Oh NOOOOO!! Is this ich

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debomb4u

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Messages
131
Location
minnesota usa
Hey for the past few days my dalmation molly hasnt been acting right. Not swimming around and the lyre tail has been drooping down. I came home tonight to discover tiny bumps and slime balls all over. After looking at pics and reading posts and other sites i've agreed on it.

I have no clue on what to do next.... i know to raise the temp to 86 f and add more salt. The temp stays at 78 to 80 f. The salt level is around 2 tbs per 5 gal but its hard to measure the exact amount.... i have a ten gallon tank.

The only thing i can think that would have brought it in would be the live plant bulbs that i just purchased... last weekend.

I have 2 mollies 2 platys 2 sharks and 3 adf frogs.... wont the increase of salt and temp really hurt my frogs??

Please could some one step by step guide me on what to do?? :( :( :(
 
I just turned up the heat on my tank... i wont know what it will be for awhile(my heater is just a dial).
I'm going to do a 2 gal water change then add 1 extra tbs of salt to the tank.
Since i just bought the bulbs and they have already started to sprout its going to be hard to do a black out so i'm just going to have the lights on for about 2 hours a day. If that

Thanks in advance!!!!!!!!
 
Start by reading the great article here on aquarium advice:
ICH AA ARTICLE

This will inform you about the life cycle and how heat will help and is highly recommended, but it's not absolutely necessary.

I really don't know what temperatures are good for your frogs or how they will be affected by salt treatment. If noone else pipes up here, you might ask your LFS for an ich medication that is safe for your frogs if you are worried about the salt. Something like rid ich, might work because it's designed to be safe for scaleless fish?

Goodluck.
 
I wont be able to go to a lfs since my nearest is pretty far away....

Last night i did a 2 gal water change and added 3/4 tbs extra salt(since i have no clue how to set it at a specific gravity or ppm)
So theres 2 3/4 tbs of salt in my 10 gal
Bumped the temp to 82
None of my other fish have it though??
And there still swimming around perfectly
 
Some fish are less likely to get ich and some fish are prone to it. Keep and eye on all the fish. With the heat and salt treatment, the ich gets worse before it gets better.
 
Do not subject your ADF's to salt! I have spent a ton of time researching this, and I have 2 ADF's and have been told time and time again not to use salt with ADF's! (And not by lfs stores either LOL). They can tolerate small amounts of salt but it is not recommended. Remove the frogs if possible to another tank then treat with salt. Your ADF's will be substantially harmed by the salt! If you don't have another tank, read the manufacture's recommendations on the medication bottles before treating, several medications will state do not use on frogs, snails, etc or they will say safe for use with the frogs, snails etc. Hope this helps and good luck!
 
debomb4u said:
I came home tonight to discover tiny bumps and slime balls all over.
From that description I'm not sure it's ich. Ich looks almost like the fish has been salted--little white flecks. Can you give us a more detailed description or a pic?
 
To clarify about ADF and salt, you are only raising the osmolarity a little bit to affect the ich parasite and not the larger organisms. I have sucessfully treated tanks with snails and plants using the heat and salt method. The plants take a small hit, but bounce back after a few PWC. If the ADFs show no signs of infection, you may want to remove them.

The "slime balls" do not sound like ich.
Check this chart: http://www.aquatronicsonline.com/hobbyist/hobbyist3.htm to see if any of the descriptions match more closely to what your fish are infected with.
 
It did look like my molly was salted. But in some places like its eyes it had a slimier texture around it.... maybe the increase in its natural slime to fight off the parasite?? It wasnt covering the eyes but around it. The molly has no more spots on it so should i stop the treatment?? Or should i stop tomorrow? Nothing else had any signs of anything.... i have no other tanks or anything i could move them too. Everything is still acting fine. And as for a pic it wouldnt do any good since were talking about a white dalmation molly. So even when there was spots they were hard to see. Most of the spots were on the tail and body and only a few were on its head.

I usually have roughly around 1 tbs per 5 gals since i have mollys and platys... is this to high or should i lower it just a bit?

To that 1 per 5 gal i've added 1 extra tbs for treatment and the tank is still at 83 f

I started seeing the ich on saturday..... now its gone
 
One thing i forgot.... my tap water has nitrite of .25. So everytime i check my water levels the nit is at .25 so i dont think my nit will ever be at 0 :( is this a horrible thing for it to be at .25??
 
Okay, sounds like ich again. They do produce a lot of slime when they have ich. Continue the treatment for a few more days just to be sure. Some recommend two weeks, but I do a week. Even if your tap water is .25, the cycle in your tank should bring it down to 0. What sort of test are you using? The little strips are notoriously inaccurate.
 
aquarium pharm. liquid salt and fresh master test kit
i think i will quit tomorrow or friday on treating the tank.... since i do have plants growing and adf's
 
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