Salt and high temp in a planted tank?

[happygirl65]

Well, I haven't had any more deaths in the tank. And the cardinal tetras are looking better than yesterday. All of the fish seem to be responding well to the raise in temp and I don't see any more twitching. The cherry barbs were definitely hit the hardest. The clowns have stopped scratching on the sand although they don't look a lot better I think they will survive. My discus are even venturing out which they haven't really done since I got them. So that is a good sign at least for them.

As for the rest of us, we are all feeling better today except I have almost no voice. Good thing I don't have to talk to post a message huh? My kids laughed at me pretty hard when they heard me singing with a hoarse voice....lol. But it got them laughing so it was worth it.

 

[mom2reds]

Glad to hear you guys and gals and fish are all doing better

 

[happygirl65]

Lost two more cherry barbs today. They sure do seem to be the most sensitive. Perhaps they don't like the high temp either. The four remaining cherry barbs are acting pretty still. I am hopefull still that the high temp will irradicate the dreaded ich. I don't have plans to add any more fish anytime soon that's for sure and if I do I think I will keep them in QT for at least a month. It's pretty heartbreaking to watch them go through all of this.

One positive side effect of the high temps....algae is dissapearing...who knew?

 

[FishEggs]

that's odd. I had an algae outbreak when i raised the temps for treating ick. i got green spot and i think it was staghorn but not sure. Started dosing excel and it cleared up real quick. I also lost the few ghost shrimp i had and i think they (shrimp in general) cant handle the high temps for very long.
Hope you dont have anymore deaths and everyones feeling better.

 

[happygirl65]

Well I had three more die....two cherry barbs and a clown loach. I did a major pwc today.
SO far the discus are loving the higher temps and they are coming out more than ever. They do not seem effected by the ich at all. (Thank goodness)

The remaining 2 cherry barbs do not look good. The only other fish that has the white spots is one cardinal tetra and it is looking better than it did before. I am thinking that the cherry barbs and clown loaches do not tolerate the higher temps when they are already under stress.
I hope all of this death stops soon.

Do you think I should remove all of the plants and bleach dip them? Or will the extended high heat kill the ich for good?

 

[FishEggs]

I just did the high temp treatment and its been 3 weeks since i turned the temp back down to 78. Havent seen any signs of ich returning. Of course i wanted to be extra certain that the ich was gone so i did 3 weeks of high temp treatment after i saw the last spot disappear. I dont think it's necessary to dip the plants IMO.

 

[mom2reds]

I am glad the discus are doing well hopefully the worst is over

 

[rich311k]

Ich wont be on the plants. The heat will kill it. I am sorry for all your troubles.

 

[Innovator]

86F is the therapeutic recommendation as the parasite cannot complete its life cycle along with over 1ppt in salinity for at least a week. The excess heat and oxygen depletion is what's probably killing your other fish moreso than the outbreak. I would test your digital to make sure it is accurate (placement counts) since there is no need to go as high as 88 or 90. Just my .02 for future outbreaks.

 

[happygirl65]

86F is the therapeutic recommendation as the parasite cannot complete its life cycle along with over 1ppt in salinity for at least a week. The excess heat and oxygen depletion is what's probably killing your other fish moreso than the outbreak. I would test your digital to make sure it is accurate (placement counts) since there is no need to go as high as 88 or 90. Just my .02 for future outbreaks.

I have added air, turned my co2 way down, and lowered the water level, but the ones that are dieing are the ones that had the worst coverage with the white spots too. I am still doing weekly water changes.

I am glad to know it wont survive above 86F. It is just curious to me that I got an outbreak at all with a constant temp of 84 to begin with.

The other funny thing is that the last time I added fish it was a full month (didn't seem that long but I checked the receipt) before the outbreak. The only thing I added more recently was plants.

Is it more likely that it came in on plants or with the fish?

 

[pitt420dude]

I've never heard of plants carrying ich, but I think it is possible.

After all, the third stage of the ich is when it encysts itself onto the substrate and decor in your tank, so if there is somethign for it to latch onto, then I think it can be transferred.

Very suprising indeed, happygirl, that you got an outbreak in the first place at 84. I thought 82 was the breaking point, above which it can not live.

Sorry for your troubles but try to look on the bright side: the worst is over and at least your discus are happy!

 

[neilanh]

I've had that happen. Everything I've been able to find in research and asking questions is that most likely the fish are carrying the Ich when you get them. It takes something to actually trigger the outbreak. most usually the trigger is stress, but one would think that the stress of moving to a new tank would be higher than rearranging some stuff, however that doesn't always seem to be the case - so I'm not 100% sure what the deal is.

 

[happygirl65]

Well I ended up losing all 4 clown loaches, 6 cherry barbs and one cardinal tetra. The tank is so much less active now. I am considering (in a month or so) getting some more fish, I would love to increase the number of cardinal tetra up to at least 20 but I hesitate to add anything at all.
Everything I have read says that after two weeks all the ich will be dead...I just feel so unsure now. I will most certainly wait until I can set up my old 55 for a QT tank.
The one really good thing is that the discus appear never to have been affected at all by the ich. So that is my silver lining at the moment.

 

[neilanh]

Sorry to hear that.

But, you're right. Once all signs of ick are gone, keep the temps up for 2 more weeks before starting to lower them. A QT tank might be a good idea, considering the cost of the discus, you shouldn't put them at risk. A small tank (10g) is cheap, and if you keep extra media in your main tanks filtration, that will allow you to setup a QT tank on the fly with the seeded material and not need to worry about a cycle in it.

 

[happygirl65]

That is exactly the plan. I even have a 10g with 2 angels in it (waiting for my MIL to be ready for them)