Few Questions

[Mr.Fish]

Hi all,
Am new here and I already like it
I have two fresh water aquariums both are 40gal one is still cycling(and am having a problem with cycling it).The other one is almost ready.I was reading the article about ich and it was really helpfull and I got few questoins:
I will be adding fish and by the next week (platies,guppies,mollies cat fish)I think all of these will be ok with some salt in the tank.Right?
So Is it ok too add them and then add the salt for 2 weeks plus raisng the temp to 84F to just be sure they are ich-free?
would the salt kill my plants?(I got low lighting plants)
Am thinking about getting some Angels and neon tetras.What do you think?My parameters are Ammonia 0,Nitrite 0,Nitrate 5 ppm and ph about 7.5.
Mr.Fish

 

[myriam]

Hi Mr. Fish, welcome to AA.com

The livebearers love the salt, but the catfish might have a hard time with it. I've heard different things here--some people will not put salt in with their catfish, some do. The amounts vary as well. I would read some more on a site like http://planetcatfish.com/core/index.htm about your specific species, before doing the salt treatment.

I myself have a 20G with mollies, platies and 2 bronze cories, and I do add a bit of salt. Doesn't seem to bug my cories. I keep my temp at 80.

Good luck.

 

[PhilMar]

Welcome,

I also have cories, they seem to do fine in the salt, along with mollies, platies, Swordtails and a Pleco.

I think the article on the temperature rise for Ick, stated 86 or above. From what I can tell that's important. I have gone through this, and it truly works, mine is set @ 87 and I'm at the end of the second week.

Good Luck

 

[Allivymar]

Depends on what sort of cats you have; plecs can actually handle salt ok for short periods of time, but corys won't. I actually did a bunch of research on this as I had read all the rumors about cats n salt, and needed to know whether I could use high salt levels to treat ich in a tank which has an 8 inch plec. I discovered NO research supporting salt being dangerous/bad for cats, but a bunch of research supporting it being safe (in fact, salt is the recommended treatment for nitrite poisoning in catfish).

Some salt and a temp of 84F won't ensure they are ich free. As you read, levels of salt need to be 2-3 ppt or temps over 86F to eradicate ich. I actually was given a fish today, and we noticed the tank he came from has a fish with ich. So he's in QT (he would have been anyway; I ALWAYS QT my new fish), but will remain in there with the temp at 88F while he's in there to ensure he does not bring ich into my main tank, as well as to be sure he himself is not infected.

 

[Mr.Fish]

Thanks for all the help guys , I will QT the cat fish (I already setup 10gal tank with power filter that has AmmRid in it ,and I will be adding some treatment.But would you please tell me about the Angels and neon tetras (I would like to keep at least 4 of the schooling fish but I don`t know which one would be ok with my setup/ph?
would the plants be ok with the salt addition????
Once again thanks am really glad that I found your sitre

 

[Allivymar]

Heh, glad your finding yourself at home here Mr.Fish

Angels and neon/cardinal tetras is an iffy proposition. Neons are angelfish prey in the wild. It appears, if one starts the tank with just the neons and lets them mature, then add juvenile angelfish (small ones around nickel size) they should see the neons as tankmates and not food. I think LondonGman is testing this theory right now, and is having some success with it.

As fir your pH, angelfish will be fine; they've been known to breed in pH levels of over 8.0! Neons prefer a lower pH for breeding, but will be ok in a pH of 7.5 otherwise.