Got The Ick. Am I Treating Properly?

Background on my tank:

20 gallon freshwater. 5-6 months old. Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 10 (or 20. I honestly can't tell the difference between the orange colors.) 3 black mollies, 7 neon tetras, 1 dwarf gourami.

One of the black mollies has ick (definitely ick. No question.) None of the others show any sign. I noticed the ick on Sunday (Feb 26th).

Gradually raised heater to 84 on sunday, and temp held monday morning. Raised heater to 86 on monday (yesterday), but both my digital and mercury thermometers still showed about 84 (84.4) this morning. Cranked the heater up to max (89) this morning, and I've gotten a whopping extra 0.5 degrees out of it so far, so I guess call my temp an 85. Digital thermometer is set at far opposite corner of heater. Mercury thermometer is across from heater.

Anyways, added 6 tsp of aquarium salt on Monday (two doses of 3). Added another 6 tsp today (two doses of 3). Because of the neon tetras, I'm afraid to add the additional 8 tsp to get a 1 tsp/1 gallon ratio.

BTW, if my salt is fine, I plan to do a 25% water change tomorrow (just did one on saturday and the ick showed up on sunday. Coincidence? I think not.) and then continue water changes/vacuum every other day for 2 weeks (replacing lost salt each time.)

I guess I'm just looking for either reassurance that I'm treating the ick properly, or if not what additional advice/steps would be recommended.

Thank you in advance!

 

I have a few suggestions.. One: I would suggest that maybe move the molly to a hospital container and up the aqarium salt in just her tank if you are worried, to get the 1:1 ratio of gallon per 1 tsp aquarium salt since she has the physical symptoms of ick. (In the past I cautiously used Aquarium Salt and unfortunately used too little, and had many die) Two: In my experience, I have treated ICK on my guppies with 1 tsp aquarium salt per gallon of water, 10 -20 percent water changes daily (If I take two gallons out, I replace two gallons WITH 2 more tsp aqarium salt) I do this for 7-10 days while also slowly cranking up the heat. After the 7-10 days you should still do the 10-20 percent daily water changes for a few more days but do not add anymore salt. Eventually the salt is flushed out with water changes.

This is how I survived ick! There are many methods

 

Thanks, Alice. I've got a 4 gallon bucket that I use for pre-treated water (with heater) for my normal water changes. Would that be sufficient for an emergency hospital tank? It's not cycled or anything, obviously. Just properly heated and dechorinated water to make my water changes faster. I mean, I'd have to keep her there for about 2 weeks.

If anyone's curious, I chose a 12 tsp mark for my tank to make salt-replacement-math during water changes easier (divisible by 4)

And just as an observation, the thought of doing daily water changes on my water change bucket seems rather ironic

 

I had ick in my 10 g and I suspect the neons from petsmart added but that's another story. I raised temp for 86 2 weeks straight and changed up 50% water every single day. no salt. it worked.

 

Mollies actually love salt, however, Tetra and Gourami do not care for it. I'd just use heat, or, move the molly to a separate tank and use both.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone. It looks like the heat/salt combo did the trick <knock on wood>. I don't see any visible signs. Fish are still swimming and eating and pooping. To be on the safe side, I'll continue the treatment for another 3-4 days though.

 

Hope that's the end of it for you! Sounds like a lot of good signs.