Oh Ick- it's ick!
- Thread starter nene
- Start date
Cover the tank with a towel and keep dark as well as the above, but before adding the salt do a 50% Water change to help rid the free floating ick. The Dosage for salt is 1 tablespoon for every 5 gallons. Do frequent water changes to help rid the free floating ich. Once you add the salt don't add any more, unless you vacume the gravel.
Well I took all carbon out added the salt, cranked up the heat and added an airstone last night. This morning I swear everyone looks perkier. Corys are fine. The only one with the Ick is my Angel Ram so far and he still has spots on him but I think I now have the upper hand on the Ick. Thanks so much to all of you.
Temp and salt works for most it seems, but if your like me (Heavily planted tank with inverts) many medicines will kill the inverts/plants. I was able to pull the inverts out and into another 'clean' 12 gallon tank.
And salt is not good for many plants in a planted tank.
So, if you have plants/inverts, cross-referance the chemicals in whatever medicine you use to not obliterate your shrimp/snails/and plants!
And salt is not good for many plants in a planted tank.
So, if you have plants/inverts, cross-referance the chemicals in whatever medicine you use to not obliterate your shrimp/snails/and plants!
I have used salt and heat on planted tanks that contained snails without any problems. However, I do recommend moving the snails to another tank. Ich doesn't attach to them so if they carry any over to the new tank, the ich should die by the time your treatment ends.
Don't hold one small ich outbreak against a perfectly fine LFS. This is quite normal with even healthy fish that have been well cared for. Ich is just one of those latent, always present potentials that will flare up at any time if a fish gets highly stressed. It doesn't take any more than that.
Odd Thing is my only ich outbreak came the same way, when I brought home a German Blue Ram from a trusted lfs. quickly spread to the entire tank except the gouramis and the platy. Weird thing was all the other fish were healthy when I transferred them from my other tank, and I checked the same lfs 2 days later and their tank (with same inhabitants as when I purchased) was ich free too! I have no idea where it came from but have heard as others have said...that ich is like the common cold, always present but one gets it from lowered immune system (stress).
The 'beware of salt' comment was more toward plants as many plants won't do well with any salt in the aquarium. I have a heavily planted aquarium with many types of plants so salt wasn't for me.
And even many plant safe meds are NOT safe for inverts... so just make sure you do your homework or transfer the inverts to another tank during medicating process.
Another natural alternative that helps is freshly minced/diced garlic.
For more info -
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/h_cortes-jorge.html
The 'beware of salt' comment was more toward plants as many plants won't do well with any salt in the aquarium. I have a heavily planted aquarium with many types of plants so salt wasn't for me.
And even many plant safe meds are NOT safe for inverts... so just make sure you do your homework or transfer the inverts to another tank during medicating process.
Another natural alternative that helps is freshly minced/diced garlic.
For more info -
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/h_cortes-jorge.html
