Help!! I had an outbreak of ich in my 35 gallon hex tank and began treatment by adding salt and raising the temp up to 82. I had 5 three-stripe corydoras and they began to be very lethargic. After the first day of raised temps one died. I lost 3 out of 4 rainbow bosemani that were in my tank from the ich and the last rainbow is finally looking ich free and hasn't had a spot in four days so I think the ich is gone now. I also used a product made by API called Liquid Super ICK Cure. Over the corse of the treatment my corys became lifeless and not interested in food. They were doing so well before this!! Any way, I've lost 3 more since the first one died and now I only have one left. I'm pretty sure they didn't die from the ich because they had no ich spots on them. I was wondering if maybe it was the medicine I used or the increased temps or salt? Any clues on what I did wrong here? I don't want to lose my last cory and eventually want to replace the ones I lost, I just want to know what I did wrong with these ones.
ich treatments and corydoras?
- Thread starter sistinas80
- Start date
Salt
Did you dissolve the salt?
Did you add it slowly? If so, how?
What dosage did you use?
What salt did you use?
Temperature
How high is it?
Medicine
What ingredients are in the API Liquid Super Ick Cure?
What is the dosage recommended on it? How much did you use?
Did you do any water changes at all?
Do you have carbon in the tank?
Did you mix that med with salt?
Did you dissolve the salt?
Did you add it slowly? If so, how?
What dosage did you use?
What salt did you use?
Temperature
How high is it?
Medicine
What ingredients are in the API Liquid Super Ick Cure?
What is the dosage recommended on it? How much did you use?
Did you do any water changes at all?
Do you have carbon in the tank?
Did you mix that med with salt?
Salt:
I dissolved the salt in warm water
I added the water/salt mixture slowly by pouring it in my filtration system a little at a time so it wouldn't be too much at once
I used 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of water
The salt I used was Morton's canning/pickleing salt because thats what my sister said to use, it comes in a green box and you can get it at a grocery store
Temp
I raised the temp up to 82/84
Medicine
The ingredients in the med were malachite green oxalate
I took the carbon out of my tank
I did mix the meds and salt
I used the recommend dosage, this is what I copied from the website:
Directions for use
"For best results, remove activated carbon and continue aeration. Add one teaspoonful (5 ml) for every 5 U.S. gallons (19L) of aquarium water. Repeat dose after 48 hours. Wait another 48 hours, then change 25% of the water and add new activated carbon. Treatment may be repeated if necessary. Raising the water temperature to 82ºF (28ºC) speeds up the life cycle of the parasite and may hasten the treatment process. "
I followed the directions exactly and I repeated the treatment because my rainbows got hit really hard with the ich, when I did the water change though I did about 50% or more to get as much of the ich out as possible. I do at least a 20% water change once a week but when this ich first hit I was doing 20-30% water changes every other day to try and get rid of it and I would replace the salt that came out. I figured using the salt and raised temps with water changes every other day would work but when the ich didn't go away I had to get the medicine, I didn't want to lose all my fish. I ended up losing 3 out of 4 rainbow boesemani any way and all but one cory and that cory isn't doing so well, it still is breathing very shallow and is lifeless, I can hardly tell it's alive. I finished treating for the ich and when I did I changed a little over half the water in the tank to get out some more of the salt because I've been reading that it isn't that good for scaleless fish but that didn't seem to help.
I dissolved the salt in warm water
I added the water/salt mixture slowly by pouring it in my filtration system a little at a time so it wouldn't be too much at once
I used 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of water
The salt I used was Morton's canning/pickleing salt because thats what my sister said to use, it comes in a green box and you can get it at a grocery store
Temp
I raised the temp up to 82/84
Medicine
The ingredients in the med were malachite green oxalate
I took the carbon out of my tank
I did mix the meds and salt
I used the recommend dosage, this is what I copied from the website:
Directions for use
"For best results, remove activated carbon and continue aeration. Add one teaspoonful (5 ml) for every 5 U.S. gallons (19L) of aquarium water. Repeat dose after 48 hours. Wait another 48 hours, then change 25% of the water and add new activated carbon. Treatment may be repeated if necessary. Raising the water temperature to 82ºF (28ºC) speeds up the life cycle of the parasite and may hasten the treatment process. "
I followed the directions exactly and I repeated the treatment because my rainbows got hit really hard with the ich, when I did the water change though I did about 50% or more to get as much of the ich out as possible. I do at least a 20% water change once a week but when this ich first hit I was doing 20-30% water changes every other day to try and get rid of it and I would replace the salt that came out. I figured using the salt and raised temps with water changes every other day would work but when the ich didn't go away I had to get the medicine, I didn't want to lose all my fish. I ended up losing 3 out of 4 rainbow boesemani any way and all but one cory and that cory isn't doing so well, it still is breathing very shallow and is lifeless, I can hardly tell it's alive. I finished treating for the ich and when I did I changed a little over half the water in the tank to get out some more of the salt because I've been reading that it isn't that good for scaleless fish but that didn't seem to help.
