One proven way to treat ich/ick

[jeaninel]

duanes how can I measure ppt if I don't have a hydrometer? Is there a way to convert the teaspoons per gallon method to ppt?

 

[Ryu Hayabusa]

Just a little info, salt is salt (as long as the contents of the package read NaCl) its all salt, table salt, aquarium salt, rock salt, its all salt. Table salt may have a tiny amount of an anti-caking agent (usually <0.1% that keeps it free flowing, but its still salt. Rock salt may have a few impurities, but its salt.
I use water softener salt to treat ich, a 50lb bag for $5, mostly because its rated for human consumption, meaning there may be fewer impurities, but it is salt.
As long as the salinity of tank water reaches 3ppt (parts per thousand) it will work.
At 3ppt the cell walls of newly emerging ich collapse from osmotic pressure.
2.5ppt, will irritate them, but not rid your tank.

So I'll I have to resort to some medication then?

 

[duanes]

I always used a conductivity/salinity meter, and you may be able to get a hold of one at a place that sells "salt water" pool supplies, there are also salt test strips available for the same purpose. I add handfuls of salt throughout the day until that 3ppt salinity was surpassed. Water would taste slightly salty at that concentration (by the way sea water is @ 35ppt) so a normal salt water tank tester may not be sensitive enough. Most salt water pools are closer to the 3ppt mark.
Most ich type medications available though, work on the same principle as raising salinity, be they copper, or malachite, or some other metal in solution . They raise osmotic conditions to a point where the ich implode, or explode, (lyse) but are not strong enough to damage the fish. When you add meds for ich, it is not the same principal or mechanism as adding an antibiotic.

 

[Richard203]

hi can I just use heat method to treat ich? right now its at 86 F. Do melafix work on ich?

 

[Kaia]

I had a little bout with ich just recently and tried "lifeguard" which killed my bio filter and spiked the ammonia luckily I was checking everything often... Long story short this stuff works wonders if you need to treat the whole tank and won't harm your good bacteria

 

[ddot82]

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.

So that comes to 3.75 cups of salt in my 90. Does that seem right? I have young dovii in the tank, about 1 inch long each. Will a salt treatment hurt them? Also, how often should I change the water during the treatment and is important to add salt back to it during the change?

 

[Drstrangelove]

So that comes to 3.75 cups of salt in my 90. Does that seem right? I have young dovii in the tank, about 1 inch long each. Will a salt treatment hurt them? Also, how often should I change the water during the treatment and is important to add salt back to it during the change?

1) 2 tsp per gallon is 180 tsp in 90 gallons; there are 48 tsp per cup, thus 180/48=3.75 cups

2) add the salt slowly over the course of a few hours (not all at once)

3) if you remove water as part of a WC, you will have to calculate the salt removed and replenish it. So if you remove 50%, add back 3.75/2 cups of salt.

4) 2 tsp per gallon works out to 3 parts of salt per thousand, while brackish water works out to .5 to 30 parts, so this is far to the low end of brackish water.

5) do not use other medications while using salt & heat as these often combine to reduce oxygen to low levels.

5) look at the fish. If you see distress (rapid gill movement, going to the surface), consider lowering the heat, adding aeration or removing the salt.

6) if you have a sump, you might have to calculate how much water is in your total system. E.g., if your aquarium has 80 actual gallons (let's say substrate and decorations make up 10 gallons), and your sump has 30 gallons, then your total system is 110 gallons, not 90. In that case, the salt required is not 3.75 cups, but a bit more than 4.5 cups. As Duanes said, you want to reach 3 ppt, not come in just below, so you will want to err a bit on the high side.

 

[wuffer]

I have 4 guianacara stergiosi that scratching at the gravel. There is nothing to see on them, they eat and poop normaly. Water parameters are just fine and i change at least 30% every week. Temp is 78.8 F.

Should i give them the heat treatment as described and add salt?

 

[ddot82]

I have 4 guianacara stergiosi that scratching at the gravel. There is nothing to see on them, they eat and poop normaly. Water parameters are just fine and i change at least 30% every week. Temp is 78.8 F.

Should i give them the heat treatment as described and add salt?

What do your nitrates look like?

 

[wuffer]

What do your nitrates look like?

I use tetra test and its normaly at 12.5 mg/l