Treating For Ich With Fry In The Tank?

[Trillian]

At the beginning of april we had ich in our tank and though we treated the tank we lost most of our fish. I waited just over a month after treatment was done (I know I should have probably waited longer but I was so sad not having mollies) and I introduced three mollies back into the tank a week ago. They've been doing well and one of them even had babies right after we got her.

The 4 surviving fry have been doing quite well in their enclosure but we have been having a problem with their food. I've been giving hem "baby bites" off the end of a toothpick and though I give them the tiniest amount at a time I am finding I have to clean their enclosure out twice a day as even the smallest amount of food leftover goes off and ends up fuzzy.

Today I noticed one of the mollies, one of the tetras and one of the platys have 1 or two white specs on their tails. I guess I have to treat the tank again but I'm worried about the fry. How will they take the ich treatment?

I have ich meds but I thought I read somewhere (can't find it now) that you can treat with salt? I may have read it wrong though. If so is there special aquarium salt or is there non-iodized salt at the grocry store you could use. If this is even an option would they do better with this treatment? Do I need to move them?

 

[Iron Man]

Sorry no one else has responded. I've been reluctant to respond as I'm not very experienced in raising them. But...I can tell you livebearers are very salt tolerant and some mollies it is argued, such as the original black mollie and sailfin mollie, actually NEED marine salt in the amount that constitutes brackish water. So....while table salt isn't considered the same as marine salt they are still highly tolerant of larger doses.

I've treated ich with salt more than once successfully, even with clown loaches present in the tank, who have a reputation as being very salt intolerant. The reason I chose to treat with salt is I don't like the use of chemicals and if I have an opportunity to do something more natural, I'll stick to that. I've found success in 1 tablespoon of salt per gallon of water AND raised temp up to 85 degrees F. The reason you raise the temp while treating them is because it speeds up the cycle of the parasite, which can only live for a week at the most in such high temps and then its lifespan is over.

Now....all that being said....I just recently again treated fish that had ich with salt (they had it in the fish store when I bought them). THIS time.....I even raised the temp up to 90 degrees. My goal was to kill them with salt AND raised temp. I read 90 degrees F really shortens their lifespan AND can successfully kill them. This treatment was not as successful. I left the tank like this (it was silver dollars and pictus cats) for 2 weeks. I still had 2 spots left....then more...then more. Obviously I'd caught a really adaptable strain and it was adapting and prospering anyway. I stopped treating with salt (did water changes over a period of days) and lowered the temp back down to about 84....and now I'm treating with CopperSafe.....I've had no choice.

I think you can treat the mollie fry with salt no problem and you will probably kill the ich, if you treat them long enough. I would treat them for at least 2 weeks if I didn't raise the temp past 80 F. Now if that doesn't work...just use meds. That's the only choice you're going to have.

Also....make sure your water quality is up to par and there's nothing really causing them stress. Even being by an open window or a vent where drafts come in, hence causing temp flunctuations in the water, will cause enough stress to lower their immune systems enough for them to get something like ich.

Just my .02.

 

[Fishgurl1996]

There is a tablet you can buy for about $7.00 at a pet store that treats itch and it doesn't hurt the fry. I'll try and find out the name sorry.

 

[OldMan47]

I have treated ich with the salt and heat treatment and it worked out fine with all fish surviving. The parasites, ich is a parasite, are the same size on an adult fish or on fry so it is important to start the treatment right away. There is a link in my signature area to a good article that tells all about the parasite's life cycle and also gives detailed treatment instructions. Once you are rid of the ich, start quarantining fish before you bring them into the tank. There is no reason to go this process more than once on a tank.