Treating ich-infested tropical fish with salt?

Question

I've been researching Ich online after I spotted a white cyst on my neon tetra. I heard salt was a good treatment and know it is effective on cold water fish, but how well does it work on tropical fish such as my tetras and guppies?

Also, if I decide to use Meds from the pet store, when is the best time to put the medication in the tank? I've heard it is useless to put it in when the ich is visible on the fish because you can only kill ich during its "free-swimming" stage. If anybody knows about this, I'd love to hear responses. My tank is set at 80 F and I don't have any real plants in the tank, incase that information is relevant.

Answer 1

Aquarium salt (please, no iodized table salt!) is a VERY effective preventative measure against nasties like ich and fungi.

However, once the parasites are present, aquarium salt alone is unlikely to kill them (although it is some help in keeping more from reproducing).

There are a plethora of parasite medications on the market, but I've found Aquarisol to be very effective when used in conjunction with aquarium salt. Also, raising your tank temperature by about 5 degrees will coax them to detach from your tetras, where the Aquarisol will kill them.

Answer 2

ive never used salt, but i heard it work. ive had ich a few times and i always use ich free that i get at walmart... its easy to use. they come in blue tablets, and it will turn ur water blue for about 12 hours, but it worked awesome and i didnt have any die. the higher your water temp is, the easier the ich is to get rid of. id keep it at 80, thats aproaching too high anyways. it doesnt matter if you can see the ich or not. the less spots you see the better

Answer 3

Guppies have a high tolerance for salt, so much in fact that they can actually live in a saltwater tank with marine fish.

I don't know about the salt tolerance for tetras though.

If you only had guppies in the tank, a high salt concentration would keep them disease free and healthy.