Couple questions re: ich and salt...?

Question

So, it looks like my tank has ich. So, should I go get some ich medicine or should I get some aquarium salt? Which is gonna work better? 30 gal tank w/ neons, platys (one is pregnant), rummy nose, guppies, corys, and pictus. Also, my pictus is looking rough. His long whiskers are messed up - one is broken and the other is long but the end looks stringy and floppy - not stiff like the rest of the whisker. What's that about? Thanks in advance for the info. Oh, and how long does it take to clear ich with either the meds or the salt?

Answer 1

Either will work, but you need to be careful with whichever you choose because some of your fish will be sensitive to either the salt or the medication. You should start with 1/2 of the recommended dose, and slowly increase the amount watching for signs of stress in your fish. It also helps to raise the temperature (a few degrees each hour so the fish can adjust) while treating for ich, but with the corys, you may need to watch them for heat stress, because some of these need cooler temperatures than others. It would be good to have the temperature up to around 86o if they will tolerate that level, but any increase will make treatment be more effective sooner.

With both treatments, it will take around 14 days, or at least 3-5 days after you no longer see spots on the fish. Stopping treatment any sooner will put your fish at risk of reinfection, because it's not until the parasites are off the fish (where they're enclosed by a protective cyst) and in the water that the treatment begins to kill them.

Since you have such a mix of fish, if you have a spare tank, you might want to consider treating the sensitive fish (corys, tetras, and pictus) separately from the ones that are more tolerant of salt and medications.

The barbel of you pictus was probably injured by getting caught in th filter intake or by bumping against an object in the tank - when fish have ich, the often scrathc against objects (called flashing) to "scratch" their bodies to try and remove the irritation from the parasites.

Answer 2

I had many problems when first starting with my fish. I used aquarium salt and raising the temp. Use the salt as directed on the container and only raise the temp a couple of degrees every 10-12 hours until it reaches 80-82 degrees. Make sure you have plenty of filtration and plenty of airation for the fish they will need it. You will need to use this process for 10-14 days. Do your cleanings every 2-3 days. After that you will need to do cleanings every3-5 days for a couple week to make sure all the babies (eggs) are gone from the tank. To help the process and prevent it from occuring as much or ever in the future. Keep your fish happy and use as little gravel as possible. Always quarentine new fish before entering into community tanks. I have just enough to cover the bottom. I clean once a week with a cheap little siphon hose. This works well for my 3 tanks. Havent had ick since.Good Luck

Answer 3

i always used both. Ich meds like ich clear from jungle buddies is always my favorite. But aquarium salt is always used. Ich like most paracites dont like salt in the tank water, so by adding the salt, it will help clear.

Aquarium salt is great, i use it after every waterchange an when new fish go into the tank. It doesnt hurt the fish, so i dont see why people just dont use it when there are illness.

Also increase the water temp. By doing this, the lifecycle of the paracite will speed up, which will clear the ich.