Salt For Ich, Safe For All Of My Fish?

[alicatzq]

i've had my tank 4 years and this is my first encounter with ich. i think i introduced it lastweek when i bought 2 fish from Walmart...i knew at the time i shouldn't but i felt bad for the fish so had to save a couple of them..i'm sure most of you have heard or seen for yourself that some (maybe not all) Walmart's should either stop carrying fish or enforce better quality control. I was so disgusted, i'd never seen anything like it, the tanks were filthy, multiple dead fish in every tank. i stood there for 20 minutes fuming, waiting for a sales associate to vent on, but no one came. Finally, it just so happened that a group of what appeared to be vips were doing a walk through of the store...i saw my opportunity and went for it. I approached them with my disgust over the fish tanks, 3 of them came over and apologized and the manager got an associate to take care of the situation immediately. One of the vips was also disgusted, as he has fish at home and even he expressed that they should stop carrying fish ... Anyway even after this i decided to buy 2 oscars, it was the least i could do for the poor fish. now my tank is infested with what i believe to be ich, all the symptoms are there. i have 2 oscars, 2 angels, i think a chinese algae eater, and 2 different types of catfish...i think one is commonly known as an upside down catfish? and the other i have no idea...not even sure if it's a catfish but think so. it's black with spots and alot of spiny things? i've had it along time and can't remember what it is...i want to try the aquarium salt and raise the temp treatment, somewhere i read that salt and warmer water will cure almost all freshwater fish diseases, but i've read that not all fish can withstand salt in the water. so does anyone know if my fish can tolerate it? thanks

 

[calandra]

http/www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?articleid=2421

Hope this helps

Cal

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Raising the temp exclusively is ample to rid of Ich - no need for the salt addition. Raise your temp to 33 deg C for (around) 3 days and slowly bring back to normal (27/27)

 

[ibbledibble]

Raising the temp exclusively is ample to rid of Ich - no need for the salt addition. Raise your temp to 33 deg C for (around) 3 days and slowly bring back to normal (27/27)

THIS IS NOT TRUE!

warmer water will simply speed up the lifecycle of the whitespot (ich). if you add no salt or medications, then the warmer temp will merely allow it to reproduce faster and make the effect on your fish far worse!

i think that most of your fish would be ok with salt (usually about 1/2-1 tsp per gallon) but remember that salt can only be removed from your tank with water changes, so only add one dose, and when you do a water change, only add the amount of salt for the amount of new water being added, not the whole tank (not wanting to sound patronizing, but its an easy mistake to make, i know people who have thought they needed to treat the tank with salt daily) leave the salt in the tank for about 2 weeks, and then do several large water changes to remove the salt content. that should guarantee the ich is all gone

 

[alicatzq]

Raising the temp exclusively is ample to rid of Ich - no need for the salt addition. Raise your temp to 33 deg C for (around) 3 days and slowly bring back to normal (27/27)

THIS IS NOT TRUE!

warmer water will simply speed up the lifecycle of the whitespot (ich). if you add no salt or medications, then the warmer temp will merely allow it to reproduce faster and make the effect on your fish far worse!

i think that most of your fish would be ok with salt (usually about 1/2-1 tsp per gallon) but remember that salt can only be removed from your tank with water changes, so only add one dose, and when you do a water change, only add the amount of salt for the amount of new water being added, not the whole tank (not wanting to sound patronizing, but its an easy mistake to make, i know people who have thought they needed to treat the tank with salt daily) leave the salt in the tank for about 2 weeks, and then do several large water changes to remove the salt content. that should guarantee the ich is all gone

thanks for the advice...however, according to your post i haven't added enough salt...the instructions on the carton are 1 tablespoon for every 5 gallons, so i'll add a little more. so far no problems with any fish since i added the salt 4 days ago but the ich is getting worse on certain fish, the catfish was the first with symptoms but all white specs on him are gone, but far worse on the others?...must be the cycle thing? one more thing, my salt is over 4 years old...does it loose potency as it ages do you know? thanks again