Bossman0069

I have been fighting ich on my 2 clown loaches and catfish for a week now. Back and forth with water changes, gravel vacuming, medicating, Adding salt ,temp up to 84. They still look like hell! Im wondering if i Remove the gravel and try sand if that will give the little spots less of a place to hide, when they fall off the fish to reproduce. Should it at the least help keep the tank cleaner? (with regular vaccuming and water changes) I was going to try the Black Tahitian Moon Sand For my digging loaches. Ive tried most recommended treatments so far with to no avail, With the exception of Blacking out my tank for a week. Any Help Will Be Greatly Appreciated Im Starting to get more stressed than my fish! I really dont want to loose my loaches or catfish. Please Help!

Also on a side note: I have purchased a hydrometer The Glass Float type with built in therm. After having added Aquarium salt At the suggested amount of 1 Tbls per 5 gal of water the hydrometer reading is that of distilled water 1.000. How is This? What reading Should i Be Trying to Obtain? (1.010-1.015)

OneEyedTetra

ive had a lot of luck with coppersafe for eradicating ich in my 55 gal. some of my tetras came in with it and it soon took over everything in my tank. within a week of treating with coppersafe, everything was back to normal. treats the water for a month. takes care of other parasites and protozoan velvet as well. just keep an eye on live plants and take out any inverts, can be harmful to both. good luck, hope they get better!

ps- a tablespoon of salt in 5 gallons is a minute amount, shouldnt even register a reading on a hydrometer i would think- someone correct me if im wrong?

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55 gal
8 gold pristella tetras, 6 giant danios, 2 lemon tetras, 2 bleeding heart tetras, 2 bosemani rainbows, 2 baby harlequin rasboras, 1 gold chinese algae eater, 1 red flame gourami, 1 baby comet goldfish, 1 black shark

tony

boss,

I dont think you can get a reading with the hydrometer (too small amount) also aquarium salt is different from the salt used in salt water tanks....at least thats water im told.

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55 Gal, African Cichlid Tank

Tommy Gun

I wouldn't use coppersafe in a display tank and I would use it with extreme caution. Copper is toxic to fish as well so the key is to maintain a very specific level all of the time since too much will kill everything and too little will kill nothing.

I agree that the tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons should not register and you should not be trying to shoot for any number on a hydrometer. Just to be sure, you are using Aquarium Salt and not Marine Salt mix, right!?!?!? You want to be using regular salt (sodium chloride, NaCl); nothing more, nothing less.

Distilled water will not have any salt in it so who ever told you that is slightly off their rocker IMHO.

My suggestion is to stop changing treatments, pick one, and stick with it. Treating ich takes time and hence, requires patience. If you haven't read the Ich Article yet, I would do that since it explains what I mean when I say that you are not trying to treat those white spots per say, but treating for potential white spots. This means you cannot really guage the effectivness of your treatment by looks alone.

tropical1

i used coppersafe in my display tank and it did perfect and no fish died either. you might have over medicated with your experience.

Tommy Gun

It is much more than just fish safety that concerns those who use copper. For example, copper would do damage or kill any inverts in the tank and even long after the treatment has ended depending on what product you are using. Additionally, some forms of copper are hard to remove completely and could affect livestock well into the future. I am also pretty sure that even the coppersafe website states that it can/will interfere with any benificial bacteria which may be in the tank.

I am also sticking to my guns about strongly suggesting the use of quarantine tanks for treatments as much as humanly possible. Granted, it is often suggested that we should treat the display tank and all residents when Ich rears its ugly head but as much of a pain it could be, I would rather move all of my fish to a quarantine tank when treating with copper. Chances are that after a four to six week Ich treatment, the ich in your display tank will have died off since they cannot last long without a host. Besides, there are many easier and less risky methods of treatment for us in a diplay tank.

tropical1

yeah i didnt find that out until after i started with the coppersafe. next time if it happens i will go the salt route simply cause its healthy for the fiish.

tony

I too in the past was swayed by the dark side and use coppersafe for a very long time, i was very paranoid about ick, I would lose a fish here and there for no reason. It didnt happen very often. My water parameters were good as far as the LFS was concerned, and there was no real explanation for me at the time. Then i learned that coppersafe had bad long term effects on fish, It made sense. So i stopped using it did many water changes to try and get as much out as i could and i havent lost a fish since.

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55 Gal, African Cichlid Tank

Jay

IMO Copper and safe cannot be used in the same sentence.

Once you move above the incredibly small trace levels needed by cells it becomes a cumulative toxic poison, which can impact humans also.

Regards,
Jay

Bossman0069

Thank you all for your advice and help. I have made my treatment plan and will now only use temp and salt to battle this! I cleaned my tank,removed my gravel, vacumed up every crumb, Bought (Black Tahitian Moon Sand) Cleaned, rinsed and deposited. Its Quite good looking! My Temp is Now at 85.9 and has been there for 2 days. My loaches seem to be recovering from the meds; There still breathing heavily, But seen more happy with the sandy bottom. Alot of water was removed and my charcoal filter is back in. Im hoping the ease of cleaning the sand will ensure i get whatever Tomont`s are on the surface. Black Just Shows everything! I Plan on daily cleanings till this is over.