Treating Ich With Salt

[raptorrex]

Thanks the thing that annoys me the most it doesn't say on the bottle or on the online instructions how long to treat for... all it says is to repeat after 3 days so I'm stuffed if I know how long I'm meant to be medicating for...




Should I do a water change during the treatment?

I'm sure you have read this, but just in case.

Water temperature has a tremendous influence on how fast the life cycle for "Ich" ( Figure 1 ) is completed. At warm temperatures (75-79°F), the life cycle is completed in about 48 hours, which means that chemical treatments should be applied every other day. At cooler temperatures the life cycle is prolonged and treatments should be spaced further apart. For example, at a water temperature of 60°F, treatments should be spaced 4 or 5 days apart. In warm water, a minimum of three treatments applied 2 to 3 days apart is required. In cooler water, a minimum of five treatments should be applied 3 to 5 days apart. Treatments should never be discontinued until all mortality from "Ich" has stopped. Fish should be closely watched during recovery; the weakened fish may be susceptible to a secondary bacterial infection. The choice of chemical used to treat "Ich" will be based upon water quality conditions, species of fish to be treated, and the type of system fish are housed in. In general, copper sulfate, formalin, and potassium permanganate are all effective against "Ich" when applied at the correct concentration in a repetitive manner as described above.

taken from

and i need to correct my post. ick in not, always, in our tanks. it is, however, considered endemic, within the trade. so can be considered to be in/on, most, new bought fish. stress is still a major cause of an, imported, infection. getting hold, in a healthy tank.

 

[OldMan47]

That is a good link Raptorrex. The conclusion it comes to is much the same as the one I use. You must continue to treat for a period of time after the last sign of the parasite is seen to truly be effective. Endemic in the trade is the reason we should isolate new fish in a Q tank in my opinion. The parasites will show themselves in short order in a Q tank or they are not present in the fish. There really is no third option for them. A very healthy tank can suddenly be infested with ich if we are not careful enough with bringing in new fish simply because many of the new fish have the chance of having been exposed. It is not true that stress, of itself, can bring on the development of an ich infestation. It takes the introduction of unhealthy fish or other material to bring it on. One thing we seldom consider is that plants are often kept in tanks with fish, and if the fish have ich, the plant and the water it is packed with can also carry in some of the parasites.

 

[raptorrex]

It is not true that stress, of itself, can bring on the development of an ich infestation. It takes the introduction of unhealthy fish or other material to bring it on.

yeah, sorry. my clumsy way of saying things. the bug does need to be introduced for stress to let it take hold, in a mature and stable tank.

 

[fishfinderdave]

by normal ocurance, fresh water fish shud'nt need any salt for treament of illness or disease.
not long ago i myself had an outbreak of ich (white spot)
which i caught from a dodgy aquatics shop having sold me 6 sword tails infectd with the disease.
when i bought the fish they looked fine in their tanks....its only when i placed them in my tank and turned on my tank light in time that i noticed they had ich.
the aquatics shop also sold me a blue gourami with "hole in the head" disease
which i took back and replaced elsewhere.

i treated my fish with a 4 day treament of "waterlife protozin" which done the job for me.
i used the treatment on days 1,2,3 & 6.

since the treatment stages, i have had no problems with illness or disease.

your choice of course but "protozin" is my recommendation.

 

[LilyRose Tank]

the info on the box says to dose every 2 days (48hrs) but as i'm fish in cycling, i'm 50% waterchange and redose with full dose every time, so 50% waterchange and 10ml on a 90L tank, ( kings Britsh make of treatment) and so far so good, its been 5 days so far, and the initial fish that had it look clear, its the last 3 now that are still in the early stages of ich...so you treat until 3 days after the symptoms have completely gone. may need to study the fish for an hour to make sure no flicking, shimming or spots
erratic swimming, jumping etc

 

[fry_forever!]

If I ever run across a case of ich, I don't even use salt. I just turn up the temp really high to more than 86F, (but you wouldn't be able to do this if your fish are sensitive to heat) and the ich life cycle runs it's course very quickly. A temp that high is enough to even kill the ich, in most cases. If it is a stubborn case, add a little bit of salt, but I've never used salt to treat ich, just heat, and it always goes away within a couple days. (And this is with no meds or salt whatsoever, just heat.)

Good luck!

-f_f!

 

[Angele]

i have always treated ick with table salt (non idonize) i increase temp to 80, add 1 teaspoon per gallon, ive never lost a fish due to ick and after 2 days the ick is gone. i have used ick meds and i find i loose too many fish before the meds work but that miht be the brand i was using.

 

[c-dub]

The filthy pest claimed 4 lives. However I think the darn paracite is gone...