Is this Ick?

[BostonPatriot]

Crappy pics but you can kind of see the white spots. Looks much worse in person and the fish are scratching themselves against the rocks. I Have already turned up the heaters and added salt. Is there anything else I can do? I don't have a hospital tank. So far it is on all three loaches and the green terror.

[blacktip]

It certainly looks like it is ich. It also sounds like you've already taken the right steps. Good luck.

[dialphantom]

i hope for the best

[BostonPatriot]

Thanks Blacktip. I am just really hoping it does not get on the Datinoid.

[bluedempsey]

yeah it gets alil tricky with scale less fish ;)

[rweedon]

you can still use quick cure at half strength or you can also try **** i forget the name same brand we use it on all of our knives...

[spryandspringy]

There are several treatments that you can use at half-strength with scaleless fish. If you don't see an improvement within forty-eight hours with the increased temperature and salt, I'd use one, carefully following the directions for scaleless fish.

[guppy]

Looks like ich, keep the heat and salt going for at least 10 days, Since it is already in the tank you should just treat the whole tank.

[rweedon]

Aquarisol that is what we use for the knives look it up and check for your loach but it should be just fine... if we can see the spots in such a blurry pic it may not be ich (ich should look like a grain of salt)

[redtailfool]

I use salt and bumped the temp to 86 and higher. 1 teaspoon per 5 g should do the trick ...

[BostonPatriot]

Aquarisol that is what we use for the knives look it up and check for your loach but it should be just fine... if we can see the spots in such a blurry pic it may not be ich (ich should look like a grain of salt)


Yeah it definately looks like Ich from the pics I looked up online. Salt is exactly what it looks like in person. I just want to pull the fish out of the tank and scrub it off!

[bluedempsey]

I just want to pull the fish out of the tank and scrub it off!

:eek:
it won't work i have triied it.
:screwy:

[BostonPatriot]

:eek:
it won't work i have triied it.
:screwy:


hahaha nice. You use a Brillo pad?

[spryandspringy]

HNo, he used a nice, all-natural loofa sponge. He was worried about any chemicals that might have been used to treat the brillo pad. :lol2:

[guppy]

I use salt and bumped the temp to 86 and higher. 1 teaspoon per 5 g should do the trick ...
RTF, did you mean teaspoon or tablespoon? I do 2 teaspoons per gallon.

Spry+springy, I hear saliva works but make sure you don't get your tongue finned.(snicker)

[BostonPatriot]

RTF, did you mean teaspoon or tablespoon? I do 2 teaspoons per gallon.

Spry+springy, I hear saliva works but make sure you don't get your tongue finned.(snicker)


Wouldn't that type of concentration of salt kill some of the fish? Also when I do water changes do I just do half the recomended salt if i do a 50% water change since the other salt is still in the water?

[bluedempsey]

no i had no pads
but i scrubed it on the cement sidewalk!
j/k

[guppy]

I have used that concentration on clown loaches once, I had been away and they were new and heavily infected, they were around 2 inches lond. Because I had heard that clowns were salt sensitive I added 1/4 of the salt every 12 hrs to reach the total, out of 8 fish 1 died. Considering how bad they were I found that acceptable.
As for the water changes I spot a problem im your logic, the water you are removing is a salt solution, salt is being removed with the water. Your new water should also contain the same strength solution of salt/water. This is not like when you are replacing evaporation losses which leave the salt behind.

1 teaspoon per 5 gallons is about 8-10 times less than what you need to be even halfway sure of killing ick. Diluting it with an unsalted 50% water change leaves at 5-6 % of the salt you need

[BostonPatriot]

I have used that concentration on clown loaches once, I had been away and they were new and heavily infected, they were around 2 inches lond. Because I had heard that clowns were salt sensitive I added 1/4 of the salt every 12 hrs to reach the total, out of 8 fish 1 died. Considering how bad they were I found that acceptable.
As for the water changes I spot a problem im your logic, the water you are removing is a salt solution, salt is being removed with the water. Your new water should also contain the same strength solution of salt/water. This is not like when you are replacing evaporation losses which leave the salt behind.

1 teaspoon per 5 gallons is about 8-10 times less than what you need to be even halfway sure of killing ick. Diluting it with an unsalted 50% water change leaves at 5-6 % of the salt you need

Yeah I got that. What I am saying is that I added the 1 table spoon per 5 gallons which was 15 tablespoons for the 75 gallons. I did a 50% water change so the water left in the tank would have the solution. My question was would I add 7 1/2 tables spoons to bring the new water up to the proper concerntration? Also, How many tablespoons would you recommend for a 75g to reach the proper concentration? The only fish that I am concerned about killing is the Datinoid.

[DeLgAdO]

I use salt and bumped the temp to 86 and higher. 1 teaspoon per 5 g should do the trick ...

you mean tablespoon

[guppy]

Yeah I got that. What I am saying is that I added the 1 table spoon per 5 gallons which was 15 tablespoons for the 75 gallons. I did a 50% water change so the water left in the tank would have the solution. My question was would I add 7 1/2 tables spoons to bring the new water up to the proper concerntration? Also, How many tablespoons would you recommend for a 75g to reach the proper concentration? The only fish that I am concerned about killing is the Datinoid.
Yes yould would add the 7 1/2 tablespoons to reach your original concentration.

to make the salt solution for an entire 75 gallons of fresh water you will need 50 tablespoons of salt which converts to 3.12 level cups of salt.

Since you already have 15 tablespoons of salt in there add more which is 2 1/4 cups.

Your datnoide should actually enjoy it, they are considered a brackish water species even though most people keep them in fresh water.

[cabouta1]

good luck, clown loaches are very prone to getting ick, ha no luck with any remedies for mine and they all persihed. Beautiful fish but very sensitive. Best wishes with yours.

[Miles]

I measure salt like this;

Take a handful of salt, and dump it in the filter.
If the Ich looks worse the next day, I do it again.

If it's a big tank, I take 2 handfuls of salt and do the same thing.

Few things to keep in mind though.. I don't do this with salt sensative fish, such as wild Discus, or Apistos.

I have heard alot of speculation about Corydoras as well as Clown Loaches being intolerable of salt. This is likely because the salt was not pre-mixed before it entered the tank. If you don't dissolve the salt, and it dissolves at the bottom of the tank, you will damage these sensative fish. If you look at dissolving salt, you can see a layer of 'brine' at the bottom of the tank. It looks like the salt is releasing a goopy liquid into the water, and that is what hurts the fish. I dump the salt in the Hang-On Back filter, so it dissolves slowly into the tank and is well mixed as it enters the tank. These methods dosn't seem to harm biological filtration either..

[Miles]

Oh yeah, also..

When dealing with Ich, there are ALOT of species of Ich. Some species of Ich are much more tolerant of salt than others, which means sometimes the Salt+Heat method will not work. I have seen this happen to a few of my customers, as they complained of my 'idiocy' for not reccomending a 'chemical' to alleviate the problem. I talked with some LFS people about it, and they agreed on the thought as well. Sometimes you may have to resort to using chemicals such as Malachite Green, Formalin or perhaps one of the name-brand Chemicals like Rid-Ich or Quick Cure.

[guppy]

Yeah, I always wince to see salt just dumped into the tank. I forgot to mention that the way I add it is to dissolve it in warm water in a gallon jug them pour it into the tank in the inflowing water from the filter or in front of a powerhead so that it is quickly diapersed throughout the tank.