ICH

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TayHudson

TayHudson

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 26, 2010
253
3
0
Baltimore, MD
So yesterday my fish looked fine. I did a 15% water change with water that I let sit over night with conditioner in it.

I get up today and they are all covered with Ich.

I asked a friend of mine who is very educated about fish having owned hundreds of them. And she confirmed that it was Ich.

So we went to a semi-LFS and I picked up some Ich meds along with some other things. Including a new "nicer" heater.

She told me to get aquarium salt so I got that also.

I put the heater in and turned it up to 80 degrees.

I put the salt in following the directions on the box.

What I want to know is.....should I be doing something else??

SHOULD I BE USING THE MEDICINE if I notice in a few days that things haven't cleared up??

I have a 40B with 4 clown loaches, 2 yoyo loaches, 3 silver tipped tetras, 6 ember tetras, 3 black neon tetras, 6 neon tetras & 2 german blue rams.

They are all still relatively small. They seem to be growing at a good pace, eating, swimming. Until I noticed one of my clowns "flashing" against the wood and rocks in the tank. Darting up and down, scratching itself.

They ALL seem to have it.

Is this just a waiting game at this point having put the salt in??

What about a water change??

I've read things on a Loach Forum that I'm a member on and I saw that the salt is bad for loaches being that it would cause MORE stress on them. Reading this after I put the salt in the tank.

This is my "first" community tank and I just want to make sure I do everything I possibly can to rid this Ich problem. So if ANYONE can give me some insight it would be greatly appreciated. I feel HORRIBLE :(

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Dissolution of salt should be done as the grains can badly burn their skin. It's exactly why some loachaholics seem wary about using salt. I'm not. I've dissolved salt during ich treatment process and I never lost a single loach and catfish to it.

How were you adding salt? Add a teaspoon per gallon and repeat the last set in the next 12 hours. All you need is a total of two teaspoons per gallon. Don't forget to DISSOLVE. Get a cup, put tank water in it and repeatedly stir until salt is dissolved before adding to tank.

Do NOT use other ich meds especially formalin based ones. Formalin and salt combined will quickly kill all your fish. Give your fish two weeks to recover. Remember to keep water well aerated as both high temp and salt will deplete the oxygen severely.
 
TayHudson;4473856; said:
What about the water changes? When should I start with them since I started the salt today? Also should I siphon with each water change or every other? Since I have pretty small fish. How much of a water change should I start with, 15%, 20% or 50%??
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Do your normal routine and check water parameters regularly. Water changes are still necessary as normal routine or when your water parameters tell you you need to. Siphon the substrate more thoroughly than normal though to remove the ich cysts that may be sticking there.

Don't forget to redose the salt per water volume changed. If you remove 10g for instance, redose 20 teaspoons. Water changes can render treatment ineffective since it removes salt.
 
Clown loaches are more sensitive than any of your other fish. I never saw any of my yoyo loaches having visible white spots. They tend to be bulletproof on any health issues.
 
Lupin;4473917; said:
Clown loaches are more sensitive than any of your other fish. I never saw any of my yoyo loaches having visible white spots. They tend to be bulletproof on any health issues.
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I can't see any white sopts on the loaches. The yoyo's are brushing against the rocks tho. And the poor clowns are miserable.
 
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