Mating blue ram with ich????

[Kelly5978]

My German blue rams are doing a mating dance, while fighting off a male Bolivian ram who I'm trying to re-house. My 55g tank has 0 ammonia and nitrites, and 5 nitrates. The German male was purchased a few days ago, and instantly paired with one of my females. Unfortunately, I didn't quarantine, and now see 4 raised, salt-like white spots on him. Would he still be trying to mate infected with ich? I've begun to slowly raise the heat to 86 for 3 weeks. But, will this hurt my denison barbs, who prefer 77 degrees, and took 3 days to get comfortable in my 80 degree tank? Any suggestions are welcome on how to deal with this issue! Thx

 

[Darkseid76]

If you dont have a QT the alternative is all your fish getting sick and losing all your stock. Therefore: HEAT, SALT, WATER CHANGES

 

[Kelly5978]

Okay. Wait. There's the question...JUST heat won't kill it? I was raising to 86 for three weeks, because I'm afraid of meds, and salt will raise the hardness of the water! Also, I thought removing an ich infected fish wouldn't matter, as the tank is infected. I love these fish! Please tell me how to treat (keeping in mind I have barbs that like lower temps, and angels who like softer water). I'm so upset.

 

[haleybeth30]

I'm not sure how it will affect the barbs, sorry, but I have read if you increase the heat you should increase the oxygenation in the tank. Daily wc and aquarium salt for water replaced. Good luck!

 

[haleybeth30]

I don't think salt increases hardness, but don't take my word for it, hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in soon!

 

[Kelly5978]

I have every med available...rid-ich, methyln blue, maracide, pima fix, melafix, parasite guard, fungus clear, etc. I have all these because I went down the med path...and lost fish. I'm extremely afraid right now. I do have aquarium salt. Can someone give me instruction? Does ich spread this fast? He now has 8 dots....over a 3 hour period. No one else has anything.

 

[Kelly5978]

Verify ich

Just for verification....this is ich right? (If pic doesn't show...I'll post in profile album "problems"

 

[Darkseid76]

Heat causes ich life cycle to speed up. Aquarium salt will destroy the cellular free swimming forms of the parasite before they attach to fish and form cysts. At that point the parasite is immune to salt and meds. And the salt will not raise hardness.

Water changes will help maintain water quality and keep salinity from building up in your tank.

 

[Kelly5978]

Ok. Heat 1 degree up an hour? How much salt? Aquarium salt right? And, if I see another fish becoming infected, do I do anything? I'm so tempted to take the quick cure, easy way. But, I really want to do this right. Thank you all so much....I just need the exact temp and salt amt.

 

[Darkseid76]

No exact temp. The heat just speeds up ich life cycle. For peace of mind 82-83 is fine. Heres how the parasite works in a nut shell. Parasite hatches from eggs in substrate. At this point it is most vulnerable in free swimming state. In free swimming state it seeks a host, which are your fish. Once attached to fish it forms a cyst( the white salt looking spots ). At this point meds or salt don work. Parasite multiply in cysts. Cysts fall off and sink to bottom. Cycle repeats.

The point of heat is to speed up life cycle. You want to encourage parasite into free swimming state. Once in free swimming state, salinity will cause imbalance in cell structure of parasite and destroy it. Meds accomplish this also( killing parasite ) but aquarium salt is safer option than harsh meds. Daily water changes keep salt from building up, and using gravel vac will help eliminate parasites in substrate. Not complete eliminate but helps a little.

Do this for several weeks. Why? Ich can hide in fish gills also and not be seen. Keeping up this process for more than a couple weeks will help make sure the parasite is eradicated.

 

[haleybeth30]

I just remembrred! on the forum home page HUKIT has written an article on ich, exact instructions on treating with salt and heat, check it out

 

[Kelly5978]

So, the med instructions are bs? (3 days...so many drops...). I am slowly raising heat. If I understand correctly, I can keep raising heat to 89 degrees (which would kill the ich if left for 7 days, but most definitely would kill my denison barbs), or heat to 86 degrees, then add 1 teaspoon of salt per 5 gallons (so 10.5 teaspoons). Do I wait to add the salt until the ich falls off the infected fish? Then, I change 25% of water daily using a gravel vac, adding 2.5 teaspoons of salt to the new water. I do this for 10 days, or 4 days after I see visible signs of ich. And, the salt should not affect the gh or hardness of my water. Please tell me if this is correct. should i still remove carbon and purigen, sInce I'm not using medication? I really appreciate the help!

 

[Kelly5978]

Do I just search for "HUKIT"?

 

[haleybeth30]

you can pm him. The article is on the home page

 

[haleybeth30]

I don't remove carbon unless using medication

 

[Kelly5978]

Found it. Thx

 

[haleybeth30]

no problem, good luck!