One proven way to treat ich/ick

[AncientFishArk]

Correction. It was 80 degrees not 90. Finger slipped.

 

[AncientFishArk]

Correction. It was 80 degrees not 90. Finger slipped.

 

[jcarson]

It will depend on a couple of things.

How much salt did you add. You shouldn't add all the salt to your tank at once. You want to add it gradually until you reach the salt content you want. Generally in my experience adding 1 tablespoons for every 5 gallons will yeld a 1.002 to 3. I perfer 1.004 when treating ick and for my tanks generally.

Next is the types of fish you have. I have a gold flaked Moray and others similar which do better in aquariums with a little salt. However some fish can't tolerate the salt for more then a couple days.

Generally with this process, you will not want to do any water changes for at least 2 to 3 days after you see no spots on your fish. To ensure that the parasite is killed. This can take 10 days depending on temp and size of your aquarium.

Example, took my 120 gallon 6 days to get over ick after being introduced by a eel that I didn't quarantine. My tank was set to 90 degrees with at salinity of 1.004.

So i did it just like original poster suggested, 2tsp for every gallon and with 50 gallons of water in the tank put me to a ration of about 1.6678 cups of salt which i premixed in a gallon jug and during the course of adding water back to tank from water change added the whole mixture.

Temp is at 85 and all the fish seem to be doing fine with the salt addition.

 

[AncientFishArk]

It will probably be a good idea to get a hydrometer or a refractometer. So you know the salinity of the water. You should be good however so I would just wait and give it a couple of days before you do anything.

If the fish are still eating then that's a good sign. If they aren't then I would add a little more aquarium salt after 2 days. Problem is with adding more you need to know the salinity. Freshwater fish will start having issues at a salinity of 1.007 which is a gravity of 8 I believe. (I'll check that)

Ps. Sorry for the lengthy responses.

 

[jcarson]

Ok so after hours of inspection all of the white spots have disappeared from all the fish.
A couple of fish refusing to eat and seem very unhappy right now but for the most part all seems to be ok.

Not sure if its the salinity or the parasite/ich but keeping a responsible and watchful eye.

 

[AncientFishArk]

Okay keep a eye on it. I wouldn't do a water change just yet because your still trying to kill the parasite in the reproductive stage.

 

[jcarson]

Okay keep a eye on it. I wouldn't do a water change just yet because your still trying to kill the parasite in the reproductive stage.

Oh definitely in this for the long haul.
Temp at 85 degrees and even added a quarter cup extra salt just to be sure.
I've got a power head aerating the tank right now with extreme vengeance.
Gonna nip this in the bud right here and now.

 

[Cotton]

Thanks a lot, it worked pretty well

 

[dr exum]

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 your tank and encysts,
while encysted it divides into up to 2000 new mobile organisms,
the cyst ruptures, releasing the mobile organisms which seek out a host.
Only the mobile stage is vulnerable to treatment by anything that will not also kill your fish.

Here is an old fashioned but very effective method for treatment.
It can be used for most fish but morymids, corys, and some pims are sensitive to salt. Because the organism infest the tank, the whole tank should be treated.

Raise the temp of your tank to at least 85-86 degrees F.
Add aquarium salt (dissolved in water) at a ratio of 2 teaspoons of salt per gallon of water in your tank.
Now wait, while waiting it does not hurt to add a powerhead or airstone to increase the O2 level.
Over the first couple days your fish will look worse but then they will clear up. about the sixth day they will look clear but because some ecystments have not yet hatched keep the treatment up for the full 10 days.
If you are not able to raise the temperature you need to extend the treatment, at 85 the ich's life cycle is quick but at 72 it can take weeks, below 70F treat for 6 weeks.

There are medicines you can use but many fish are sensitive to them, you can also try just heat at 90-91 degrees F but some fish can't take that heat and some strains of ich can survive it.
The salt and heat method is one I have used several times with sucess.

Gonna give this a go before medication...

Ich vs other? Arrow and catfish got some cloudy eye too, arrow very sluggish.

clownloach waS in here, diseased, quarantined him before adding theses guys,

A pleco did remain, suppose spores your describing could have been on bottom of the tank.

Added salt and raised temp.

Water good, little nitrites

 

[jcarson]

I have reread most of the posts on this "salt" method and my question is..... is "instant ocean" an equivalent to "aquarium salt" in this treatment.

I have used aquarium salt quite a few times with high temp to treat ich because of this post, I just got a 48lb bucket of instant ocean from a local salvation army thrift store and was wondering if this would be good for this treatment?