piranhas, tetras, and ich

[thetonyage]

hey guys i read the sticky about ich but i have a question about the best way to treat my fish.
1~What type of fish is afflicted? bleeding heart tetras
2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? nitrate is around 10, nitrite is 0, hardness is around 75, no chlorine, alkalinity is around 80 and ph is 7.2
3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up? its 10 gallons and is about 3 weeks old, fish in it for a week.
4~What type of filtration are you using? marina slim filter s15 not sure of gph
5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes? 9 total. 3 red belly piranhas 2 inches, 2 glowlight tetras 2 inches, and 2 bleeding heart tetras 1.5 inchs (these are the affected ones with ich spots) and right now theres 2 leftover feeder fish for the piranhas (rosey reds).
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time? yesterday did a 25% waterchange and vacuumed gravel. ive been doin it every 2 days since the aquarium started
7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them? had the tetras in there for 8 days and the piranhas for about 5, they were all floated in the aquarium for about 20 mins then another 20 mins while adding aquarim water to the bag every 5 mins. no bag water got in the aquarium.
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.? no
9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently? feeder fish for the pirnhas (probably where the ich came from. and frozen bloodworms and flake food for the tetras.

ive been keeping piranhas for a few years now and suprisingly never had to deal with ich before with them. i will be going back to my usual store for feeders from now on. the ones in there now are from petsmart. the piranhas were only put in the tank due to my friends tank breaking somehow so they needed an emergency home. they are not big enough to eat the tetras and seem to actually be getting along with them pretty well. but my question is what should i do about treating this? i have heard tetras are pretty bad with ich meds and im not sure how it will affect the piranhas. i would like to do the salt cure but i need to know if its piranha safe. sorry for the mangled post but im kinda in a hurry at the moment i will hopefully edit later. thanks guys.

 

[dkpate]

You want to use the salt treatment? I don't know anything about piranhas, but for the tetras you do 1/2 dosing like bettas with the meds. I am currently doing the salt treatment for 2 of my bettas (still don't know how in the heck they got ich) and I use 1 tsp/aquarium salt per gallon, and I raised the temp to 86 degrees.
Hopefully someone who has piranha experience can jump in here and let you know if salt is okay to use with them.

 

[bmg07]

i had a pacu that had ick and i used salt treatment and medicine from the pet store.this was a long time ago so i cant really remember how much i dosed him with.but it did work very well

 

[dkpate]

If you use salt and heat, you don't need meds. Ich can't reproduce in temps over, I think it's 82 degrees. But when I treated my betta, before he moved to the bigger tank, I was not able to raise the heat, so I had to use salt and meds too. I used QuIck Cure and it worked great.

 

[bmg07]

yeah. just to be sure i put in very low amount of meds salt and raised the tamp. forgot to mention that

 

[Etunes]

I have never used salt for a ich problem. I have used medication before and it helped but i find turning up the heat to about 82 degrees Fahrenheit helped the most.

 

[dkpate]

Salt helps with the slime coat as you turn up the temp. And you can just use heat and salt to get rid of ich, although it does take longer.

 

[Blueiz]

It is not necessary to use salt and medication, pick one or the other. Salt at a level of 2 tsp per g will kill ich and is safe for tetras and piranhas. You don't have to raise the temp in the tank. Raising the temperature will speed the life cycle of ich up and at temps of 86 and above will kill the ich. Since you can't raise the temp of the tank, you will need to leave the salt or meds in longer. I recommend leaving the salt or meds in for at least 7 days after the last white spot is gone from your fish.

The life cycle of ich has nothing to do with what you use to kill it. Once ich becomes free swimming the salt/meds in the water kills it. The temperature of the water will determine the speed in which the ich completes its life cycle.

Salt is one of the main recommended treatment options for ich because even though it is stressful on the fish it isn't as stressful as some of the other commercial medications, it does not turn your tank silicone or decorations green. Also a lot of ppl just don't like to put the chemicals such as formaldehyde or malechite green in there tanks.

 

[thetonyage]

It is not necessary to use salt and medication, pick one or the other. Salt at a level of 2 tsp per g will kill ich and is safe for tetras and piranhas. You don't have to raise the temp in the tank. Raising the temperature will speed the life cycle of ich up and at temps of 86 and above will kill the ich. Since you can't raise the temp of the tank, you will need to leave the salt or meds in longer. I recommend leaving the salt or meds in for at least 7 days after the last white spot is gone from your fish.

The life cycle of ich has nothing to do with what you use to kill it. Once ich becomes free swimming the salt/meds in the water kills it. The temperature of the water will determine the speed in which the ich completes its life cycle.

Salt is one of the main recommended treatment options for ich because even though it is stressful on the fish it isn't as stressful as some of the other commercial medications, it does not turn your tank silicone or decorations green. Also a lot of ppl just don't like to put the chemicals such as formaldehyde or malechite green in there tanks.

the temp isnt supposed to be above 82 for piranhas or tetras. would leaving the temp at 86 for that long of a time with the salt be too much for my fish?

oh and i could raise the temp it was a steady 75 ive raised it to 82 now im just not sure if i should go any higher.

 

[Etunes]

Did i say 82? I meant around 86 too. lol. It is only for a period of time and it does kill the ich. Imagine it like a sweat shop to get rid of a cold. Rasing the temp to 86 to 88 will do the best.

 

[Blueiz]

the temp isnt supposed to be above 82 for piranhas or tetras. would leaving the temp at 86 for that long of a time with the salt be too much for my fish?

oh and i could raise the temp it was a steady 75 ive raised it to 82 now im just not sure if i should go any higher.

For the short time it is needed, it is OK to do so. Just monitor your fish and raise the temperature gradually. To note as well, the ich will get worse before it gets better.

 

[Innovator]

There is no problem using salt with piranhas (if they are in the same tank as your other fish, they'll eventually eat them ). I would recommend beginning with 2ppt and eventually taking it up to 4ppt unless your other fish begin to stress (piranhas always stress). If you are worried about other parasites you can also use formalin/malachite green mixture in accordance with salt treatments, but be wary of combining formalin/malachite green and temperatures over 80F (you WILL need extra aeration if you go that route).

 

[Etunes]

I always have a airsone when there is ick. It lets off some stress.