White dots on barbs?

Paintballer99

Paintballer99

AC Members
Jul 1, 2009
808
0
0
Some of you may have read my other post about 2 of my 5 tiger barbs dying. I noticed that on the remaining barbs, there seems to be these white dots all over every barb.
Has anyone seen this before?
Thanks
 
It is Ick. To treat it raise the temp to 83 F and add aquarium salt.
 
it doesn't have to be aquarium salt. Plain old table salt will work. Aim for a concentration of 2 teaspoons per gallon.

Dissolve the salt in tank water in a separate container, just dumping the salt in the tank will burn the fish. Make the solution and let it cool to tank temperature. Then over the course of 24 hrs add a 1/4 of the solution and watch how the fish react. If they tolerate the salt then you can up the concentration to 1/2 2X a day and eventually the whole solution once a day.
 
Don't forget the most important requirement. COntinue to hold your salt levels for at least 72 hours after the very last sign of the parasite has been gone. The life cycle of the ich parasite includes a short time where the parasite falls from the fish to the substrate and produces the free swimming forms that infest new fish. Only while in the free swimming state are the parasites vulnerable to salt or any other treatment method. If you don't hold the treatment during that critical phase after the spots are all gone, you will leave behind parasites quite capable of starting the whole nasty life cycle of the parasites.
 
I would suggest raising the temp up to 86. I used 86 Fahrenheit water with no salt and within 2 days all white spots were gone. I kept the temperature up for another week and then back to normal, and no more ich :D

Using salt is just going to make it more effective, so I would say your odds are near 100% of saving at least some fish. Ich is super easy to beat.
 
Yes, temperature alone can kill ich, but temperature + salt will do a lot better (especially because it sounds like the disease is in an advanced state, since it already killed a few fish). As posted earlier you can add 2 tsp per gallon, or if you buy actual aquarium salt, follow the instructions there.

This is how you should be doing it:

Take out maybe 25% tank water, just like a water change
Fill a container with enough tank water to replace it
Add 2 tsp per gallon

So if you have a 10gal tank... and you take out 2.5 gallons, then you want to add 5 tsp of salt to the water you will put back in the tank. Just keep doing this (every 4 hrs or so, or once a day) and you will slowly raise the water's salinity to the desired level.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom