Ram_Kelly

I KNEW I shouldn't have got a fish from petblow. A week ago I got a female ram from a big chain store. All the fish in her tank looked healthy but since they use a giant filtering system there's no telling what she had. I have 10 neon tetras and one of them has a bad looking tail and today I noticed what apprears to be the beginning of ICH. I see 1 white spot. I'm also paranoid that I see 2 white spots on my male ram. I'm not 100% sure thats what I see. I know rams are sensitive to medications so I don't want to medicate if I don't have to. I raised my temperature from 78 to about 80 or 81 and I added a large amount of freshwater salt (the amount the instructions say to use for disease treatment). I'm going out of town tonight and I'll be back this time tomorrow so I can see what it looks like. If anyone has any advice for me, please help. I'll try to get a picture up if I can.

Shawnie

all you need to do is raise your temps to 83f for two weeks, add a lil bit of extra airation because warmer temps have less oxygen, and do a good gravel vac as ich spores live in the gravel...I wouldnt use salt unless its your last resort as most fish wont tolerate it ....

MeGustaUnaPez926

The temperature raise was a good idea. I'd watch out for it stressing your fish though. You had a pretty high temperature to begin with, but the sudden increase might freak them out. I know nothing about rams, so as regards to medication you'll have to wait for something else. Good luck!!

Aw, Shawnie you beat me! I was about to edit anyway about the salt thing, I'm not sure it'll be good for the tetras.

Shawnie

tropicals love the temps anywhere from 78-80ish so the temps were ok before

Lucy

I'm sorry your seeing problems. I know how excited you are about your rams.

If you up the temp to about 84F and leave it there for about 2 weeks, that should be rid of ich.
Increase the aeration due to less oxygen in warmer water.
Do a thorough vacuum to pick up any spores.

How is the neon's tail bad looking? Nipped? Fin rot?

Edit: Dang, I type slow....must be all the turkey. lol

soldieroffortune1974

1st problem I see,is you didn't quarantine the fish and now all the inhabitants are at risk.

OK,now you have a problem and it's time to fix it. Precisely how much salt is a large amount ? and what exactly is freshwater salt ? The only recommended salt is sea salt used as a 'tonic' and in low doses.It's not intended to be put in the main display,only in quarantine conditions.Since your entire aquarium is probably infected,you need to treat the main display as a quarantine,until the disease is under control.

I would raise the temp to 83f, 80 isn't enough to kill the active ick,only the spore. Add extra aeration,the warmer temp reduces oxygen levels. Change the water daily,with a good vacuuming of the gravel to remove the spores.

soldieroffortune1974

Shawnie

Lucy

MeGusta

You type faster and got me.................but 4 giving the same advice should have some merit.

Salt for the Tetras and Rams is fine, under normal conditions,they normally live in water with a low salt content,not close to brackish,but since water mixed with salt of any level is sort of brackish,then yeah;you could say they live in brackish water

Shawnie

gotta love the girlie 's huh
I only worry about salt when the fish are stressed because MOST if not ALL pet stores dont care about the sickness and the fish are not use to it at all

Ram_Kelly

Hey guys, thanks for all the quick advice. Excuse me, I used Aquarium Pharaceuticals Aquarium salt. I know its not called freshwater salt, but what I meant is that I didn't use salt for saltwater aquariums or table salt. It says to add 1 rounded tablespoon for every 5 gallons "as a general tonic and stress reducer", I added 3 rounded tablespoons. I have a 26 gallon tank so I put less than recomended, just to be on the safe side.

thanks for the advice about adding extra aeration, I wouldn't have thought about that.

I have no idea what is wrong with the tetra. His tail looked discolored, where it is supposed to be red it was turning white-ish. I've been keeping an eye on it for the past week. Blah.

And while I appreciate everyone's help, please don't scold. I don't have a quarantine tank so I did the best with what I have.

Thanks, guys!

Shawnie

unfortunately alot of us dont have a QT tank..we dont scold and only want to help ...I hope things get better and have a safe trip tonite!

soldieroffortune1974

Ram_kelly I hope it wasn't me you think was scolding. I tend to extrapolate on why I am saying something,or giving advice to do things a certain way. It hopefully prevents any miscommunication,and can across as "okay,now kiddies,that was bad bad bad" but it's never meant to. I know when I 1st started,in college,and many aspects,people would say "no,you have to do this, or do it this way,etc" and usually left me wondering "WHY" good advice,but WHY.However,I DO go into lecture mode,sometimes, but not this time............maybe next time.

Butterfly

Whew! I thought by your title you thought you had ICH(don't think thats possible)

Excellent advice and right on track everyone The only thing I would add is to do extra water changes during the 14 days of raised temps. If caught at the beginning ICH is very easily taken care of with raised temp, extra water changes and gravel vacs(which the rams will like )
The higher temps makes the ICH fall off and go through it's life stages faster, gravel vacs will get rid of the dead and some live cysts, extra water changes will help keep the oxygen levels up since warmer water has a lower oxygen level.
Carol

Ram_Kelly

Update:
Thats everyone for the wonderful advice. The goodnews is that I appear to be ich-free. I'm not even sure I had it to begin with. I came home from Thanksgiving and didn't see any signs of anything... I'm probably just paranoid. But thank you all for your wonderful help.

Lucy

That's great, I'm glad to hear your fish aren't icky.