Ich Breakout

[NorthEastFisherman]

I got an ich breakout when i added some von rios to my 29g and noticed they spread ich to just about every fish in the tank so i ordered some liquid treatment (forgot the name but reviews said it was a good product) and the shipping said it will arrive on the 30th. My question is how long can the fish last with ich? I will treat the day i get my treatment but i dont know if my fish will last that long. I have glowlight tetras, julii cories, a gold gourami, bolivian ram, rainbow shark, and two von rios since two died from the ich before i noticed it. Any helps appreciated.
 
P.S. I upped the temp to 82-84 and did a water change the day i noticed the ich. I also added a tiny bit of salt because my cories dont tolerate salt that well so i cant really do much to slow the ich down anymore.

 

[NeonBlueLeon]

If you raised the temperature without treating the Ich, it will make it outbreak even faster.  The point of raising the temp is to make the life cycle of Ich faster, so whatever treatment you're using can attack it at it's free swimming stage.  If there's no treatment and you increase the life cycle rate, you'll be causing more Ich to form faster.  Yikes.
 
Usually I'd highly recommend simply salt and heat, but since you have cories, your options are limited.  Keep doing frequent water changes until your meds arrive.  Make sure the meds you ordered are safe for cories as well.
I believe Ich can be eradicated on just pure heat though, but that means 88 degrees and higher.  Make sure your fish can handle that, and do some further research.
 
In my experience, tetras succumb to Ich pretty quickly.  Ich is a parasite that burrows under the slime layer and into the skin of your fish and lives off of them.  With enough Ich on one fish, the fish will have it's life sucked out of it.   My tetras died within a few days of the outbreak, and I started my treatment 24 hours after I noticed the spots.  The mollies that bombed my tank with Ich survived it, however.
 
Good luck, I hope things work out!

 

[snazy]

I haven't tried or tested it, but from what I read corys can live through fine a salt and heat treatment as long as you dissolve the salt first in some water and increase it gradually, not all of a sudden.
Either way you are taking a risk by waiting and not treating, or using salt. And as mentioned already, most medications are dangerous to corys too.
Whatever route you take, the best is 50% daily water changes, syphoning the substrate while treating. You need to remove as much of the swimming parasites as you can to prevent a very bad outbreak.
Increasing the temerature not only increases the metabolism of the parasites, but the fish too. This helps their immune system fight it off better. The ich also can't live well in warmer waters and the salt or medication additionally helps eradicating it.
Make sure you've got extra aeration via either treatment. Both the meds and temperature will decrease the oxygen level.
 
Good luck with the treatment.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

How much salt have you added already (in grams per litre)?
 
My advice would be get the Corydoras out of that tank (I think they are the only salt sensitive fish you have) and gradually up the main tank salt concentration to ~3g/l, adding upto 1g/l per day dissolved in fresh water. This way you give the main tank inhibitants more of a chance while you wait for the meds. Be careful what salt you use as some contain some nasty anti-caking agents, I used Sainsburys Coarse Sea Salt in February 2012.
 
For now I would put the catfish in a setup that contains their current tank water, but is allowed to gradually drop in temperature to the lowest temp the species can handle, this will increase the oxygen potential of the water and reduce the life cycle speed of the Ich (which is what you want when you do not have meds for them). Hopefully you have a spare filter which you can "pinch" some media from the main tank, or alternatively pinch some main tank media and place it loose in the catfish tank with a powerhead/bubbler that will create some water movement.
 
The main tank oxygen potential will be lower at this raised 82-84F temp, so ensure there is extra rippling on the water surface, dropping the water level if need be to get filter output above the water line.
 
Don't forget to gradually reduce the salinity after the Ich is gone (typically ~2 weeks after meds), doing ~ 15-30% changes daily for about a week, you do not want to be returning the catfish to the tank until the salinity is approx. <0.25g/l (give them a long drip acclimitisation for the return home, ~2 hours).

 

[NorthEastFisherman]

Thankfully the buyer on ebay sent my package in a next day air type shipping so it arrived today. I have lowered the temp to 76 and im treating the tank with my medication. I also took the filter cartridge out and did a 30% ater change. I noticed the tetras are sluggish but theyre still eating. Gosh it seems like every day theres a new thing i need to fix on that tank.