When ever you medicate, it is a good idea to remove any chemical absorbing compound like zeolite/carbon. Keep in mind that zeolite will release trapped ammonia back into the water when salt is applied.
Is my Leopard Bushfish Sick?
- Thread starter SilverArowanaBoi
- Start date
So, should I remove everything but the sponge when I put salt in? Also, back to my original question, how much salt can I put in a 55-gallon for treatment?
One proven way to treat ich/ick
I am writing this because it is something that comes up so often. Ich is a protozoal infection that afflicts fish and can rapidly kill them, most often by damaging gill tissue. The organism goes through a life cycle of; a small white spot feeding on your fish, which drops off to the floor of...
www.monsterfishkeepers.com
Same link I posted a week ago, very clear instructions on adding salt and raising temp.
What his fish have is definitely not ich. Treating the wrong method would be worse
it is unlikely that itch would kill a ctenopoma...
The fish will recover on its own.
To possible various fungal disease i would try an anti-fungal preparation.
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I agree with this.
If the infection is bacterial, (which is highly possible) raising water temp, is often the worst thing to do.
Bacteria thrive at higher temps, such as the 80s (and up into the mid 90s), which is why after many ich treatment using higher temps, secondary bacterial infections are the result, and at leas as dangerous as ick itself.
As an example
When I worked as a microbiologist the best temps for growing colonies of pathogenic bacteria in an incubator were mid 90s..
So y'all don't think it's ick? I honestly agree, it doesn't look like it with careful observation. I think it's fungal. I will use more fungicide and lower the temperature back.
Fair enough, I can't diagnose , haven't had much experience with disease in tanks
In a 55 gal tank, you can add 1 1/2 lbs. of salt as a treatment for many diseases.
(NaCl= table salt, rock salt, water softener salt) as long as its NaCl)
.
That weight of salt will produce a salinity of 3 ppt.
Most fish can handle that amount of salinity, many disease larvae, forms cannot.
As a reference the oceans average is salinity 35 ppt.
I reference the weight method, because (for example) 3 lbs, of salt) is known to raise salinity to 3 ppt, which is the salinity that kills certain pathogens.
But
If you use the volume method (tsps, tbsps etc) different salt grain sizes cn lead to underusing, and take the chance, of not being effective.
Many people will tell you salt doesn't work for diseases like ick, but the reality is, they have unintentionally underused by using the volume method, allowing the phage to go on infecting..
The problem here, is that you do not really know what you are treating for, and without a proper disease Idiagnosis its just a shot in the dark
Gram negative bacteria need an antibiotic that works against gram neg bacteria.
Gram positive often need a separate antibiotic.
Certain larval stages of protozoa are vulnerable to salinity, but their parents aren't, and need meds
.
Nematode worms need a different med.
Your other eventual choice, as a last resort, (as you mentioned ) is Euthanasia, of all fish in the tank.
I don't think you're at that point yet.
(NaCl= table salt, rock salt, water softener salt) as long as its NaCl)
.
That weight of salt will produce a salinity of 3 ppt.
Most fish can handle that amount of salinity, many disease larvae, forms cannot.
As a reference the oceans average is salinity 35 ppt.
I reference the weight method, because (for example) 3 lbs, of salt) is known to raise salinity to 3 ppt, which is the salinity that kills certain pathogens.
But
If you use the volume method (tsps, tbsps etc) different salt grain sizes cn lead to underusing, and take the chance, of not being effective.
Many people will tell you salt doesn't work for diseases like ick, but the reality is, they have unintentionally underused by using the volume method, allowing the phage to go on infecting..
The problem here, is that you do not really know what you are treating for, and without a proper disease Idiagnosis its just a shot in the dark
Gram negative bacteria need an antibiotic that works against gram neg bacteria.
Gram positive often need a separate antibiotic.
Certain larval stages of protozoa are vulnerable to salinity, but their parents aren't, and need meds
.Nematode worms need a different med.
Your other eventual choice, as a last resort, (as you mentioned ) is Euthanasia, of all fish in the tank.
I don't think you're at that point yet.
