Ich questions

[Solarris]

Ich questions - please help

Alright, I've decided that my dojo loach has ich. There are definitly some whilte spots on him and I've noticed one of my other fish rubbing the side of his body against the gravel and decorations like he's itching. What would be the best treatment? I'm afraid my loach may not have long since he's so lethargic but since i'm new to fish keeping I'm not really sure. I was reading about raising the temp but didnt know if my loaches could survive that high a temp. I also have congo tetras, a rubber lipped pleco, and a rainbow shark (which happens to be the one who looks like he's scratching" ). I've been looking for ich treatment methods but I really have no idea which would be the best way to go.

 

[Solarris]

Definitely ich. I've now noticed it on my pleco. I've started raising the temp, hopefully it won't be too high to harm the fish. Next I guess I need to add salt. How much salt should I add to a 55 gallon tank??? I'm really worried about my little friends! Any help would definitely be appreciated.

 

[i3k]

You should just continue raising the temperature gradually and see how the fish do at temp. of around 85/86 degrees. People say that loaches don't tolerate salt all that well, but from my experience they do just fine with salt. I've had to treat my botia loaches with salt in the past and they did fine. I added a tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons when I did the salt treatment.

 

[Mark Hewitt]

Definitely ich. I've now noticed it on my pleco. I've started raising the temp, hopefully it won't be too high to harm the fish. Next I guess I need to add salt. How much salt should I add to a 55 gallon tank??? I'm really worried about my little friends! Any help would definitely be appreciated.

I've heard it at about 3-4 teaspoons per gallon. So between 165 and 220 teaspoons for your tank!

Don't add it directly to the tank, take some water out on the tank in a jug and put the salt into there, make sure it's all fully dissolved, and then start adding the salt in little bit my little bit over 2 days.

Keep in mind that salt does not dissapate or evaporate so any salt you put in will stay there until you take it out with water changes. But also any water changes you do, make sure the replacement water is dosed up too.

Leave for a maximum of around 2 weeks, from all I've read the fish will either be cured, or dead, by then. But if the fish lose their spots, *this* is the critical time when you need the salt, so make sure the salt stays in there about 3 days after the last spots are gone.

After that you can do some big water changes to bring the salt levels down again.