meds or salt?

[krazymom]

I don't know which to use.
The loaches and pleco shouldn't do meds and the tetras shouldn't do salt~ what should I do here? Any ideas on which is preferable are appreciated. This is my first experience with ich. I read the info and am confused about which is better.

 

[krazymom]

I should mention, I just noticed the "salt" on my loaches today. I guess the 3 catfish that died did have it.

 

[Guest]

Well, i can share, that i am battling ich right now, and salt was not suggested for my angles and clown loaches, my angels are doing fine, but I lost all 3 clown loaches. However, the last time i had ich, i used meds, and i still lost my clown loaches, i just cant seem to keep these guys alive.

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

The treatment will work without the salt. The heat is the most important.

 

[krazymom]

Can the fish take the heat? I really didn't want to use the coppersafe, I decided to use !/2 the amt for 2x the time like the article said so I put in 7 teaspoons tonight. I have my heater set to 82/83 (still heating as my tank was 81) I would like to to the 86 degrees instead of tons of chemicals. I feel bad for the fish either way!

 

[QTOFFER]

Yes, fish can tolerate 88oF just fine. They are tropical fish, after all. It's wise to raise it slowly - say over the course of a day or so. Hopefuly your heater is big enough to do the job (at least 250 W). Otherwise, you may have to get an additional heater - having a spare heater around is a good thing though.

Just be sure to keep it there for no less than three weeks. Ich is sneaky and will encapsulate itself. You have to speed up its lifecycle and kill it all - the heat does both. After three weeks lower the temp gradually.

 

[Guest]

hmmm... so the heat alone will kill the ich? I wasn't sure, i thought salt was needed too. Thanks, i will continue to do water changes to get rid of the salt and keep my temperature up in the meantime.