Ich in freshwater tanks

[brendal]

Hi I have a shark catfish with Ich. I've quarantined it in another tank with 85 degree temp and ick guard, it's not eating anymore but is not lethargic. The cysts are still on the fish. Any advice?

 

[Jason7894561230]

Put salt into the tank, read online there is a place that tells you how much per galloen. But your doing everything right by putting the temp up

 

[brendal]

I've read that salt in the water can be bad for scaleless fish like catfish or such. true?

 

[mfdrookie516]

What are you calling a shark catfish? There are several different fish that people call 'sharks', and at least 2 or 3 species of catfish that I've seen people call 'sharks'. Most scale-less fish do not tolerate salt well at all, so before recommending salt+heat, I'd like to know exactly what we're working with.

 

[brendal]

It's a bala shark catfish.

 

[iDream]

that's just a bala shark, and i'm pretty sure they have scales.. am i wrong?

 

[brendal]

I'm not sure. But it does have ich that I know for a fact. When I got it the guy was wrong then because he called it a shark cat fish lol.

 

[Jason7894561230]

Yes they do have scales.

 

[bluerose]

The thing is the ich is likely in your other tank as well - keeping the infected fish in quarantine is a good plan, but you'll also need to turn up the heat in your main tank to kill cysts there.

 

[adeebm]

If it's silvery with black tips, it's a bala shark, not catfish. They do have scales so heat+salt will work well. Turn up the temp to 86F+, that will halt the lifecycle of the ich parasite, and add salt to kill of the existing ich. I'm not sure exactly how much salt, but I'm sure someone will come along and tell you. Just do that for 2 weeks and you should be good.

How far along are you with the ich guard treatment. It might not be a good idea to have both meds and salt. And like bluerose said, by the time you noticed ich on the shark, it probably spread in the main tank so you should use the salt treatment on your main as well.

--Adeeb

 

[Mark Hewitt]

Problem is that once the spots develop on the fish, it may already be too late. Treating with salt and temperature will only stop them from reproducing or kill them in their free swimming phase. This will stop any other fish being affected and will stop the same fish being reinfected, but it'll be touch and go if it makes it through the current infection.

I'm just getting over ich now
8 rummies + 1 pepper cory dead.
2 mollies infected but recovered.
4 black skirts appeared not to be infected at all.

Still treating with temp and salt for the next 2 weeks at least.

 

[happygirl65]

Keep the temp up, even if you don't use salt...it will hopefully work eventually. You need to wait a week after you don't see any more spots on any fish before you gradually bring the temp back down.

 

[brendal]

Well im having trouble keeping the tempt constantly up and I think my angelfish killed my koi... cuz it disappeared.