what to do now with discus

[Son1cbo0m]

Hi, i recently aquired 2 discus to my collection, one of them broke out in white spot and bacterial infection in the tail and also had symptoms of worms, i was advised to de-worm them first and then treat white spot,
sadly, that 1 paticular discus has passed away now, and i still have 2 days to go of the wormer till it "dissolves" ... i was told not to treat with other meds while dewormer is there till after its 4 required days, my question is... now the suspected discus with worms has passed, am i clear to treat the tank for whitespot now? .... or should i still wait the required 4 days, 25% water change and start treatment straight away...?

also, after the 4 days even tho my bag says no need for water change as it just dissipates, i was advised to put carbon back into my filter for 24 hours... well my filter was 2nd hand... a tetra tec 12000, so i wouldnt know where to put my bags of carbon... top tray is sponge, middle has these black plastic ball things and at the bottom tray is like white circular things.. like pipes but a sort of pottery thing... where would i put it?

 

[Son1cbo0m]

oh one more thing,
for the white spot, my tank is normally at temp 83, i was wondering weather i should go for heat / salt treatment?

i have meds called eSHa EXIT and eSHa 2000 to use together, one is a white spot treatment, the other is fungus, finrot and bacteria treatment, and are usable together.

my question is should i use salt and heat and forget the meds? as i have 2 mountain shrimp and corys and live plants so am a little worried about the use of meds ( my LFS said if i stick to the guidelines on the meds all SHOULD be fine)

if using salt and heat is the way, i'm not sure how to measure it out.. or how to administer it.
1) how do you usually turn the temperature up the heater, as i only need to raise it by 3/4 ... am i best raising it by 1 per day? ... so 4 days to get to the desired 87 temperatre?
i currently have a 275 litre tank, how much salt will i need to administer? and how would i administer it, i don't quite understand the guidelines for it..

this is my first ich outbreak so am pancking! ... all advise is welcomed! please ...

 

[jetajockey]

I don't have any experience with those meds that you are talking about, but for ich I have just used 85+ degree water (which is where discus are comfortable at anyway) and 1tsp/gal salt. I believe that most people use 1tablespoon/5gallons with success as well.

 

[Son1cbo0m]

well 275 litre is 72 US gallon,
so works out at 14table sp??? that seems a little too much?
How do i administer it then?

ideally cause i'm such a newbie i need like a step thing like
day 1: go from temp 83-84
day 2: 84-85
day 3: 85-86
do i THEN add salt after i reach 86 temperature?
or do i add salt from day 1?
and i'm assuming you don't just dump 14 table spoons in the tank straight away?...

i've read im best from the day my tank is at 86 temperature to keep it at 86 for 10 days, and do the salt treatment for 10 days also.... how how would i do it? how much do i do each day?

is it gonna be 14 tablespoons over the 10 days? (1 and a half spoons a day?... and even then, do i just put it in over the course of the day, or all at one period?..

is salt gonna harm my discus shrimp neons and corys etc?

i'm sorry but i'm such a newbie

 

[jetajockey]

I would raise it to 86 and leave it there because discus like higher temps anyway. Going from 83-86 is not a huge jump and I'd probably just set the heater to it and let it do it's thing, it'll likely take a few hours to get up to that temp anyhow.

As far as adding salt, you'll want to dissolve the salt in water prior to adding it to the tank, I'd just put a 3 or 4 dissolved tablespoons in today, wait till tomorrow, add another 3 or 4, and repeat till you have it all in there.

When you do this, watch the fish reactions for any discomfort or agitation, if they start acting weird (they shouldn't, but still) then stop adding salt and do a small water change to reduce the salinity.

 

[Son1cbo0m]

So as I said, 14 table spoons, that would mean if I do 3 table spoons each day, that'll only take me 5 days, then what? ... Do I just stop?

 

[jetajockey]

Yeah, you just maintain that level of salt in the tank for at least a week after all the ich disappears to make sure it's gone for good.

Doing water changes while treating is fine, and probably a good idea, but just remember that when you take water out, you need to replace the salt you are taking out also, so when refilling you'd want to put 1tblsp salt for every 5 gallons you change out.