maybet

My fish have ick. I read that raising the water temp( from 78 to 84) and adding salt will kill the ick. I added the salt by doing two 20% water changes over the course of two days. I had checked all my levels before adding the salt and they were:
0ppm ammonia
0ppm nitrite
40ppm nitrate
7.2 Ph
I tested my water again after the two days with the salt and everything is the same except my nitrates sky rocketed to 160ppm.
I quickly did a larger water change last night without salt. I checked the nitrate level again this afternoon and it is still the same.
The good news is that the ick seems to be clearing up. It is less noticeable on my neons.

My tank is a 10 gal w/ one plant and a male betta, 6 neons and one common pleco (yes I know he will get too big...I hadn't done enough research when I bought him. I will donate him to my friends larger tank when he gets too big)

Thanks in advance for your help.
MB

Gunnie

I have no idea why your nitrates skyrocketed like they did. What type of test kit are you using? If your reading is accurate, and you can't get the nitrates down, I would suggest you continue with the water changes, and condition your water with amquel plus to help control the nitrates for now. You don't want to add any more stress to your fish right now while they are recovering. Hope this helps!

maybet

thanks Gunnie. I think I might have done this to myself. I spent all day yesterday reading the articles on this website and other posts to other nitrate questions. I changed my filter last week, which may have had something to do with it?? I did another water change last night and I will check the levels again this afternoon. The Ick seems to be getting much better, there are very few spots on my neons and less than when I started on my betta. I have been worried about my betta because the Ick has made him very lethargic.

Butterfly

Keep the water temp raised for at least two weeks even if all the spots disappear. The ich can't grow or spread at the higher temps(and your Betta will like the higher temps )
and keep the water changes up. Good luck
Carol