Question about ich

[Gabe]

ok, most of my fish died due to ich I didn't catch it in time. I took my remaining fish out of my main tank and put them into a spare one to treat in a smaller tank. I left my main tank running, filter and heater.

My question is, will the ich die if there is no fish in the tank? Do I have to strip it down and clean everything before I put my fish back in?

Thankds for any help.

Gabe

 

[drobbins27]

Set the temperature to 85F. It increases the speed of the the life cycle for the parasite.

 

[julia]

as above but add 1 teaspoon of aquarium salt per gallon that should see off any left over parasites

 

[Gabe]

ok thanks for the advice. I will certainly give it a go.

Gabe

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Gabe

Raising the temperature and adding the salt will probably do the trick for you.

But, just to caution you, before you add any fish, be sure to do a big water change to clean the tank and reduct the salt content. If you add any catfish or loaches, remove all the salt first since they cannot tolerate it.

 

[Gabe]

Yes that is the problem with the salt, I have a pleco. How do I know there is no more salt left?

Gabe

 

[LoveMyOscar]

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[Doggfather]

you can get meds for ich can't you?

 

[LoveMyOscar]

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[Inchworm]

Hi Gabe

Once salt is in a tank it can only be removed by doing water changes. Carbon won't remove it and it won't evaporate.

If you do a 50% water change, you've removed half the salt. Do another 50% change and another 1/4 of the salt is gone. As time goes by and you do more tank cleanings and water changes it will eventually be all gone.

I suggest you begin adding fish to keep the cycle going and leave your pleco in the small tank until you are sure the water is free, or almost free of salt. It's better to be safe than sorry in this case.

 

[rollntider]

I will try the temp method, what do you recomend Luvmyoscar for a community tank (both tanks in my sig) to be a good temp to rid ich? I dont have any out break currently since they have recovered but i see alot of the bumping on rocks and such....

 

[Gabe]

Wow, lots of great info there. As there are no fish in the tank right now, if I do say a 50% water change, would it be ok to put them back in? If I don't add salt I will put my pleco back in the main tank and keep my tetras out. They still have fin rot and I would rather medicate a small tank rather than a big one. Plus the ich didn't really seem of affect my pleco, I didn't really see anything on him when the rest were covered head to tail. Yes, it got pretty bad

Thanks for your help everyone!

Gabe

 

[G_Sharky]

Everyone's probably going to be right on my Ass for saying this, but salt in my experience wouldn't have any ill affects on plec or cory's, I have the same plec and corys ever since I started this hobby and I've been salting my tank everytime I detect a possible ICH breakout, I even dose 2 teaspoon/10 gallons and have constant temp of 30 C/86 F. Anyways if you dont want to risk it you could always raise the temp up to 30 C and that would take care of ICH....

 

[LoveMyOscar]

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