and may have dealth with the same ich issues you're dealing with. If you haven't, please do. I'd be afraid of losing that big loach because of his immune system being worn down over a long period of time.
 
Thanks for the site
I'm going there after this post is done lol

and LOL @ "Super ick"

seems like a suitable name after all the headache I've been through

hopefully the next update will be positive...the salt is working VERY fast tbh

faster than I expected
 
Great! Keep us posted with the advice you get and how it's going.:)
 
Salt does kill the majority of the parasites in the water quite quickly, which reduces reinfection, so the total number of spots drops quickly. As with anything, there's a tail which takes a lot longer to kill.

The only real issue with formalin and malachite green is that some ich strains have developed resistance to them. Some people dislike them because they have this idea that "chemicals" are "harsh" and should be avoided, but scientifically this divide between "natural" and "chemical" is rubbish - when all's said and done, the ich is natural.
 
Yes Tay, I'd vacuum everytime you do water changes.
If your tank is cycled just keep check on your parameters and keep them ultra perfect to help your guys immune system, and do water changes accordingly.

I had to start a whole new cycle in the temporary tank, so I was doing water changes everyday when I first started the Ich treatment with the heat salt method in this sterilite container, because I had lost my biofilter due to a power failure. (The power failure happened during the treatment for Ich with Ich Attack which was then interrupted)

When I had to move them to a friend's house, that's when I got this temporary tank. When I brought them back home, after the power was restored, I got a new AC50 to hang on this temp tank, and after five days the tank was fully cycled (must have been enough bb in the substrate to get it going) so I droppped to every other day on the water changes and sometimes every three days.

Anytime I do a water change I do stir the substrate and vacuum, though I don't have much substrate in this tank. Some areas are bare, even.

I have been meticulously measuring water removed and adding back water that has the dosage of 2 tsp per gallon, also, as the container has no cover I have to replace the appropriate amount due to evaporation (no salt added to that water as it would steadily increase the saline concentration in the tank)

I have been on a roller coaster for weeks now:

  • Brochis has severe septicemia (May 15th); treat in hospital tank for two weeks. He fully recoverd.
  • Back in main tank one week, then Ich breaks out.
  • Ottos have no specks and never did, probably because I had cranked the heat up immediately to 84 in the 10 gallon tank they were in along with the Brochis.
  • Treat with Ich Attack for three weeks, then power fails before Ich is cured.
  • Move fish and set up temporary tank at friends house.(discontinued Ich Attack)
  • Bring fish home after three days when power restored.
  • Brochis has more specks, still no specks on Ottos.
  • Biofliter dead, go buy new AC50 and new 200watt heater because small heater not doing the job on the bigger temprorary tank. (won't go over 78 degrees)
  • Move ADFs, snails, and plants to 10 gallon with no biofilter. Cycling process started all over again in the 10 gallon tank, too, so daily water changes on that tank.
  • Heat salt method begun June 28 in temporary tank. Tank staying at 86 degrees F.
  • One speck remaining on Brochis.
  • Just today had my own central airconditioner go out. Compressor had massive coronary and will need either new compressor or new whole house system. (will find out tomorrow when AC sales guy comes out to discuss options.
  • Heat building up in house. (probably won't be needing to run the heater in the temp tank at all soon. In fact, I may be floating bottles of frozen water) It's 105 outside.
  • I may be in a tub with bottles of frozen water, lol, soon.
AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
OK, I feel better now, sort of.
 
Sheesh Mel, when it rains it pours! Hope things get turned around with good results soon.
 
Thanks, pink, me too. Oh, things will get better... I'm sure of it. Just a few more bumps in the road to roll over that's all.
 
wow Melody,
I feel bad for you -_-

It seems like everything that can go wrong, is going wrong.

Just to update

I went to loachesonline and posted up there and someone had the EXACT same problem I'm having...he said reading my post was like Deja Vu

I was informed (as I was thinking...but not 100% sure it would make a difference) to remove all cavelike ornaments to prevent the rupturing cysts from rising to the interior of the caves and reinfecting the big guy
(i think that should definintely be added to the ich treatment stickies) and so far the loaches are a little more stressed than normal...but I figure a severe ich outbreak would stress them a lot more

I have my salt dosage to 1 tsp per gallon now and I was wondering if I should do 2 tsp per gallon?