I may be missing something here. Did you increase the oxygen levels by increasing surface movements?
Okay, here's another thought. You mentioned the ich never went away. How long was this salt treatment done at that time before you began to use the med? Ich hits hard in the middle of the treatment because first of all, you increased the temperature (which is indeed necessary) to increase the life cycle rate of the ich. More free swimming parasites break out from the cysts and then cover the hosts literally in the process. At this point, the fish needs to strengthen its immune system or the parasites will easily overwhelm it. A varied diet and plenty of water changes is one way to make the fish resist the ich while you are battling it with salt and/or meds.
You should relax while doing the treatment. You seemed to panic when you treated your fish. If I were in your situation, I'd simply do my usual routine while waiting for the ich to be completely gone in 14 days of salt treatment. That's all I did. I simply monitored my fish daily and went on my usual routine and even replacing the salt per the amount of water changed.
The only reason salt isn't good for scaleless fish is the fact people fail to admit they never dissolved the salt in the first place which I am glad you did so salt is not the issue here. I treated my loaches and catfishes with salt before and they had not been stressed in the slightest when I dissolved it thoroughly. I did lose all my cories when I forgot to dissolve the salt the first time I used it and never lost anything when I became conscious with what I am doing with salt.
Okay, here's another thought. You mentioned the ich never went away. How long was this salt treatment done at that time before you began to use the med? Ich hits hard in the middle of the treatment because first of all, you increased the temperature (which is indeed necessary) to increase the life cycle rate of the ich. More free swimming parasites break out from the cysts and then cover the hosts literally in the process. At this point, the fish needs to strengthen its immune system or the parasites will easily overwhelm it. A varied diet and plenty of water changes is one way to make the fish resist the ich while you are battling it with salt and/or meds.
You should relax while doing the treatment. You seemed to panic when you treated your fish. If I were in your situation, I'd simply do my usual routine while waiting for the ich to be completely gone in 14 days of salt treatment. That's all I did. I simply monitored my fish daily and went on my usual routine and even replacing the salt per the amount of water changed.
The only reason salt isn't good for scaleless fish is the fact people fail to admit they never dissolved the salt in the first place which I am glad you did so salt is not the issue here. I treated my loaches and catfishes with salt before and they had not been stressed in the slightest when I dissolved it thoroughly. I did lose all my cories when I forgot to dissolve the salt the first time I used it and never lost anything when I became conscious with what I am doing with salt.
Thank you so much for your help. I treated for a week with the salt before I bought the meds and I have a bubbler disk in my tank to help with oxygen flow. My sister told me it was the worst case of ich she'd ever seen except for in pictures. It turns out it came from the rainbows I got at the LFS, when I went in to get the medicine the tank my rainbows came from had DO NOT SELL written on it and I asked the guy what was going on and he told me he had just found out the rainbows they got in a few weeks ago had ich. So at least I know where it came from. My mistake for not having a quarantine tank, I'll have one set up by the time I get new fish. I don't ever want to make that mistake again. How long should new fish be in quarantine? I've heard any where from a week to 30 days, 30 days seems to be a long time. On the up side my last cory is dong much better today, it's swiming and acting normal again finally!! YAY!!
4 weeks is really the minimum I would recommend. This gives you enough time to be really sure the fish is free from possible pathogens. You could do two weeks but that's up to you. I just prefer to quarantine longer just to be really sure especially when you have stocks that are very costly. I have many fish I bought in groups and each one is not that cheap either so I have to be very cautious introducing new arrivals.
Corys and most catfish and loaches are intolerant of salt, and as you've discovered it is generally more dangerous to them than the ich. I prefer treating by simply raising the temp to ~84º F and leaving it for about 2 weeks. If using chemicals, make sure they're safe for the catfish.