Do i really need salt?

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your welcome your welcome your welcome!!! good luck. it's really upsetting when things like this happen but take a deep breath and remember that ich has been around forever and most people get through it with their plants and fish in tact. i hope you have a good result. keep us posted. as my mother used to say. "this to shall pass" :)
 
Just keep the temp to 86+, it will take some time, but be patient. The parasite cannot reproduce in that temp. IME it can't survive in those temps.
 
Well I just lost the 3rd fish. Thats 3 out of the 4 I bought last week. Really disappointed. I rung my LFS and told them about the ich and they basically blew me off. Was trying to do the right thing and inform them so they could check there fish but they weren't interested. Their loss! My other 4 rainbow seem to be doing fine. Still swimming around playing in the extra bubbles. My guppy fry are starting to hang around the top of the water but they aren't gasping for air. My temp has reached 84. Not much further to go now. I hope I don't loose anymore. My daughter (3) has noticed there are less fish and keeps asking where they are going. :(
 
My temp has reached 86 now an I'm not game enough to increase it anymore. A 4th rainbow is showing signs of impending death. I fear it's not going to make the night. What else can I do for them?
 
The tank has been sitting at 31*C for 4 hours now. I just found a 4th rainbow dead. I don't think they are handling the high temps very well. I don't think I raised the temp too fast. 36 hours to go 6*C. I don't know what else I can do for them.
 
I am so sorry for your losses. Nothing can be more aggravating, as we all know and have experienced.

I dont think the temp change was too fast, IME. Most lfs's dont care if their fish are spreading ich. They are in the business of selling their stock, not spending $$$ on meds or quarantining.

With my tanks I keep the temps at 80 degrees and treat the water with aquarium salt in accordance with the directions on the box. With each water change, I treat with salt but remember to only treat for the amount of water I replace. (If I pull 10 gallons of water from the tank, I treat the 10 I put back. I dont think the salt evaporates, so I dont want to get too much of a concentration.

One other recommendation: Use a quarantine tank for new fish or plants. If they survive without problems, then you can introduce them into your show tank. If the dreaded ich shows up, it wont spread to your other fish and you can treat the new fish accordingly.

Sadly, even if you do everything right you can still get ich in your tank. It is inherant with them and the bane of all aquarists. What you are trying to do is keep it from getting out of control.

I recommend keeping the water at 80 degrees (27 C) and treated with aquarium salt at all times. If you do have an outbreak it wont take as long to get the temps up and the salt acts to help kill the ich and promotes healing. I do this and have not had a problem for over a year.

Good luck!
 
Have you tested your water with a liquid test kit not with strips?
 
There is no nee to take 3 days to raise the temp. If you were to crank the heater, it would take several hours for the temp to go up, and the fish would adjust. The delay is time wasted with no treatment. Same with lowering it.
 
BillD said:
There is no nee to take 3 days to raise the temp. If you were to crank the heater, it would take several hours for the temp to go up, and the fish would adjust. The delay is time wasted with no treatment. Same with lowering it.
Click to expand...

It took 36 hours to go from 24*C to 31*C. I originally read I had to do 1 degree every 12 hours. But later got given some info that 1 degree every hour is ok. So I cranked it.
 
Retired_AF said:
I am so sorry for your losses. Nothing can be more aggravating, as we all know and have experienced.

I dont think the temp change was too fast, IME. Most lfs's dont care if their fish are spreading ich. They are in the business of selling their stock, not spending $$$ on meds or quarantining.

With my tanks I keep the temps at 80 degrees and treat the water with aquarium salt in accordance with the directions on the box. With each water change, I treat with salt but remember to only treat for the amount of water I replace. (If I pull 10 gallons of water from the tank, I treat the 10 I put back. I dont think the salt evaporates, so I dont want to get too much of a concentration.

One other recommendation: Use a quarantine tank for new fish or plants. If they survive without problems, then you can introduce them into your show tank. If the dreaded ich shows up, it wont spread to your other fish and you can treat the new fish accordingly.

Sadly, even if you do everything right you can still get ich in your tank. It is inherant with them and the bane of all aquarists. What you are trying to do is keep it from getting out of control.

I recommend keeping the water at 80 degrees (27 C) and treated with aquarium salt at all times. If you do have an outbreak it wont take as long to get the temps up and the salt acts to help kill the ich and promotes healing. I do this and have not had a problem for over a year.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

My tank was sitting at 26*C but i dont think my older rainbows liked it so i turned it down to 24. After all this is over i think i will keep it a little high. Next time I am out at the shops I'm going to pick up a big container to use for qt. I already have a spare heater and filter. I'm also going to get some salt. Lesson learned! is there any other meds I should keep handy?
 
It's 8am in Aus and after organizing the rest of the family I checked the fish. Good news I think! All three remaining rainbows are alive and kicking and my guppy fry are only down 2 in numbers. The spots seem to have stopped increasing in numbers. Yay!
 
Mumma.of.two said:
My tank was sitting at 26*C but i dont think my older rainbows liked it so i turned it down to 24. After all this is over i think i will keep it a little high. Next time I am out at the shops I'm going to pick up a big container to use for qt. I already have a spare heater and filter. I'm also going to get some salt. Lesson learned! is there any other meds I should keep handy?
Click to expand...

I always keep some Stress Coat handy. If I have any stressed or injured fish or have been treating them it adds aloe and helps stimulate the slime coat on their bodies, helping them to heal faster.

:bb:
 
Well it's been about 10 days since I first noticed the ich and all remaining fish are doing great! 7 (not so small now) guppy fry and 2 lonely rainbows. My temp is still at 87F with no spots in sight! Looks like I will be able to start lowering the temp after the weekend.
 
NONO NO! I think I must have accidentally used some equipment from my infected tank on one of my other tanks! My rainbow tank seems fine and I'm going to start reducing the heat soon but today I found spots on my dwarf gourami and 2 of my 5 cories! I've starts treatment ASAP. I don't remember using any contaminated equipment but I must have! There have been no new fish to that tank for at the very least 2 months. I feel so very stupid right now and I was being so careful! I've cleaned everything with straight vinegar then rinsed in hot water so I'm hoping it's killed it all.
 
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