ich crisis!~

[laura7]

i had a 14g and decided to upsize about a week ago,
i now have a healthy 55g tank, friends include: 1 green spotted puffer, 1 large Pleco, 8 rasporas, 2 tiger barbs, 2 black skirt tetras, 2 glowlight tetras, 1 fancy tailed guppy pair, and an irridescent shark.

my aquarium is newly setup, just got the ID shark. when we got it i saw a white spot resembling ich on his eye, which went away, and is now all over his fins, and body. not sure what to do, and concerned, the ich tx i have is not for scaleless fish. will ich heal away on its own for him before it spreads, or do i need to intervene?

we have a fluval 304 and not sure what to do with this during the tx time, do we just take out charcoal or the biomax with it?

HELP! thank you~

 

[mfdrookie516]

i would crank up the heat and add some salt... and btw, that puffer is a brackish fish, wont live long in a freshwater tank

 

[Zagz]

I agree with the heat, but not the salt. The pleco will not appreciate the salt. Turn the temp up 1-2 degrees every few hours until the temps get above 86F and then keep the temp up there 2 weeks after the last spot of ich is gone. Also add an airstone or lower the water level a bit. You can leave the stuff in the filter since you are not adding meds.

The Puffer should be in a brackish tank as noted. The ID shark will get far too large for that tank.

 

[h8z2luze]

So just turning the temp up sometimes gets rid of ich? What does the airstone do?

 

[mfdrookie516]

ich affects the gills too. also, as you raise the temperature in the tank, there is less oxygen. basically, adding an air stone, or adding more surface agitation helps with the oxygen exchange up top which means more oxygen in the water for the fish to breath... basically anyways... the heat doesnt kill the ich, it just speeds up its life cycle

 

[h8z2luze]

ok.... So if I turn my heat up to 86 for a few days that should get rid of the ich? I really dont want to add any meds or salt to the tank.

 

[Etunes]

ok.... So if I turn my heat up to 86 for a few days that should get rid of the ich? I really dont want to add any meds or salt to the tank.

No, 86 degrees is above the temp ich can live at. Since ich is hard to kill you turn up the temp and let it go through its life cycle and eventually kill it. Then you keep it up like that 2 weeks after the last white spot comes of your fish. This is so all the ich dies especially the ich in the substrate which is were the ich lives. You can use meds which i do if it just won't go away, but if you end up using meds you have to take the carbon out of the filter and most of the time the meds have copper which kill on inverts and is very unhealthy for amphibians.

 

[h8z2luze]

Ok well I will try the heat first I guess.

p.s. sorry for kinda highjacking the thread...

 

[laura7]

well, since i am just now getting to read the thread i posted, lol. i have 2 airstones in the back of my tank already, and a treasure chest airation device already. i know the puffer wont live very long, ive been trying to find him a home for a few months now, and the LFS told me he is a hardy little guy, and i shouldnt have any trouble, so i decided to keep it. i already know i cannot add salt to the water because it will harm my pleco too. so really the only thing i see on here that would be useful that i would do is to increase the heat, so thank you! if anyone else has anything else, i would appreciate it!

 

[laura7]

yeh, i kinda noticed that. this is my first thread too.

 

[i3k]

I don't know about the pleco not appreciating salt. I have two plecos living in a brackish tank and they have been doing really well in that tank(5 yrs now). Never had any problems with them. I think they are doing better in a brackish tank than they would in a fresh water tank.

 

[Etunes]

I used to think that but i don't think it is a issue. I have debated this on other sites and many people use salt in there aquariums with plecos with no ill effects. Here is a site with lot of people FANATIC about plecos and some keep very sensitive species and the pleco is fine. We had a discousion about this.

plecos & salt - PlecoFanatics.com

You could put half the recommended dose if you are worried.