HELP!!

[Italyman]

Hi every one,I am new here and I am from Italy so forgive me for my bad english(I will try my best)and please correct me .I have been keeping fish for the last few years and bileave it or not all of them died due to parasite problems.The problem is .There is only 1 pet store in my area and the other one is really far away(I dont have a car of my own).Here we go :
My new (and last) tank is 42 usa gal and it has been cycling for a long time now all the levels are down.Ammoni,Nitrite are zero,Nitrate is 20ppm and ph is 7.5.(Hagen and wardly test kits).I used to have angels and they seem having the usuall problem , fish are not active just keep standing where they are , scrathing, and they seem like shaking some times so I return them back yesterday.After reading your article on ick and the heat treatment I think it worth a try.
I set the temp at 88f as some of you suggested and tommrow I will add some mollies in there and see how it goes .DOES IT REALLY WORK?
I also heared that salt water BATH would kill the parasites on the new comers.Please help?

 

[Allivymar]

Hiya Italyman and welcome to Aquariumadvice.

Yes, the high temp treatment DOES work; I've used it twice very successfully. Others have also had good success. Do make sure the temps are over 86F (I also used temps of 88F) by double checking the heater setting with a tank thermometer. Also know there is a strain of ich which does not seem to be susceptible to the high temps, we have one or 2 people here who have dealt with it and high temps didn't work, but 90% of the folks who have used that method have ich free tanks now. Remember, it will take 4-6 days or so to see a reduction of spots on the fish, but once they start to disappear they will go quickly.

 

[Italyman]

Thanks Allivymar,
What about the salt bath?
The water at the store is 77-79F and my tank is 88F .How long should I keep the bag floating.I will buy two angels and 5 mollis tommorow(hopfully)
what if I add salt To the tank+high temp.Would that kill any parasite for good?

 

[Allivymar]

Coupla things Italyman:

Am I correct in thinking you will be treating to prevent ich from breaking out, and not because your fish definitely have it? I ask because, while high temps works very well to treat ich, it does not work well for other parasite infections. You may wish to be sure its ich you need to treat before actually treating.

Next is acclimating the fish. Thats a big difference in temp (10 degrees) between the fish store tanks and yours. You'll want to do a slow acclimation. By that I mean, not only floating the bag, but also adding tank water to it. I find floating the bag open (I usually duct tape to the side of the tank but IN the water it so it doesn't spill; you don't want icky fish store water in your tank!) and adding small amounts from the tank to the bag over a period of time (in your case I would take a couple of hours) until the bag is full, then netting the fish out of the bag and into the tank, keeps the fish from becoming too stressed by the change. There are some other ways to acclimate new fish; I'm sure some of the other folks will stop in to make suggestions.

Lastly, are there other fish already in the tank? And do you have a quarantine tank? Most us here QT our fish before adding them to the main tank; this way if the new fish are carrying any disease they won't infect the established fish.

Oh, and I wouldn't bother with the salt bath. It may kill some of the parasites on the fish, but it may not kill all of them. The high temps will kill all the ich parasites as long as its not the strain which can handle the high temps, but you can certainly use the combination of the salt and high temps. You will need to measure the salt levels to be sure you have it right; too little won't help, too much can stress the fish.

 

[Italyman]

no fish in the tank right now and am sure its ick (the spots used to appear after a week or so).I dont have qt .Lastly,I have some plants amazon swords and cabomba.What will happen to them if I add the salt?
Thanks for all the info I REALLY appreciate it.

 

[Allivymar]

You're very welcome

Plants aren't really fond of salt. While I don't think the salt will kill off the plants you have (my amazons survived when I used the salt/heat treatment) they won't be very happy and may need a little while to perk back up.

 

[Fruitbat]

Italyman...

Welcome to the forum! I'd like to second Allivymar's conclusion that the salt bath probably isn't your best bet. Try the heat treatment that Allivymar recommends...it has worked for a number of people.

 

[Italyman]

The salt should be around 1-2 .Right?would the angels and mollies be ok?

 

[Fruitbat]

The Mollies should be fine....the Angels may complain a little but will probably tolerate it if your heart is really set on using it.

 

[Allivymar]

Salt levels should be between 1.002-1.003 SG, or 2-3 ppt.

I used a level of 3 ppm in my tank when my loaches got ich. I also have a pleco and angelfish in that tank, and it didn't bother any of them. The mollys will appreciate higher levels of salt anyway, although its not necessary or really needed on a regular basis for the angels (my angelfish tank has no salt now).