Need Help w/ Ich

[FishKitty]

Hi everyone,

I was really hoping to never have to deal with it, but I just discovered white spots on two of my fish:

Tank is currently stocked with:
2 Celebes Rainbowfish (these are the two that have spots, one is looking very gaunt)
1 Signa Fir (not sure on the spelling)
2 baby Bristlenose Plecos
1 Clown Pleco
4 Cherry Shrimp

I had a 29 gallon tank with a few fish and then upgraded to my current 55 gallon. I transferred everything over three months ago and am slowly stocking it. It did go into a mini cycle but since then my parameters have been as follows:

Nitrates: 25ppm
Nitrites/ammonia: 0ppm
pH: 7.3
Temp: 75 degrees fahrenheit

I have a mixture of artificial and live plants and am in the (slow) process of changing to a completely planted tank.

I've heard of treating by raising the temp and adding some salt but I've never had to try it. How quickly should I raise the temp and how much salt should I add? Are there any other suggestions? I'd like to try to avoid medicating initially.

Thanks in advance

 

[JRT83]

I've never kept any shrimp species myself so I can't say if aquarium salt will be safe with them but you'd want to add 1 tbsp of aquarium salt per 5 gallons of water and slowly turn the temp up to 86-88 degrees (86 minimum), i wouldn't let the temp increase more than 2 degrees per hour though so you'll wanna do it gradually. The aquarium salt isn't necessary, as the heat will kill ich by itself, but it'll help. Oxygen levels will decrease slightly so if any fish start gasping at the surface for air, you'll want to add a bubbler or air stone. After all signs of ich are gone, I'd keep the heat above 86 for a week or 2 just to be safe. And finally, I'd do a good gravel vac/water change every 1-2 days to get all the free floating parasites out of the tank... do all that and you should be good to go.

Edit: Not much knowledge with salt and plants either, may want to look into that along with your shrimp. Or just avoid using aquarium salt to be safe.

Sent from my LG-E980 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[ESeck]

I have cherry shrimp in a tank that has a platy with ick. I went with a lower salt dosage and everyone seems ok and the platy's ick is clearing up

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app