Treating neon tetras

[gazjeffery]

Right this isn't for may tank.

My friend has recently set up a new tank, and the only fish in it are neon tetras at the moment, she has just realised that she has ich

can you treat neons with salt to help eradicate the ich? I know that salt helps but not sure if you can use it with the neons.....

Thanks for the help

 

[shawmutt]

Salt isn't recommended for tetras by the site I'm going to give you at the end of my post, however they don't say why. When my cardinal tetras got ich, I raised the temp of the tank to about 81 and used half doses of malachite green. Some will tell you to raise it even higher. My tetras were sensitive little buggers anyway, so all died but one. But the one I did save told me (maybe) that what I did worked.

Here is a site someone here gave me, it describes the parasite :

http://www.caloriesperhour.com/fish/notes_ich.html

 

[Allivymar]

*nods and agrees with shawmutt*

I also had a prob with ich and some new cardinal neons. I had otos and shrimp in the tank, so I couldn't treat with salt (not recommended for otos or tetras) and I couldn't use meds (would kill the shrimp).

I did successfully treat with high temps; I raised the tank temp every 12 hrs till it hit 88f (temps above 86f are generally lethal to the ich parasite). Out of 5 cards I bought, 3 died before ich raised its ugly head (unsure whether a subclinical case of ich is what killed them or some other disease). The other 2 showed signs of ich about 3 days later; they survived whatever killed the first 3 , the ich itself AND the high temps needed to kill it. The temps were kept at 88f for a week after the fish appeared clear (to be sure I got it all, including the cysts in the substrate), then slowly lowered and they came out of QT about 2 weeks later.

Do keep in mind, if you decide to use just high temps, to be sure ALL the fish being exposed to those temps can handle it; some fish cannot.

And definitely read that site; it explains what ich is, its life cycle as well as a number of different treatments.

 

[shawmutt]

I just wish I remember who suggested that great site .

 

[Allivymar]

*snickers*

 

[vega]

FYI, malachite green is not good for tetra. Look for ich med without malachite green....

Anyway good luck.