Heat Salt Rid Ich

I got a case of ich (ick?) in my 10 gallon aquarium. i've added aquarium salt so far, waiting on adj. heater and rid ich to come in the mail.

10 gallon tank
1x female betta
6x neon tetras
1x pleco

most popular method is heat dealing with them, but aquarium salt has been referenced too. some are saying aquarium salt combined with meds boost it's effects.

since I can't find this elsewhere, is it ok to use aquarium salt + heat + kordon rid ich at the same time?

 

No, you don't want to turn your heater up to 86 and use ich medication at the same time on a tank that is that small, IMO. You also have some stocking issues if you'd like to discuss them.

 

what about aquarium salt and ich medication? is that an ok combo?

(pleco is temporary while I treat for ich, I know it puts me over the stocking but I do daily water changes because of the ich)

 

update: got temperature up to 89-90F, added 3tsp/gallon (over the course of 3 days using 1tsp/g). one tetra died and betta was attacking it before it died. =(
been watching the peco closely and he seems ok with the salt levels, no odd behavior yet but I'll keep monitoring him.

I don't have a second adj. heater for my male betta in the 3 gallon but he developed a few cysts so i'm trying half dose of aquarium salt and rid ich med. luckily it's only about 3 cysts that I can see so I think I caught his early enough. first time dealing with ich and I suspect it might have came from the tetras. i've only had a single male betta up until recently when I started to expand into multiple tanks. hopefully I can learn from this experience and avoid this issue in the future.

 

update: got temperature up to 89-90F, added 3tsp/gallon (over the course of 3 days using 1tsp/g). one tetra died and betta was attacking it before it died. =(
been watching the peco closely and he seems ok with the salt levels, no odd behavior yet but I'll keep monitoring him.

I don't have a second adj. heater for my male betta in the 3 gallon but he developed a few cysts so i'm trying half dose of aquarium salt and rid ich med. luckily it's only about 3 cysts that I can see so I think I caught his early enough. first time dealing with ich and I suspect it might have came from the tetras. i've only had a single male betta up until recently when I started to expand into multiple tanks. hopefully I can learn from this experience and avoid this issue in the future.

Anything 86F and over will kill free floating ich, so if your fish are uncomfortable with 90F heat, you could probably lower it a little (I'm thinking of your neons).
Also with the heat treatment, make sure your tank has high O2 levels because warmer water can hold less (just make sure you have plenty of surface agitation).

Generally you don't want to cross contaminate tanks/move fish back and forth often for this exact reason ;D that way you only have to treat one tank if something happens.


As a side note, I would separate the betta and neons after you cure the ich. They aren't compatible on multiple things, and if the betta was attacking the dead neon, it's safe to say the betta killed your fish.

 

Anything 86F and over will kill free floating ich, so if your fish are uncomfortable with 90F heat, you could probably lower it a little (I'm thinking of your neons).

I wasn't sure. had some people saying 86F stops reproduction and 89-90F kills free ich on other forums. I guess that's why I joined this forum, to have a bit more back and forth and get some answers. thank you.

Also with the heat treatment, make sure your tank has high O2 levels because warmer water can hold less (just make sure you have plenty of surface agitation).

added a second airstone, put both near the heater (not touching) to help with circulating the heat around.

Generally you don't want to cross contaminate tanks/move fish back and forth often for this exact reason ;D that way you only have to treat one tank if something happens.

ya I was being an idiot here.

As a side note, I would separate the betta and neons after you cure the ich. They aren't compatible on multiple things, and if the betta was attacking the dead neon, it's safe to say the betta killed your fish.

neon tetras seem to pop up on most female betta tank mate lists i've read so I thought it was ok. she doesn't seem to bother them, just that one that was floating around with the current but still breathing. i'm by no means an expert but looked like she was just picking off the weak one that couldn't even swim.

 

I wasn't sure. had some people saying 86F stops reproduction and 89-90F kills free ich on other forums. I guess that's why I joined this forum, to have a bit more back and forth and get some answers. thank you.

added a second airstone, put both near the heater (not touching) to help with circulating the heat

neon tetras seem to pop up on most female betta tank mate lists i've read so I thought it was ok. she doesn't seem to bother them, just that one that was floating around with the current but still breathing. i'm by no means an expert but looked like she was just picking off the weak one that couldn't even swim.

Unfortunately heat doesn't kill the ich already on the fish, but it kills the free floating ich and speeds up its life cycle, so that once the ich on the fish dies it is unlikely to be reinfected.

Awesome, sounds like you have the O2 under control. Are you still doing your water changes? Doing a gravel vac will help pick up free floating ich too, since they sink.

I've never actually seen neons and female bettas on the same list... as foragression it really depends on the individual fish, but the temperature diffence alone wouldn't make them compatible (bettas prefer 80-82F, neons prefer 73-75F). Keeping them at a temperature outside their preferred range for a few weeks is fine (such as during ich treatment) but making that a constant living condition will cause problems and ultimately shorten their life

 

Are you still doing your water changes? Doing a gravel vac will help pick up free floating ich too, since they sink.

yup, doing anywhere between 20-40% water changes using a gravel vac and using apI stress coat with water changes. got an apI freshwater test kit, so I check the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels daily

as for the neon tetras, I woke up this morning and I only saw 2 moving, looked for the others and 3 more had died . to be fair the 3 that died were heavily covered in cysts and the 2 remaining have only 1-3 spots on them.
I don't think I'll try neon tetras in the future again with bettas.

 

yup, doing anywhere between 20-40% water changes using a gravel vac and using apI stress coat with water changes. got an apI freshwater test kit, so I check the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels daily

as for the neon tetras, I woke up this morning and I only saw 2 moving, looked for the others and 3 more had died . to be fair the 3 that died were heavily covered in cysts and the 2 remaining have only 1-3 spots on them.
I don't think I'll try neon tetras in the future again with bettas.

Oh no! I'm so sorry!!!

If you want to try, you could move your remaining neons to a different tank/bowl and keep the temperature in the low 70s. They either use salt or medicine, but no heat.

 

on day 2 of heat treatment for female betta, and I know it gets worse before it gets better but i'm worried about all the dots. =( after medicating my male betta for 2 days the few spots I saw have disappeared, going to continue his treatment as directed by rid ich instructions. i'm assuming I started treating his in the early stages which is why it disappeared faster.

 

update: 4th day of heat treatment, I lowered the temp to 86-87f. no visible spots left. heat/salt treatment definally works! (at least with this version of ich)

I did get a new development though, my betta over ate a bit(no betta! that algae wafer isn't for you!). she started to drop a few eggs. in a few of the pictures you can see it but she seems to have a red spot under her by the ovary tube. she isn't acting weird but the red spot has me worried a bit, not sure if that's normal for a female betta.

edit: just to be clear, it's the same betta, she's green but in some lights she looks blue.

 

I've never seen this before...hopefully it isn't a sign of something else going on, after you've started to get rid of the ich!