Fish bouncing back from ich

[isu712]

I have a 20 gallon tank with 2 Flame dwarf gouramis, 4 harlequin rasboras and 4 white clouds. Shortly after I got the white clouds they came down with ich. I think it was related to stress because their fins were being nipped by some guppies that have been moved to a different tank. I have been treating the ich with freshwater salt for nearly two weeks now (The instructions said two teaspoons for every gallon). The ich seems to have gone away for several days now, but there appeared to be one persistent spot on the "noses" of the white clouds. I just thought it was a persistent parasite, but recently the white spots have turned into "bubbles." Is this the ich on its last legs or something completely different? Is it even a problem? Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.

P.S. I will be lowering the salinity levels soon after I can figure out what's going on.

 

[theotheragentm]

That sounds like far too much salt. Do a major water change. Skip the salt and turn up the heater to 78F, slowly, a couple degrees an hour. Ich cannot survive at higher temperatures. Leave the heater there for two weeks to ensure you get all the ich.

 

[isu712]

What would a more acceptable salt level be for treating a parasite? 1 tsp? Less than that? I did increase the temp with the initial treatment. Any ideas on the "bubble?"

 

[rkilling1]

That sounds like far too much salt. Do a major water change. Skip the salt and turn up the heater to 78F, slowly, a couple degrees an hour. Ich cannot survive at higher temperatures. Leave the heater there for two weeks to ensure you get all the ich.

I agree that the BEST way to fight ICH is to increase the temp, but I think you entered the wrong number there agentm.

Temp NEEDS to be greater then 85F inorder to kill the ich. Most people shoot for 86-88 just to be sure.

I would also agree that you need to do PWC's to get the salt out of your tank.

Raise the temp SLOWLY over the course of a day until you reach 86F and let the temp do it's magic. Don't lower the temp until you no longer see signs of ich for atleast two weeks. This time period insures all the ich is killed.

I would also advise you to ensure you have plenty of O2 in your tank during this time. Higher temps allow for LESS O2 in the water column. If you have a HOB filter, simple lower the water level to allow for some major suface agitation or add an airstone.

 

[isu712]

I will definitely cut the salt out with water changes and raise the temp. My only concern is will a temp as high as 86 stress out the white clouds too much? I was told that anything over 80 will bother them.

 

[theotheragentm]

I agree that the BEST way to fight ICH is to increase the temp, but I think you entered the wrong number there agentm.

Temp NEEDS to be greater then 85F inorder to kill the ich. Most people shoot for 86-88 just to be sure.

Total typo. Definitely get the temperature up to where rkilling is calling it out. White Clouds aren't truly tropical. They probably shouldn't even be in the tank at all with the other tropical fish. I am not sure how the high temperature will affect them, but the ich seems like it would be worse for them than two weeks of the temperature.

 

[isu712]

After all that talk of ich it wasn't my real question. I was curious about the "bubble" thing forming on their noses. If anyone has experienced this or can give me any information it would be appreciated.

 

[theotheragentm]

Do you have a picture?

 

[isu712]

I don't have a picture, but it looks a lot like the picture of the betta in the thread titled "What's on my nose?" I might have to wait it out like they recommended for the betta, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't anything worse since it occured shortly after the ich problem.