I've seen quite a few people using that dosage

temp is still constant at 86 and the loaches don't seem to mind too much

I'm a little hesitant to go higher with the temp as I'm not sure how much the loaches can handle...I saw someone saying they had theirs at 88 and everything was ok...

but there were also a lot of people that were shocked at that comment...so I think I'll leave it at 86 for the time being

hopefully we'll get to the bottom of it soon enough...I'm really interested and honestly fed up at this point

I will be extra careful when buying any livestock from big als in the future and I advise you to do the same...this outbreak is unfair to the pets and big als should not be selling any infected fish period

but then again...if they die due to some mysterious illness
where are you going to buy medicine and/or new livestock to replace what is sick/dying? BIG ALS!

I guess it works in their favour also

sincerely,
1 thoroughly dissapointed customer
 
Tay, I"m so glad things are going well with your guys. I'm going to go check out those links, too.

I just finished my heat salt treatment on my Brochis and two Ottos. I went three weeks at 86 degrees and 2 tsp per gallon, just to be sure. Everyone is fine.

I told you guys about my trials and travails with the fish having Ich, power failures, and the A/C going out. The old "when it rains it pours" really describes things here, lately, lol.

I'm sitting here on AC, today, even as my new 15 SEER A/C unit is being installed. They've been working on it since 8am this morning.

More wierd stuff happend after my post telling all my woes, lol, and I had forgotten that our freezer quit working a couple of weeks before the A/C went out.

Our big freezer we keep in the garage (paid $30 for it 20 years ago, lol) went out, but we didn't know it. When I went in the garage I kept smelling clove oil. I thought my fish box with euthanasia supplies must be leaking but didn't check it.

On the third day I saw water trailing from the freezer to the big garage door (we don't have our car in the garage... we have cats that live in the house but sleep in the garage) and I opened the door and everything was thawed. :hypnotized:

I had lots of frozen salmon, tilapia, veggies, pizzas, and a poor Betta that I rescued from the lfs to euthanised because he was swollen huge with dropsy. (I had put him in the clove water in a baggie in the freezer to save for trash day and forgot him)

Anyway, the clove water and all ice had drained all in the garage, and we lost all that food. GEEEEZE.

Then, on the day our A/C went out, I noticed that the ceiling fan in the dining room was going slow... like those stupid fans that are barely turning in those movies in hot sweltering 3rd world countries and you wonder what the heck good are they anyway they move so slowly. (no offense to any AC members living there and having a fan like that):o

So... my husband, Louis, went to Lowe's to buy another ceiling fan, and then went to Wallyworld for a thing or too. While he was gone I saw water running from the side-by-side fridge/freezer in the kitchen. I pulled it out into the kitchen and saw that water was coming from inside where the line for the icemaker/water dispenser connects.

I threw towels down and started to call to tell him, but then thought maybe I should wait 'til he got home. No sense in hitting him with it as he strolled the aisles of Wallyworld. I just kept soaking up water with towels.

And, we had just gotten this big cabinet thing, from Lowe's, to make a pantry out of and had it beside the fridge. Well... it's particle board covered in a white vinyl... looks nice and all like a painted wood cabinet... but it's particle board.

So, the leak, which had been apparently going at a variable volume over a few days, but not enough to run out into the ktichen floor to alert us to the problem, had been absorbed up the sides of the pantry and it looked like it had leprosy... or maybe more accurately, columnaris. It is seriously damaged.... I think I'm going to have to euthanise it.

So... When Louis came home I had to tell the poor thing. Then the valve wouldn't turn off on the water line so I sat a bucket under the dripping valve while the fridge sat in the middle of the kitchen, (the side by side is huge and the kitchen is small so we had to squeeze past it with great difficulty and mind you, it's 100 degrees in the house), Louis had to go get a new valve at Lowes.

My brother-in-law, trying to offer comfort, said, "Well... at least this is probably all that will happen... you know... bad things come in threes."

I said, "Well it's been more than three things, and that's Celebrity deaths and airplane crashes anyway!" :y220d:

To make a long story even more tedious... no I'll stop there. Suffice it to say... it's been a heck of a month here at our house.:hitting:
 
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