swordtail might have a parasite (maybe ich?)

[centralharbor]

its been scraping its left side by the gills on some decorations in my tank, i assume its some sort of disease. how much salt should i put in the water, i have a 20 gallon long. the reason i ask is cuz i have panda corys and i read that theyre sensitive to salt. this is whats in my tank:

1 swordtail
2 cherry barbs
2 guppies
3 emperor tetras
5 panda corys

its filtered by a penguin 125. if i start using salt, should i take out the carbon?

 

[OrionGirl]

Identifying the problem before beginning any treatment is very important. Is this a new fish? Any recent additions (last 10 days)?

 

[centralharbor]

yea, the cherry barbs and tetras went in about a week ago, i didnt start treatment yet, just making sure that i need treatment or not

 

[OrionGirl]

Be sure of the ID before starting treatment. If it is ich, there are a number of threads covering the variety of treatment options available.

 

[centralharbor]

ive read in an article that i should just start a salt bath if the fish keeps rubbing against things since it is most likely a parisite, if i wait for the cysts to form, then it can be more stressful for the fish since its gone through more of the disease. thats just what ive read tho

 

[OrionGirl]

With ich, the tomite (free swimming) stage is the only one that is susceptible to treatment, so the fish has to go through the encysting stage either way. If you're using the heat/salt treatment, there isn't much harm from initiating it now--just know you can't maintain those conditions for more than a month to 6 weeks without causing more stress. The cories will be okay with the salt. Make sure you have lots of surface agitation--higher temp water holds less oxygen, and this can cause a problem for bottom dwellers.

 

[centralharbor]

so actually, the salt wont help the cysts. thanks, i was unaware of that, i guess i might as well wait

 

[OrionGirl]

Just to clarify--no medication is effective against the parasite while it is encysted. The cyst protects it from just about everything. Raising the temperature will impact the cyst--by making it hatch sooner, so you can then treat the tomite stage.