Sorry to hear fishies are ill.
Before I forget, NO ! salt if the tank is home to cories.
There are many meds for ick though all depends on what your LFS carries. I use Maracide which is a 5 day treatment and will NOT hurt any of the tanks inhabitants. Just remove carbon (if any) and follow dose on bottle. 1 drop per gallon. This medication may tinge the water a green tint but, this can be removed with a water change a fresh carbon AFTER treatment is complete.
Quick Cure is also good. And pretty common in most LFS. I don't use it much so can't say on dosage / treatment time. But would be my PERSONAL second choice if Maracide is not avail.
Hope this helps.
danny
PS,
Here's a tid bit of info.
Ichthyophthirius multifiliis
“Ich”
Commonly referred to as “Ich” this is a protocol parasite, which appears on fishes as small white dots. Ich can affect and damage the, fishes skin gills and or eyes. The parasite can remain dormant in an aquarium for several days, even weeks before any signs are visible on fish. Ich, has a pretty basic and simple life cycle. The parasite penetrates the mucous coat and the upper layer of the epidermis (outer layer of skin). There the parasite situates itself between the epidermis and the cutis, where it feeds on red blood corpuscles and epithelial cells.
The parasite can affect the fish in many ways depending on the severity of the outbreak. Ick will irritate the epidermal layer by increasing the natural production of mucous by the fish causing them to shake and rub on objects form the irritation. It also attaches to the fishes gill filaments thus, interfering with the gas exchange where oxygen enters the blood, resulting in the fish gasping due to the lack of oxygen in the blood.
After some days in the fishes skin / gills the parasite matures. They then leave the fish for reproduction.
Once the mature parasite leaves its host it sinks to the bottom of the aquarium where it secrets a soft jelly like cyst. The cyst can contain hundreds of young parasite. At this stage, a series of rapid divisions take place. The development of the parasite depends on the temperature of the tank. The cooler the temperature the faster the parasite will develop, roughly within 12 - 18 hours. Approximately 36 hours after the mature parasite has left the host, the youngsters will be free swimming in search of a host.
Young parasite cannot live long in the aquarium unless they find a host. If there is no host present, the young parasite will die within a few days. Without a host, the mature parasite can live dormant in the aquarium for a few days longer than the young parasite. In the aquarium environment the mature parasite tend to leave the host periodically, but the fish will become infected repeatedly each time in higher numbers if left untreated.
If a completely healthy fish is infected, by just a few ich parasites it will not suffer much, and if the aquarium is not too crowded the chances of reinfestation are not as great.
Though Ich is not visible to the eye in its early stages the fish will sometimes show signs by rubbing on objects in the aquarium. And in some cases heavily infected fish will show signs of breathing trouble this is a sure sign that the ich has attached itself to the fishes gill membrane. In many cases, fishes, which have had a serious infestation, may not recover. If a completely healthy fish is infected with one or two ich parasites it will not suffer much, and if the tank is NOT crowded the chances of reification are not too great. However, in such cases infection may remain in it’s latent stage for a long period, since the parasite in the skin of the fish will grow very slowly and consequently no symptoms of the parasite will appear. However, if left untreated and or the resistance of the fish is weekend by unsuitable conditions, (drastic water temperature changes or improperly maintained aquarium) the parasite will have a better chance and then an epidemic can and in most cases does occur. This explains why epidemics often appears when tropical fish are kept at too low temperatures, while, on the contrary, in cold water fish epidemics may occur at too high temperatures.
There are several contributing factors to the infecting of ich, Cysts of ich can also be found on water plants, which in turn explain how many parasites are smuggled into our aquariums. These water plants can be infested even though they are not a suitable host. Just a transporter sort a speak.
Treatment:
Maracide (by: Mardel laboratories)
1.) Remove carbon if any.
2.)Add one drop Per gallon of water for five days. Even if signs appear to be gone.
3.)Once treatment is completed, a 25% water change and fresh carbon will remove the green tinge if any that may have been left behind from treatment.
By: Danny M.
Will complete and add a little more in near future when I can dig up some extra time hope this helps. If anything, it makes for good reading. LOL
myself.
/www.netpets.com/fish/reference/freshref/ich.html
