Salt/Heat method for ich treamtment question

JJAmazon · 02-12-2007, 02:04 PM

Hey ya'll

I had a suspicion that there was an ich outbreak in my smaller setup the other day when I noticed sporadic (5-8) white spots on the fins of one of my juvenile Blue Rams.

I decided that since these animals were fairly young that I did not want to overload the tank with chemicals and treamtments.

I began on thursday evening with a tank temperature of 80.8 degrees (the inhabitants were two juvenile rams, three Rummy nosed tetras and common pleco) I added one rounded tablspoon to a pint of water (tank water) and after dissolved added it to the system The tank is a 10 gallon setup which I use for smaller animals until I feel safe bringing them to "the show" so to speak.

I began raising the water slowly, and by sunday afternoon had raised the temperature to 84.9 degrees. Unfortunately this morning the animal that I suspected had ich died.

I was wondering how long you generally maintain the higher temperatures in the tank after the only animal with ich either dies or appears to have the spots fall off, as I have never done the salt heat method before and do not want to lose my rummy noses as they are my favorites.

agaupt · 02-12-2007, 11:32 PM

For Ick, I raise my temp and keep the salt in the water for 1 week after I see the last Ick spot on my fish. Raising the temp speeds up the life cycle of Ick, and the salt helps to kill it. My understanding is that when it is attached to the fish the Ick cannot be killed until it falls of the fish and is "exposed" then the Ick can be killed. Just because you dont see Ick on you fish doesn't mean its gone from your tank.

I had Ick in my bigger tank so for about 2 weeks I kept the temp a little higher at 82 - 84 degrees with 2 tablespoons of salt per gallon of water. I only lost 1 fish out of 30 total but my plants suffered a little from the salt.

Tommy Gun · 02-15-2007, 04:40 PM

JJ,

The salt and heat method is truly two seperate treatments really. First, the higher tank temperature is going to help speed up the lifecycle of the Ich as it appears to you in white spots on your fish. The salt portion is going to help kill off the Ich in its stages which you cannot see. The treatment typically takes a bit longer than a med based treatment, as far as I understand, but it is much safer and less stressful on your fish and inverts in the tank.

So, because you cannot see Ich all the time, I generally would treat a tank with salt for about three weeks after the last white spot 'falls off' your infected fish. As the white spots fall off, the land on the substrate or decor in the tank and this is when they will reproduce so it is important not to give up the treatment then. If and when you are having regular out breaks of Ich is typically becuase one did not extend the length of treatment long enough. In any case, I know it works, and even though it may tank a bit longer, it is truly worth it since in some cases, a med based treatment can be just as harsh as the Ich itself, however now you are sort of adding insult to injury if that makes sense.

JJAmazon · 02-15-2007, 05:14 PM

Thanks Tommy,

Yeah I went back to the LFS the other day to inspect his tank and as it turns out he is the one who gave me the ich as sure enough it had advanced in his tank from cyst to free swim around the same time as the fish I purchased from him underwent the same in my tank. So...Im gonna continue with the treatment for another couple days to see what happens. The spots continue to decrease in number.