Ick in my tank - have loaches

[HeatherW]

Hi guys! it has been a while since I have posted on here, so my memory is a bit off.
I have a 90 gal tank running 2 aquaclear 110s. current residents in my tank are:
4 mollies
2 platy, 1 young platy, 4 baby platy
13 harlequien rasbora
5 bosemani rainbow
1 turquoise rainbow
5 ottos (ottocinticulus - not sure about that spelling)
6 border botia loaches (polka dots)

my problem: I noticed is that my female molly has a pretty bad case of ich. I am raising my temp to 84. is that all I need to do to treat this problem? I know the loaches can take some salt but couldn't remember exactly how much and I was pretty sure I was told before that I could treat just using the temp for about 2 weeks. pretty sure Mumma told me this... can someone verify for me?

a little history. I had 2 German Blue Rams that recently died. not sure of what. the female did not look good and I was not surprised when she just disappeared one day. the male died a week or 2 later. He looked fine so I am not sure what was wrong with them. I am now thinking that maybe I should have had my temp up a little more - not sure. I did have about 7 baby black mollies but gave them away about a month ago. also I am missing a baby black molly - just noticed that he was awol today.

I do have a qt tank but right now I have 4 cherry barbs in there from my 20 gallon tank. I also just bought 2 bolivian rams (1 male, 1 female) I don't know what I was thinking - I forgot that I needed to qt them before I put them in the big tank, so... I have them in the qt tank along with the 4 cherry barbs. I have salt in the qt tank. I also have 2 ghost shrimp and a mystery snail in the qt tank. i can move the ghost shrimp or mystery snail if I need to - I just got tired of having an empty tank

is there anything else I need to do?
thanks for the help!
Heather

 

[tonedogz]

I'd raise it to 86. Salt can be added at a rate of 2 to 3 teaspoons per gallon over the course of 2 to 3 hours make sure you mix it separately. Just be careful if you have plants it could damage or kill them so you may want to use a little less if you do.

 

[tonedogz]

Just noticed the loaches. Be careful with the salt and loaches some say its okay some say they don't tolerate it very well, if you want to still use it I'd do it at half the recommended dose.

 

[HeatherW]

So what is the magic number? 84 or 86 for temp? I know the increased temp speeds up the cycle time but at what temp does it kill it?

 

[HeatherW]

Finally found my link...

http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich2.php

So I guess I need to jump it up to 86!

 

[Freshwater fish guy]

Give the ick some drops

 

[jlk]

Hi Heather! You should be fine treating everyone with just heat (86-88f)- just make sure your turn up the temp gradually and that you add extra aeration. Warm water holds less oxygen, so dropping the tank level some & adding bubblers/airstones will help. Water changes with good gravel vacs every 2-3days (some recommend daily) will also help. Just maintain the heat for 1 week after the last spot is gone and then gradually reduce it back to normal. You can add a small amount of salt (not more 1tsp/5g) if you want but its not necessary. I am not sure what the salt tolerance level is for loaches and 1-3tsp/g is alot of salt, so I would skip this! Good luck!!!

 

[justjames76]

Temp treatment

I agree with the last poster. I'd set your temp around 86-88 degrees for about 10 days to 2 weeks. As was mentioned above, raise your temp gradually. Don't just jump it from 70 to 88 degrees in an afternoon. I've read you should do no more than a 10 degree change over a 24 hour period. If you don't have extra aeration already; extra air is very important when raising temps to keep your oxygen up. For salt, I use a tablespoon per 5 gallons. Mix it up in the new water for the water change (don't just dump salt in your tank). You should start seeing results in a day or two.

 

[HeatherW]

Thanks everyone! JLK nice to see you again! I got my temp up - slow and steady. Spots are gone but I'm gonna hold it here for a good week before I drop it down again. I think I lost a young Molly and a baby platy and who knows maybe that is why I lost the rams too. Everyone seems to look fine now

 

[jlk]

You, too, Heather! I was actually afraid you threw in the towel after all the issues you encountered but I am happy to see you again & glad this little bump in road is already becoming a thing of the past. I am sorry you lost a few fish but thats great news that everyone is already steadily improving!!

 

[HeatherW]

Well we lost power during the hurricane (Sandy) out about 16 hours. Temp in the tank dropped down to 77 or so. How does this affect my treatment? Heat is back on and steadily climbing back up. Temp was up since 23 oct, started dropping on 29 around 9pm

 

[jlk]

You should be fine, Heather!