Ich?

[TigerBarbs]

My tiger barbs have little white specs on their tails and fins is this ich???? What should i do about it??

 

[Talvari]

Yeah thats probably ich. First thing you want to do is staring turning your heater up about a degree every few hours.. I've heard somewhere around 80-84 degrees is a good range.

Adding salt to the tank can help, but it has to be NON iodized salt- you can pick up aquarium specific salt pretty cheap at most local pet stores. Follow the dosing instructions carefully... Try not to add all the salt at once, and its best to dissolve it in a separate container before you add it to your tank.

Also picking up some general ich treatment is a good idea, too. Most meds require you to dose daily for about ten days, to take out the carbon in your filter, and to do small, frequent, water changes.

 

[jsoong]

A better question to ask is WHY? Fish don't come down with ich for no reason. Perhaps the tank is not cycled, or there is a mini-cycle, or something is worng with the tank.

Before treating for disease, it is best to search for & correct anything that cause fish stress. <Stress is prob what brought on the disease ... unless you added a diseased fish in recently.> I would check all water parameters, do a largish water change & good gravel vac, and make sure the water is perfect before embarking on any treatment. The best med in the world will be useless if you have bad water in the tank ...

 

[TigerBarbs]

I hav marcel maracyn-oxy will that work?

 

[Talvari]

Probably not... you need a medication that treats for parasites, not bacterial, fungal, or viral infections...

 

[jcolon]

My tiger barbs have little white specs on their tails and fins is this ich???? What should i do about it??

Do they all have multiple salt size specs - OR -

- is it just one Barb that has what almost looks like a tiny salt grain sized air-bubble on the back fin?

A bunch of salt size grains on the tails and fins sounds like ich ... but I've seen many Tiger and BlackRuby Barbs ... a couple of mine included ... that had a single air-bubble looking spec on the back fin. With mine, it was always just one Barb that had it and it always went away on its own, in a couple of days ... no outbreaks of any type. I'd say I've had 3 different Barbs, at different times that this happened to.

If it's the first scenario where many Barbs have multiple salt specs, then you can look to start salt / temp treatment.

 

[TigerBarbs]

Most of my barbs have a few on their tails

 

[jcolon]

First I would take jsoong's advice and do a large PWC ... at least 50%. Ich manifests itself with stressed fish and TigerBarbs are prone to get ich.
Check your parameters and then do the high temp / salt treatment. You'll have to remove any plants and inverts.

Good luck!

 

[TigerBarbs]

Thanks! I dont have live plants or inverts. And can i use any non iodized salt?

 

[jcolon]

Thanks! I dont have live plants or inverts. And can i use any non iodized salt?

I'm not qualified to say if non-iodized table salt will work, I'd say get Aquarium salt ... can't go wrong there.

 

[jsoong]

You can use any salt without additives ... Kosher salt, pickling salt, sea salt ... I have use all of those. <I would not get into water softener salt, de-icing salt & other "industrial" salts ... these don't have to be too pure.>

 

[TigerBarbs]

Wil mortons non iodized work?

 

[Reygan2]

You don't necessarily need salt and you definately don't need meds. Just up the temp to 86/87, lower the tank level to allow for extra splashing and be sure to have an air stone because the high temps lower 02 levels, and wait for 2 weeks. If it's ich it will clear up. Don't forget to do a couple of gravel vacs and pwc's during that time. This method worked great for me.

 

[jsoong]

Wil mortons non iodized work?

On Morton's website, the only salt listed as additive free is their Canning & Pickling salt. That would be the one to use. <I suspect the plain non-iodized still has anti-caking agent & other additives.>

 

[TigerBarbs]

I got api aquarium salt and the dosage seems super super high it says 1 tablespoon for every 5 gallons! How do i put it in?

 

[sillygirl423]

You're gonna want to completely dissolve it in a bucket/container of tank water then add slowly to the tank, I used a drip acclimator, but I wouldn't think pouring it in a little at a time would hurt. Someone else may come along and say different though.

 

[TigerBarbs]

I just put some in the filter...

 

[jsoong]

You actually don't want to go to the full concentration at once. That dose is the correct one for treating ich (0.3% salt). It is quite high & fish should be acclimatized to it to reduce stress.

I normally up the salt over 2 days. So put 1/3 of the amount in now, 1/3 in 24 hrs, and the final 3rd the day after. You want to pre-dissolve the salt in some tank water before adding to the tank. Since solid grains of salt can burn the fish if it comes into contact with the skin.

If you go the salt route, remember to keep the salt level constant. If you are doing pwc's, you need to add an appropriate amount of salt to the change water. Also, salt don't evaporate, so it will concentrate in the tank if you get a lot of evaporation. The safest way to limit this salt creep is to mark your water level. If your tank is at the water mark at pwc, no worries, just add the same amount of salt in the change water. If the level is lower, then you add fresh water to the tank up to the mark BEFORE you do the pwc. This will dilute the salt back to the appropriate level so you remove the appropriate amount of salt with your water change.

You keep the 0.3% level of salt in the tank for at least 2 weeks after all signs of ich is gone, then drop that to zero over the next few weeks with 10-20% pwc's every few days.