Ick, salt or no?

[adkjoe]

Without getting too much into it, my fish have ick,

Texas cichlid
pleco
Convict cichlid
Giant Danio

I'm in the process of slowly raising the temp to 86-87 degrees. I'm contemplating adding salt slowly to eventually get up to 2tsps per gallon. Should I just do the temperature or should I add the salt too? It's a 55G tank. I was going to add a 1/4 cup every hour for hour hours the 1/4 cup every 4 hours until until i reach 2cups or 100 tsps which would be about 2tsps a gallon. Any thoughts?

 

[bkiggy]

All of them have ICH ? Pleco's don't get ICH usually?
Salt won't hurt anyone. Go for it. ICH can't live in salty water
Start with 1 tsp per gallon. Wait couple days do it again. Have to do it slow for acclimation . They will stress

 

[adkjoe]

pretty sure it's ich, white spots all over, rubbing on stuff, erratic swimming etc... not sure what else it can be. Introduced a new fish about two weeks ago I'm figuring it's from that.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Plecos can be salt sensitive. I would stick to a half dose or no salt at all. A temp of 86 or more is enough to eradicate ich without it.

 

[adkjoe]

Ok I've got the temp almost to 86 and I've got a salt rate of 1 tsp per gallon. Is that enough salt to kill to kill Ick? I was going to up it to 2 tsps per gallon over the next day or so but is that overkill?

 

[KryptiCouple]

I would call that overkill. I have treated Ich in my tank with just heat. I thought I read the temp needs to be 88 though. Might want to double check.

 

[adkjoe]

I've read 86 pretty much everywhere but 88 is my goal. I think I will leave the salt at 1tsp a gallon like I have it and just keep heating and water changing

 

[adkjoe]

water temp is up and looking at the fish now the eyes are completely cloudy and bad looking. Does ICH cause the eyes to become cloudy and mucousy?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

No it doesn't but poor water conditions (and other diseases) can. Have you checked your parameters?

 

[adkjoe]

Well I'm out of ideas then. Two of the four fish in the tank are covered in white spots and have mucousy cloudy eyes. Temp is about 84 and I've added 1tsp salt per gallon slowly. I'm going to do a pwc shortly but other than that I don't know what this is it looks like ich tho

 

[adkjoe]

Texas cichlid white spots nasty popped out eyes
What's going on? Him and the Pleco are in same shape.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Pop-Eye
Pathogen/Cause: Various organisms (nonspecific), Severe Stress
Physical Signs: Exopthalmos (protrusion of the eyeball from the socket) caused by accumulation of pus and fluid in the infected orbit.
Behavioral Signs: Associated with loss of vision, also just general signs of lethargy.
Potential Treatment: Broad spectrum antibiotics. Many formulations available. For a more thorough discussion on the various causes & treatments of popeye, please refer to Dan's archived comments about popeye.
Other Notes: Frequent water changes a must to improve quality. Test for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates. Pop-eye is a sign of a number of infections, rather than a disease in its own right.

Cloudy Eye
Pathogen/Cause: Various organisms (nonspecific), Severe Stress, Malnutrition, Cataracts, Old Age, Hyperproduction of slime due to poisoning, bad water quality, or irritation.
Physical Signs: A cloudy white or grey "haze" over the eyes that may cause blindness.
Behavioral Signs: Associated with loss of vision, also just general signs of lethargy.
Potential Treatment: Investigate if water quality is high first (water changes), then if nutritional needs of that species are being met. Wait at least a week or two before trying any antibiotics, it will often clear on its own if water quality is high.
Other Notes: Frequent water changes a must to improve quality. Test for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates. Cloudy eye is a sign of a number of things, rather than a disease in its own right.

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/fish_palace/tropicalfish_disease_identification.html#ERM


Taken from

 

[adkjoe]

Yea... Well what about the white spots? Just did a 50 % water change, will do another tomorrow. Fish are producing. Lot of slime have white spots and cloudy eyes. The same spots that are on the plecos body are on the eyes as well. Should I use medicine or keep treating for ick with heat and water changes?