heres my specs- 29 gal, HOB and UGF, 3 kissing gouramis, 1 Swordtail, 2 fancy guppies, 2 neon tetras, 1 tiger barb, 1 pleco
I recently had a lapse in judgement and introduced a fish from a chain pet store into my tank without quarantining it first. foolish me. of course, I got Ich.
So i brought my heat up to 87 degrees or so, and put in 12 tbsp kosher salt (2 for every 5 gals). ive been doing this for about 2 1/2 days now. ive lowered the water level so that my HOB causes more water agitation.
ive been doing 5 gal water changes every day (of course adding 2 tbsp kosher salt to the new water). i try as best i can to clean the gravel when doing so.
the ich spots dont seem to be spreading, but they are not going away and the fish still exhibit signs of skin irritation. they scrape somewhat and occasionally jerk and jolt, as if they are being bit.
ive already lost half my fish to this stupid disease, and my last tiger barb doesnt look so good.
my question is this: what are the odds that ive got a strain of ich that wont die with +86 deg. heat? am i expecting to see results too soon? the jerking concerns me, because i thought that the heat/salt would kill all the tomites. what is going on?
should i just stay the course with salt/heat or should i go and buy the evil chemical treatments?
also, how important is it that i keep the water level at the marked water level on the heater? ive had to lower it for water agitation but i dont want break my heater.
thanks in advance,
shawnus
I recently had a lapse in judgement and introduced a fish from a chain pet store into my tank without quarantining it first. foolish me. of course, I got Ich.
So i brought my heat up to 87 degrees or so, and put in 12 tbsp kosher salt (2 for every 5 gals). ive been doing this for about 2 1/2 days now. ive lowered the water level so that my HOB causes more water agitation.
ive been doing 5 gal water changes every day (of course adding 2 tbsp kosher salt to the new water). i try as best i can to clean the gravel when doing so.
the ich spots dont seem to be spreading, but they are not going away and the fish still exhibit signs of skin irritation. they scrape somewhat and occasionally jerk and jolt, as if they are being bit.
ive already lost half my fish to this stupid disease, and my last tiger barb doesnt look so good.
my question is this: what are the odds that ive got a strain of ich that wont die with +86 deg. heat? am i expecting to see results too soon? the jerking concerns me, because i thought that the heat/salt would kill all the tomites. what is going on?
should i just stay the course with salt/heat or should i go and buy the evil chemical treatments?
also, how important is it that i keep the water level at the marked water level on the heater? ive had to lower it for water agitation but i dont want break my heater.
thanks in advance,
shawnus