Cory ich: best treatment?

[Familyfishny]

Hi folks,

I have cories with ich, and am leaning towards trying the heat/salt method before using the IckGuard I got from the LFS. Problem is I’ve seen conflicting info on what salt to use, including:
- aquarium salt is the only option,
- aquarium salt does nothing and ich lives even in saltwater, only NaCl/table/kosher salt works,
- table salt/kosher salt will kill cories
- only medicines work,
-high temps are bad for cories,
- high temps lil ich, and
- high temps make ich worse by speeding up ich life cycle so fish get attacked more.

- 37 gal tank. Sand/plant media with rock arch and sword plant.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20
PH7.8
Gh180
HOB waterfall filter and bubble wall

8 guppies
3 cories
Maybe 1 BN pleco but we haven’t seen her in 4 days and can’t find her .

Can you all help me figure out whether 86F will be high enough and these species will survive it, and whether to use aquarium salt or kosher salt? Or if I should do the ich guard (Victoria green & acriflavine)instead?

So far I’ve done two 70% water changes in 24 hrs, bought a better gravel vac (and figured out that was the problem, the little vac wasn’t cleaning the substrate), upped the temp from 77F to 81 F yesterday and cranked it higher just now.

Thank you!

 

[GaryE]

We disagree about this all the time. Corys can be special cases, too, because of the armour.
You will be told:
only heat works, at 85f/29.5 for a couple of weeks. I'd never do that, but you will hear it and it usually works. It kills ich.
malachite green is the best approach, and has always worked for me. You have to dose as soon as you see the problem, or you're out of luck
Aquarists I respect are dead set against chemicals other than salt.
Salt will get mixed reviews. Aquarium salt is kosher salt and is pickling salt. Non iodized salt is... salt. (Aquarium salts, with an S, are a different thing, not for ich). I would never use them for ich again, but they worked, after a fashion.

My prejudices and practices show. I use malachite green. Acriflavene is for a different parasite, and is not the best thing to use.

Since I would never use heat with Ich, I'll leave how Corys do with it to others with direct experience.

 

[Byron]

I would not use salt initially, but heat alone. It is only in very stubborn cases that salt should be included with heat. According to Dr. Neale Monks.

Heat will not hurt Corydoras when it is temporary as opposed to keeping their tank too warm long-term. My tanks for several years would get up to 90F in heat waves. I never lost one cory (nor anything else for that matter). Two weeks at 86F/30C will not harm cories, guaranteed (obviously, if your cories are nearly at death's door to begin with, a different story, but let's assume not).

Long-term, no Corydoras species should be maintained at or above 80F/27C. According to Ian Fuller. But increasing the heat for a valid reason is not the same thing.

Now, as for any other medication, no--unless the medication is needed for a specific health issue and it is the most effective for that issue and it is generally safe. Ich does not fall into this category so there is no wisdom in subjecting cories to unnecessary meds which will at the least cause stress, and given that stress is the cause of 90% of all aquarium fish disease...well, this speaks for itself. What goes into the tank water gets inside the fish's bloodstream and internal organs, not to mention the delicate gill filaments, and this has to be a last resort.

 

[Familyfishny]

Will this work?

 

[Familyfishny]

Okay, I got it - use sodium chloride, not magnesium sulfate. https://aprilsaquarium.ca/salt-in-your-freshwater-aquarium/
So what I have should function as the salt if needed.

Byron, I noticed the ich spots on Monday, before I let on a business trip. Now the corys are lethargic and intermittently flashing, and listless about food. Is that too sick for the high temps?

 

[Byron]

Okay, I got it - use sodium chloride, not magnesium sulfate. https://aprilsaquarium.ca/salt-in-your-freshwater-aquarium/
So what I have should function as the salt if needed.

Byron, I noticed the ich spots on Monday, before I let on a business trip. Now the corys are lethargic and intermittently flashing, and listless about food. Is that too sick for the high temps?

No. Get the temp up to 86F ASAP, leave it there for two weeks. Increase surface disturbance to ensure good oxygen/CO2 exchange. Feed minimally, do normal (or larger) water changes, vacuum substrate well at each (removes ich waiting to hatch out).

 

[Familyfishny]

Thanks so much, Gary E and Byron. Given that the medication I have includes one that’s incorrect for ich, and we have a young child who interacts with the fish and the Vic green’s pretty toxic, I am going to try the heat alone method. I cranked the heater up as far as it would go, but so far it’s only to 81 by thermometer. If it’s not higher by this afternoon I’ll see if I can purchase a more powerful one. I will feed minimally for the cories but keep up with flake food for the guppies, who seem healthy so far.
The gravel is still pretty gross and I have to assume there’s a pleco body some, so I think I will gravel clean daily with the bigger vac unless that would be too much stress for the cories?

 

[Byron]

Thanks so much, Gary E and Byron. Given that the medication I have includes one that’s incorrect for ich, and we have a young child who interacts with the fish and the Vic green’s pretty toxic, I am going to try the heat alone method. I cranked the heater up as far as it would go, but so far it’s only to 81 by thermometer. If it’s not higher by this afternoon I’ll see if I can purchase a more powerful one. I will feed minimally for the cories but keep up with flake food for the guppies, who seem healthy so far.
The gravel is still pretty gross and I have to assume there’s a pleco body some, so I think I will gravel clean daily with the bigger vac unless that would be too much stress for the cories?

Keeping a clean environment is important. Us the water change(s) to increase the heat too, a couple degrees with each will do no harm.

 

[Familyfishny]

All the cories are hiding in whatever shade they can find, panting - or at least, their respiration looks like 20 breaths in 8 seconds, which is higher that I’ve observed previously. Temp is 88. Can I turn it down a bit?

 

[DoubleDutch]

86F is the minimum. is there aeration / waterflow ?

 

[Familyfishny]

I turned it down just to 87 and increased the air flow through the bubble wall. The current is much stronger, and there’s a curtain of bubbles - will that help?

 

[DoubleDutch]

I turned it down just to 87 and increased the air flow through the bubble wall. The current is much stronger, and there’s a curtain of bubbles - will that help?

Gasexchange will be easier this way so help your fish if oxigin.

 

[Byron]

Agree. Adjust the filter to provide a lot of surface disturbance.

 

[Familyfishny]

Done. Bubble wall dialed up, and I dropped the water level a bit so the filter causes more agitation. The cories are eating a little and moving about more, though their respiration is still high and they are still less active than usual. No ich spots visible, and I did a good vacuuming. One Cory has a scale-less dark patch near its tail. Guppies seem fine, if more active than usual. Never found the pleco body. Fingers crossed that the elevated temp works.
I’m concerned about secondary infections in the high temps; I imagine they could progress quite quickly in the warmer water. Any words of wisdom on what to look for/what to do if I start to see fin rot or other ailments?

 

[DoubleDutch]

Could you place pics?. The scaleless spot is puzzleling and worrying me.