Ich Chronicals

[Spence]

I've seen no signs of stress such as not eating, hiding, dull colors, or any difficulty breathing. As far as the emotional response I think the heat raises aggression levels. That's just the impression I get from watching the tank and have no other basis for my opinion.

And for salt, my impression from reading is that it being necessary depends upon the strain of ich that you are dealing with. Seems some may be heat resistant and some slightly salt resistant, but supposedly none are both salt and heat resistant. My initial plan was to get salt levels up to 1.003 as that is where I've read salt is effective against the parasite. Since everything seemed to be getting better at just 1.001 I didn't see the need to raise levels any higher since I wasn't sure how tolerant the tetras and pictus cats would be.

 

[Spence]

Treatment Day 9:

Temp 30 C Salinity 1.002
Everything remains the same
The marks on the Severum have to be some sort of scar as there has been no change in quite a few days now. If it was ich I would have expected them to drop off and show up in a different place.
So from here on out no news is good news I guess. Just got to ride out a few more days of heat to make sure any remaining parasites die off

 

[Rocksor]

One other thing I wish to add. I may have misunderstood the importance of adding salt to treat ICH. It has been my take that the salt is OK to add but not necessary. I have been under the impression the heat alone will do the trick.
There are exceptions I learned of on this forum from duanes . He resides in a warm tropical clime and told of strains that are adapted to the warmer waters. Heat alone does not work on them apparently.
This is a general question to those following the thread. Is the salt or some other chemical treatment necessary in addition to just heat?

Generally, ich does not infect new fish at 29.4°C/85°F (Johnson, 1976), stops reproducing at 30°C/86°F (Dr. Nick St. Erne, DVM, pers. comm.), and dies at 32°C/89.5°F (Meyer, 1984). There are exceptions as surviving strains do get stronger.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fa006

A slight increase in salinity can help decrease osmoregulatory stress caused by the damage to the external tissues of the fish. At warmer water temperatures (75–79°F), use of 4–5 g/L (= 4–5 ppt) salt (sodium chloride) in a prolonged bath for 7 to 10 days is another effective treatment in smaller systems, provided the fish species can handle the salt concentration. Because theronts are intolerant to increased salinity levels of 3–5 ppt, salt is often added to aquaria or tanks that are being treated with formalin to enhance the response to treatment. Most freshwater fish can tolerate 5 ppt salinity for several weeks and many can live in 3 ppt permanently; however, it is important to know the specific tolerances for each species to be treated.

 

[Boomer1224]

good job nice journal

 

[Spence]

Treatment Day 10 & 11:
Nearing the end...still no signs of ich. Going to stop adding salt with water changes and let the salinity begin to drop back down to regular levels.
Going to do a 25-30% water change

 

[Spence]

Treatment Day 12:
Holding steady...everyone doing great.
Started to drop the temp in the Dempsey tank as I never saw any sign of ich there. Dropping temp by roughly 1/2 degree Celsius a day.

 

[Spence]

Treatment Day 13:
Nothing to report....looks like I'm about ready to start dropping the temp in the main tank. Have to go back and see when it was that I last saw any spots.