Green terror tolerance to heat and salt? (treating ich)

[Cabie]

I just bought a beautiful 3-inch green terror. He just had two white spots on his fins, but I figured I could treat him easily. Other than that, he seems very healthy and happy. He doesn't have any breathing problems and loves to eat.

So I'm thinking of treating him with raising the temperature and adding salt, but I just wanted to make sure... Can the green terror tolerate a temperature of 86 F (30 C)? If not, what's the highest temperature he can tolerate? And will he be okay with salt? Is salt a softer treatment for him than meds? I keep seeing different dosage for salt, how much salt can the green terror tolerate?

 

[kno4te]

Should be fine with heat and salt. Make sure there’s a powerhead to churn the water. The depletion of oxygen in heated water is the concern. Can handle salt and add 1tsp per gallon x3 about 6hrs apart. Replace water at 50% and replace the amount of salt removed. Gravel vac and clean etc.

Salt is probably safer than med say that dose.

 

[Jexnell]

May not be ich. I thought the same when I got Hotlipz my GT, but I watched for a couple days and no new spots apeared, also noticed the two spots she had were right on the cartilage rays in her fin so more than likely just broken rays that will heal in time. Sure enough a month plus later and no new spots, and the ones she had are nearly healed up and gone.

 

[Cabie]

Should be fine with heat and salt. Make sure there’s a powerhead to churn the water. The depletion of oxygen in heated water is the concern. Can handle salt and add 1tsp per gallon x3 about 6hrs apart. Replace water at 50% and replace the amount of salt removed. Gravel vac and clean etc.

Salt is probably safer than med say that dose.

Thanks! I've raised the temperature to 26 C today and I'm gonna keep raising it tomorrow. I'm at 1.5 tsp / gallon of salt now, I'm gonna add some more tomorrow to get to 3 tsp / gallon. My little green terror doesn't seem to mind at all so far.

May not be ich. I thought the same when I got Hotlipz my GT, but I watched for a couple days and no new spots apeared, also noticed the two spots she had were right on the cartilage rays in her fin so more than likely just broken rays that will heal in time. Sure enough a month plus later and no new spots, and the ones she had are nearly healed up and gone.

I considered that possibility too at first because his fins have been a bit nipped, but unfortunately, two new spots appeared today, so it is really ich.

 

[kno4te]

Would suggest to post some pics and ur water parameters. Gotta keep this treatment for up to 3 weeks.

 

[duanes]

If it is not ick, raising the temp can often times be counter productive.
If the spots are bacterial infections, raising the temp can make them more virulent.
When I wanted to grow large colonies of pathogenic bacteria in the microbiology lab, I would put inoculated petri dishes in a 35'C (95'F) incubator to get best results.
Heat is not always a good thing for curing fish.

 

[duanes]

But to your query, since GTs are from west of the Andes, the water they come from, is much more alkaline and mineral rich than the soft water Amazonian species from eastern S America.
This would lead me to believe that a 3ppt ick treatment salinity would not be a problem. And a few weeks of higher temps could also be tolerated.

 

[Cabie]

Would suggest to post some pics and ur water parameters. Gotta keep this treatment for up to 3 weeks.

My parameters:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 0
pH: 7

He's alone in a 66-gallon tank full of java fern.

Here you can see a little white spot on his pectoral fin:

We can't see it in this picture, but the tip of his pectoral fins has been nipped.
The white thing on his tail is just a bubble passing by, he doesn't have that white spot on his tail.

If it is not ick, raising the temp can often times be counter productive.
If the spots are bacterial infections, raising the temp can make them more virulent.
When I wanted to grow large colonies of pathogenic bacteria in the microbiology lab, I would put inoculated petri dishes in a 35'C (95'F) incubator to get best results.
Heat is not always a good thing for curing fish.

It really looks like ich to me, but are there bacterial infections that look similar to ich?

 

[duanes]

I see the spot on the pelvic.
Although it could be ick, it also could be any number of things.
Is it flashing (scratching against objects such a s rock, or the substrate)?
A much sharper image would help, this one is blurry when it is zoomed in on.

 

[Cabie]

I see the spot on the pelvic.
Although it could be ick, it also could be any number of things.
Is it flashing (scratching against objects such a s rock, or the substrate)?
A much sharper image would help, this one is blurry when it is zoomed in on.

I've never seen him flashing. There's only one spot left now, the same one you can see in the picture. I'm a bit surprised, because this is one of the spots he already had when I got him, so I would have expected this one to disappear first if it had been ich. The other spots disappeared very quickly, like they normally do at such a high temperature. Maybe this one is not ich? He's had this one for seven days now, but before I raised the temperature, it used to be at 23 C, so of course one would expect the life cycle to last longer at that temperature. Is it normal for some spots to last much longer than others or would this be a sign that this one is not ich?

It could be what Jexnell described here:

May not be ich. I thought the same when I got Hotlipz my GT, but I watched for a couple days and no new spots apeared, also noticed the two spots she had were right on the cartilage rays in her fin so more than likely just broken rays that will heal in time. Sure enough a month plus later and no new spots, and the ones she had are nearly healed up and gone.

It's hard to see on the pectoral fin, but it does seem to be on a cartilage ray. Were the spots on yours as small as ich, Jexnell?

Well, I'll keep up with the ich treatment and we'll see if this spot goes away or not... As long as the spot is not getting bigger, I guess he'll be okay.