# Help with ich!!



## Jordankayla93 (Nov 7, 2014)

I bought two new fish for my 60 gallon tank on Saturday. I don't have a QT so unfortunately i just put them in the main tank. On Sunday night I noticed some white spots my two pictus catfish and on my featherfin catfish. So after some research i decided on the heat and salt method. I turned the temp up to 86 and put in 1 tbs per 5 gallons. Monday I tuned the temp up to 88 and Tuesday my two pictus died. So i did more research and decided to put another 5 tbs of salt in. Wednesday i noticed my sulferhead peacock(one of the two fish i just bought) had a couple specs on his head. At this point I do not see ich on any other fish. Yesterday(Friday) i put another 8 tbs of salt. Which makes my total 38 tbs for the 60 gallons. Since the ich has been on the fish for about a week of treatment does that mean its not working or did i just not have enough salt to begin with so it didn't matter that I was even treating?


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## Jordankayla93 (Nov 7, 2014)

Also, my water is 0 ammonia 0 nitrites 20 nitrates 200 gh 150 kh and 8.0 ph.


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## hisplaceresort1 (Mar 10, 2014)

so sorry to hear about your problems. as you have likely already figured out, it was the salt that killed your catfish. That is one thing that we need to be mindful of when we are treating our cichlids, is that our catfish that we keep with them cannot handle the salt. there is of course a difference between aquarium salt and Epsom salt. Epsom salt is not actually salt in that sense. Catfish will tolerate Epsom salt, but regular aquarium salt is not too good for them. You can get an education on Planetcatfish.Com there. I nearly killed my catfish the same way. You do seem to be on the right track for treating the ick on the cichlids, but you may need to do more research for the catfish I believe... good luck!


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## Jordankayla93 (Nov 7, 2014)

Actually I do not believe that the catfish died because if the salt. I did research before I put the salt in on the catfish and i had a pretty tolerable amount for them. They died because ich kills them very easily. My question wasnt about the pictus, I just wanted to know basically if the salt is working because my fish have had ich for so long.


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## hisplaceresort1 (Mar 10, 2014)

I have no experience with treating for ich with salt, so I can't speak to that... I'm hoping others who have will chime in to help you! Good luck and let us know how it goes...


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## Jordankayla93 (Nov 7, 2014)

Today I saw my bristlenose pleco and he is covered in spots. I don't see him very often because he is always in the rocks but 3 days ago when I saw him last he didn't seem to have ich. My sulfur head has lost a few spots but still has some.


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## hisplaceresort1 (Mar 10, 2014)

So sorry to hear that! Dang it! Well, since no one else is answering, I'll give you my 2 cents. I think the reason salt / heat is supposed to work is because whatever change you create in the water with the salt/heat, the fish can adjust to and what you're trying to kill cannot... So maybe ramping up as slowly as you did is what made this method unsuccessful. I don't know...

But that is just a guess and doesn't matter, because it obviously did not work. There are plenty of medications for ich and I would recommend that you buy one and go from there.

Good Luck and let us know how it goes...


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## Jordankayla93 (Nov 7, 2014)

Well you are supposed to go slow. Too fast will shock the fish and it will kill them. I really dont want to do the medicine unless I have to because my tank JUST got done cycling a couple weeks ago and dont want to start all over. Also, i have featherfin catfish and a pleco which i dont believe can handle medicine. At what point is it safe to say the salt isn't working? And how long does it take for the ich to fall off at 88 degrees? I have a thermometer at the other side of the tank than the heater is on an it always says 88 so i know my temp is staying consistent. Maybe its a good sign only two fish have it? I did a 50 percent water change today and moved all of my rocks to get a dead cleaning(what a pain)


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## hisplaceresort1 (Mar 10, 2014)

If I'm reading you correctly, this would be Day 8 or so... and if anything, it's gotten worse. And Yes, I know you are generally supposed to go slow with changing water parameters, just wondering if perhaps your changes might have been _too _slow for this particular treatment to be effective?

I wish someone who has successfully treated ich this way would chime in! Where are you guys??? 

I did find something that might help... There is an ich article in the library here, and it says you should be able to eradicate it completely in about 10 days. But you should have seen those white dots fall off in like 4 days if you broke the cycle, so I'm still thinking what you've done has not worked... anyway, check out this article and I hope it helps!

keeping fingers crossed for you! http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php


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## Cichlid Debby (Mar 21, 2014)

I have treated ich this way many times. 2-3 tbsps. per 5 gal water. (API Aquarium Salt) temp 82-84. you are right there. Lots of aeration. It takes a good 10 days and it will look worse before it gets better. GL


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## linda521dawn (Aug 12, 2014)

I was leaving for vacation and went to feed fish and noticed ich...yikes. I hurried up and did a big water change, cranked my heat to 84 degrees and treated with salt at 2 tblsp. per gallon. I then left and crossed my fingers. got home 4 days later and was gone! Maybe try a water change and start over?? I read ick cannot live in the high 80 temp. Also heat needs to be at a high temp a full 10 days to kill it. When introducing new fish I use Seachem ParaGuard ..This product is safe and can use with carbon, does not alter your ph etc....


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## Jordankayla93 (Nov 7, 2014)

Thank you for your replies. Today my sulfurhead has no ich. I haven't seen my bristlenose today to see if he still has it. I dont know tht he got the ich at day 8 because i didnt see him for a few days. I think if he doesn't have the ich gone in about 3 days I'll start looking into medicine. Is that a good plan?


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## Cichlid Debby (Mar 21, 2014)

I'd stay with the salt. It's a tried and true method that works.
Leave the salt until you don't see any cysts on fish for several days to make sure it is gone. You are making positive headway so stay with it. 
The reason it appears to get worse is that the parasite is immune to treatment when it is under the skin. When they mature (cysts) and pop off is when the salt kills them. The higher temps help speed up this cycle. You need to give it time for all the buggers to mature and be exterminated. If you stop too soon you may miss a late hatcher and then your back to square one. Once you are positive it's gone you can start water changes to get back to normal. In the meantime you can do normal routine water changes, just be sure to add salt for the amount of water changed.


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## Docile (Nov 10, 2014)

What I've done to prevent ich outbreak is to keep the temp up at 80 F and run a UV sterilizer rated for the tank. Ich have a life cycle of 10 days I believe and it will lay eggs and multiply in free floating water. This is where UV sterilizer plays a role in containing the free floating pathogens. Raise the temp of the water by one increment. Keep the temp at 86 F for 2 day max and don't go overboard with high temp. Make sure you aerate your tank well.Partial water changes will also help.


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## Noobfishdude (Jul 21, 2016)

I'm also fighting ich. I'm on about day 4. On day 2 it looked like I had it dying. Yesterday and today have just been heart wrenching seeing that reproduction that occurred. Now the spots are far past worse after getting better and I have it in 2 tanks no. My oscar and my African cichlid tank. This morning I tested my water, the nitrite was thru the roof wich is probably my underlining cause of the ich. Treating it with copper power green (doesn't mess with your cycling btw) and have temp up to 85°. To treat the spike in nitrites I have added a beneficial bacteria booster and have my figures crossed in hopes that was and truly is my problem. I've been very hesitant about the salt idea because in my head it just doesn't seam right to be adding that much salt to my fish tank that is a fresh water tank. I've seen it talked about a lot but it plainly seams wrong to me so like I said I'm very hesitant to make that move.


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