How do I treat ich in a planted tank?

[Fishies86]

I've heard about using salt and raising the temperature, but I can't use salt with plants can I? I've got a bottle of chemical thats supposed to get rid of it, but it's got formaldehyde and malachite green in it. I've heard that thats a really bad thing to use with corys so I don't want to use it if there's a better way.

I've got a planted tank at 25°C, I've got guppies, a 3 spot gourami, a julii cory, 2 blue tetras and an otocinclus. How do I treat the ich without harming any fish or plants?

 

[aqua_chem]

What plants do you have? Some are touchier about temp/salt than others.

I cranked a heavily planted tank up to 86 to nip an early case of ich in the bud. I lost one Blyxa, but everything else pulled through.

 

[Fishies86]

What plants do you have? Some are touchier about temp/salt than others.

I cranked a heavily planted tank up to 86 to nip an early case of ich in the bud. I lost one Blyxa, but everything else pulled through.

I've got amazon swords, cryptocoryne, bacopa, vallis and ludwigia. Even if the plants will be ok, can I use the salt with the fish I have? I thought corys were a bit iffy with it? Would just raising the temp kill the ich, or do I have to use salt too?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

You can use just heat to treat ich of you prefer. Slowly increase your temp up to 30C over a day or so. Increase aeration (warmer the water the less oxygen) by adding an air stone and/or lowering you water level so the filter output splashes a bit. Leave the temp up at 30C for no less than 2 weeks even if the ich appears to be gone. Then slowly decrease the temp again over the course of a few days.
You can add half a dose of salt (1tablespoon per 10g/40L) slowly over a day to see how your cories handle it. IMO that much salt won't effect your plants. If your fish can handle it bump the temp up to 32C for the first 2-3 days.

 

[Fishies86]

You can use just heat to treat ich of you prefer. Slowly increase your temp up to 30C over a day or so. Increase aeration (warmer the water the less oxygen) by adding an air stone and/or lowering you water level so the filter output splashes a bit. Leave the temp up at 30C for no less than 2 weeks even if the ich appears to be gone. Then slowly decrease the temp again over the course of a few days.
You can add half a dose of salt (1tablespoon per 10g/40L) slowly over a day to see how your cories handle it. IMO that much salt won't effect your plants. If your fish can handle it bump the temp up to 32C for the first 2-3 days.

Ok, I will try that then. What sort of salt do I need? I'm guessing it's not marine salt I need?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

No not marine. Your LFS should have it. It's usually labeled aquarium salt or conditioning salts or something of the sort.