Is this ich? HELP!

[roydooms]

My discus has some white spots on it's fins and a few on its body. The one on the pic is the one with the most spots. Some has a few. None of them are scratching itself on something. If it is ich, what should i do to stop it now without killing other fish because I know I'll need to increase the temp. I have cardinal and rummynose tetras, ABP, cories and a gourami. Thanks...

 

[roydooms]

Pics...

 

[roydooms]

I just noticed that some of the rummynose has the spots too.

Edit: cardinals too...

Any advice?

 

[roydooms]

I read that increasing temp and salinity will cure ich without having to add salt or chemicals. How do you increase your tanks salinity? What temp should I increase it to?

 

[Tim Wheatley]

I believe it is Ich, yes.

I don't know with this specific fish, but here's what I have done with clown loaches without issue...

I raise temp to 86+. Make sure you have airstones, as both salt and heat decrease oxygen.

If you do use salt, add it gradually and don;t add it straight into the tank. I recommend 1 TEAspoon per 2 gallons eventually. But to get to that I add the salt over 4 occasions over two days.

Let's say you have a 75 gallon tank, you want to end up with 38 TEAspoons. So I add 9-10 four times, in the morning, evening, morning, evening.

To add: Get some water from the tank in a bucket, add the salt and stir with your hand until you cannot feel granules, then wait, then stir again. Now pour into the tank away from the fish.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Oh and, I've used marine salt because it is what I have here. I saw NO bad effects. But the salt you should use is labelled as freshwater medicinal treatment salt. It will not contain the nutrients marine salt does, but you do not need them anyway (though they obviously do no harm except maybe algae growth).

 

[roydooms]

Thank you Tim. I want to avoid using salt if I can because of the discus. Is there any other way to increase salinity without using salt or do I really need to use salt to rid of ich?

 

[Tim Wheatley]

No, that's what salinity (the measurement of salt within the water) is.

I've always used salt. The only other thing I have tried is Rid-Ich and that killed 18 Neon tetras (quicker than Ich possibly could have) and gave one Cory cat popeye even though it was treated as directed.

I honestly don't know how the Discus react. I'd go and find a Discus specialist forum for sure answers.

 

[Viper]

Salinity is another way of saying the level of dissolved salt in the water. So no, there is no other way to raise the salinity without adding salt

EDIT: Tim beat me to it

 

[roydooms]

How about just increasing temp without increasing salinity?

 

[Tim Wheatley]

I've seen no solid proof that works... I can only go on my experience... Sorry.

 

[roydooms]

Ok. I bought some freshwater salt. I'll dose it according to what you recommended Tim.

How about PWC? How often should I do it? After that I'll need to add more salt again. Is adding salt going to depend how many gallons I replace?

 

[roydooms]

I have 125g=62tsp salt If it's 10tsp morning and night, it'll take 3 days. Is that right?

 

[Tim Wheatley]

I did a 50% water change before doing anything. I would advise you do that, then maybe start with the salt tomorrow. Then I didn't do any water changes until after the entire treatment, but watch the fish closely. If your fish get lathargic, or show any bad signs with the salt in there I'd do a water change as soon as you can.

 

[roydooms]

I noticed the spots yesterday. I also did a 50%PWC yesterday. Can I add the salt now then again tonight? Can you give a specific example by a behavior reaction to the salt? Thanks

 

[roydooms]

How long will the treatment last?

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Yeah if you're that far from a WC then I would start tonight.

They will be low on oxygen, so look for them going near the surface or looking 'sleepy'. The salt can do a number of things, clouding eyes, popeye, etc. But if you add gradually this should not happen as they're mostly from sudden changes.

I would also slightly underfeed during the treatment.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

How long will the treatment last?

10 days I did.

 

[roydooms]

Yeah if you're that far from a WC then I would start tonight.

They will be low on oxygen, so look for them going near the surface or looking 'sleepy'. The salt can do a number of things, clouding eyes, popeye, etc. But if you add gradually this should not happen as they're mostly from sudden changes.

I would also slightly underfeed during the treatment.

Should I use an aerator? I have 2 HOB that produces lots of micro bubbles.

Is it 2tsp max per 2 gallons? So, if ever I'll need to do a PWC I'll just add salt depending on how much water I replaced?

 

[Amicus]

The salt addition makes sense, along with provideing a proper electrolyte (sp?) balance for the proper fish, I have read that it also will help protect from diseases. This is true for smaller scale fish which are more susceptible to disease. I agree with the above, you should go gradual and just to be safe keep a syphon and bucket near the tank.