ich-quick cure..to use or not to use?

[MarshlDillon]

So im realitivley new to the hobby (few months past cycle)and recently got a free case of ich with some tetra glofish i bought (not cheap fish). My question now is how to go about treating. I have already raised temp to 84 deg.dont want to use salt becuase i have corys in that tank also dont have non iodized salt on hand. I do have a bottle of quick cure but am hesitant to use meds (especially if they could harm my bio filter i worked so hard to establish). So my questions are as follows

- has anyone successfully used quick cure? If so results?
-does quickcure kill beneficial bacteria?
-malachite green and high ph (8.2)=problems?
-does it really stain white decor and silicone? To what degree?
Any help is appreciated and the faster the better as i already lost one of the tetras today and also have other expensive fish (platinum pearscale veil angels)in that tank that are not showing ich yet.

 

[MissGurnus]

Heat should work without any other medications. However there are strains which are resistant so you need to keep a close eye to make sure this isn't the case. I've personally used table salt to great effect even with khuli's and cory's. Just half the dosage and remove it within a week


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[MarshlDillon]

Thank you for replying. I think i am going to give it some time with just heat and vacuuming. My heater struggles to get to 86 deg. So im at 84-85 not sure if that will be enough to kill the newly hatched ich. What would half dose of salt be? 1/2 tbsp per gal? Ive read lots of different dosing info for salt.

 

[HUKIT]

You can safely dose 1-3 tablespoons per gallon depending on what type of stock you have. If it's Glofish then you won't have any issues at a higher dosage.

 

[MarshlDillon]

Thank you hukit for your response...the cory cats in that tank are all i worry about with salt.

 

[ImACoolguy]

Nope no salt with Cory cats. It won't end well for them. They are classified under scaleless fish and are sensitive to salt.


Caleb

 

[HUKIT]

Nope no salt with Cory cats. It won't end well for them. They are classified under scaleless fish and are sensitive to salt.


Caleb

The whole thing about Cory's and other scaleless fish being intolerant of salt is pretty much a myth, regurgitated time and time again on aquarium forums. Corys come from a very wide range of conditions from very acidic(black water), sediment rich(white water if you will) and everything else in between. Salt WILL not hurt them!

 

[ImACoolguy]

The whole thing about Cory's and other scaleless fish being intolerant of salt is pretty much a myth, regurgitated time and time again on aquarium forums. Corys come from a very wide range of conditions from very acidic(black water), sediment rich(white water if you will) and everything else in between. Salt WILL not hurt them!

Interesting. Mind showing an article I can read? I'm not disagreeing by any means. Merely if I'm saying something incorrect I want to improve where what I'm saying is factual. I've always read scaleless fish like cories are intolerant to salt.


Caleb

 

[thing fish]

the malachite green will in fact stain decor and the silicone. it is definitely noticeable. the one time i treated for ich years ago, i used rid ich and it left my tank's seams tinged with blue. it cured the ich, but blue seams were annoying.

if youre treating with heat, you may want to consider leaving lights off and dropping the water level a bit so that there is more surface agitation. this will help oxygenate the water more.

i am not sure about salt and corydoras. i always heard no salt but perhaps i was misinformed? also would be curious to hear more about this.

do you have more than one tank? if so, take care not to cross contaminate.

good luck

 

[HUKIT]

The point I'm making is Corydoras have been collected in higher salinity area's of many rivers and the reason for my response was that people state they are "intolerant" which simply isn't true. I would not recommend continued exposure to high amounts but when treating a parasite such as Ichthyophthirius high amounts of salt are not harmful and are very well "tolerated".

Definition of Intolerant...

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intolerant

 

[coralbandit]

Interesting. Mind showing an article I can read? I'm not disagreeing by any means. Merely if I'm saying something incorrect I want to improve where what I'm saying is factual. I've always read scaleless fish like cories are intolerant to salt.


