The end of the world...

[jcarlilesiu]

... called my aquarium. Well... I recently had to do a 100% tear down to replace my 5 month old failing tank. It was completed and put back together in one night. I guess some of my plants got a little dry sitting out of the tank in in some bowls and such and now im seeing severe leaf die off. My amazon sword leaves are just deteroriating before my eyes, as well as my vals falling apart. The lower leaves that stayed submerged look fine, and im pretty sure they will bounce back. Has anybody else had experience with this type of situation before?

Also, while looking at my tank today, i noticed my clown loach has ich. Right before I did the change out of the old tank, my Mono argentis died of ich. He was being chased around by my sebae so I thought he was just stressed, thus why he got ich. Now that my loach has it, im going to continue trying to treat it.

Here is the situation/question. I have beat ich before using the heat/salt method, however I know it can have some reprocussions on my plants (use of salt). My plants are already hurting so im not exactly sure what route I should take now. I could try just heat, but I don't think i can get the water warm enough with my heater. Any suggestiongs? Any help on the plants?

Seems as though everything is falling apart in there after so much work establishing the tank.

 

[RoK]

Also, while looking at my tank today, i noticed my clown loach has ich. Right before I did the change out of the old tank, my Mono argentis died of ich. He was being chased around by my sebae so I thought he was just stressed, thus why he got ich. Now that my loach has it, im going to continue trying to treat it.

Here is the situation/question. I have beat ich before using the heat/salt method, however I know it can have some reprocussions on my plants (use of salt). My plants are already hurting so im not exactly sure what route I should take now. I could try just heat, but I don't think i can get the water warm enough with my heater. Any suggestiongs? Any help on the plants?

Mono's are brackish and I've noticed they get ich very easily when kept in FW.
The loach and plants don't appreciate the salt.
You will need to get a good heater with enough watts to get the temperature above 86F.

 

[Thebluyak]

well what you can do is get a bottle thats higher than your tank water, keep the loach in it and dose the salt in it. That way the heat gets to it but the salt doesnt get to your plants. Thats what im doing right now with a betta in my 10 gallon.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

well what you can do is get a bottle thats higher than your tank water, keep the loach in it and dose the salt in it. That way the heat gets to it but the salt doesnt get to your plants. Thats what im doing right now with a betta in my 10 gallon.

That is true, but one other problem. The ick is still in the tank, and the tank needs to be treated. Try and see if you can get the heat above 86 degrees. It needs it. As for the plants, they should be fine through it, as long as you do not add salt.

Another possibility is meds like ick cure. I'm not a fan of meds though, but if you absolutely cannot get the heat up, keep your ears open on here to see if there's anyone more knowledgable on the meds and if they affect plants and loaches. The question is open to all to respond to, using meds instead of heat if heat isn't possible. Any takers?

 

[Alshain]

Malachite green does not affect plants, however it does affect some fish. Usually half dosage is reccomended for tanks with Tetras, Sharks, Bottom Feeders and scaleless fish. I think I prefer the heat method to medication as well.

 

[Jchillin]

FWIW, the heat method is much better than using salt/meds. The meds only work during one phase of the ich life cycle and the salt irritates most fish and inverts and causes damage to plants.

If it were me, I'd go with the heat method. It can take upwards of four weeks duration.

 

[hsherman1986]

i used salt and heat with my tank. It is a live planted tank. The plants did not seem to be affected (heat was at 88* and we only used a few teaspoons, its a 55g), and our loaches and ottos did not seem affected by it at first. However, one of the loaches died during ick treatment, the other died last night from internal parasites, and two out of three ottos just disappeared.

HTH, this was my experience (though I have lost a lot more fish in this than just those four)

 

[Menagerie]

the salt irritates most fish and inverts and causes damage to plants.

Not to argue with you, but the problem people run into with salt is over doing it. If you use a hydrometer and the minimal amount of salt fish are fine and if the plants are affected, they bounce back nicely after the salt is removed. Keep in mind that no natural water is truly salt free and your tap water may have some salt in it. Also look at the big picture--ich is a one celled parasite that will easily succumb to a change in osmolarity whereas the many multicelled organisms (plants and fish) will hardly notice a difference.