Caleb

It is a myth that salt cannot be used on this species of fish as a means of parasite medication. Salt can be added to the water of the Corydoras catfish in order to rid the fish of ich.
Taken from;
https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Corydoras

Not exactly the end all be all but is a link that confirms the comment made by Hukit.

Cories don't like salt and I would never use salt propholatically on any of my fish,
But for treatment it is fine IMO .
There are sooo many "myths" or things we do(I know thing I do),
Just because it is what we do?
Sometimes way back there ,there is a reason(wish I knew them all,but....)

 

[Delapool]

It would be worth a separate thread on cories and salt in general as this comes up many a time.

Not a cory keeper so can't comment specifically.

Generally I do find scaleless fish can handle some salt for short periods.

Edit - thread up for comment

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/cories-and-salt-dosing-337268.html

 

[MissGurnus]

I have never seen my cory's react to salt I've put in the tank personally. Khuli's yes but they have toughed it out with. No problems.

You should be fine with heat though, and yes 85ish should do the trick unless its the aforementioned resistant strain


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[MissGurnus]

I think without any sensitive fish we do a teaspoon per gallon. If you're worried but still want a back up 1/3 or 1/2 doses should help without you having to worry. Remember to do bigger changes to remove it after a week or so


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[Delapool]

I have never seen my cory's react to salt I've put in the tank personally. Khuli's yes but they have toughed it out with. No problems.

You should be fine with heat though, and yes 85ish should do the trick unless its the aforementioned resistant strain


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Hi, thanks for the feedback. What level of salt did you use and for how long?

I'm not looking to get into another thread on salt dosing, just if scaleless fish are sensitive. What issues did you see with the loaches?? Thanks in advance!!

 

[MissGurnus]

Hi, thanks for the feedback. What level of salt did you use and for how long?

I'm not looking to get into another thread on salt dosing, just if scaleless fish are sensitive. What issues did you see with the loaches?? Thanks in advance!!

It was for my 29 and i halfed it for the loaches. We uses about 10-15 treaspoons and left in in for about a week and then i did a 50% change and again a few days later when i got the chance. The cory's never reacted in my tank, the khuli's were definitely unhappy they kinda sat around and literally hung in some of my fake plants and were a little lethargic.

After i took it out though they went right back to normal and haven't suffered any long term issues. At the time we had 4 khuli's, 4 cory's snd other less sensitive fish.

Not sure I'd try it with any botia's or anything like that, and your fish could react differently but that's what happened in my experience ? hope this helps


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[MarshlDillon]

Thank you all for the responses! It seems we stumbled into an interesting topic with the salt and scaleless fish.

Anyway i am still using just heat atm..most spots are gone and ive been vacuuming every day. Doesnt look like anymore of the fish are struggling like the one i lost was. I will definitely do anything i can not to use malachite green if just for the staining issue..i am kinda ocd about my tanks and i think it would bother me.
Besides ive read somewhere it can cuase tumors..dont remember where i read that but the bottle does say it has chemicals known to cuase cancer...hmm again not in my tanks unless completely necessary.

 

[Matt68005]

I would just take the cories out and use the quick cure. But thats just me.

 

[MissGurnus]

For what it's worth, iodized salt is fine as a treatment!



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[Delapool]

Thank you all for the responses! It seems we stumbled into an interesting topic with the salt and scaleless fish.

Anyway i am still using just heat atm..most spots are gone and ive been vacuuming every day. Doesnt look like anymore of the fish are struggling like the one i lost was. I will definitely do anything i can not to use malachite green if just for the staining issue..i am kinda ocd about my tanks and i think it would bother me.
Besides ive read somewhere it can cuase tumors..dont remember where i read that but the bottle does say it has chemicals known to cuase cancer...hmm again not in my tanks unless completely necessary.

I've never really looked into the tumours. I've never had any problems there and my feeling is the meds are a little better designed compared to say the 1990's. Interesting topic. Never seen much posted on it.

I'm sure these meds can be a problem in that regard but have found treating to make sure the med kills the infection but not the fish, the trickiest problem.