Ich Help!!

55 gal planted with 9 rummynose and 2 Bolivian rams

I thought I had columnaris but now I’m seeing the classic white dots that look like salt on my fish. I want to try the heat method but I have sand substrate so I’m not sure how I’ll be able to siphon off the spores once they fall. I have a 10 gallon uncycled set up in case I need to move any fish...what would be some options here?

 

You don’t need to siphon the spores... the point of putting the heat up is to speed up the life cycle of the ich... I’ve never siphoned them off (only cleaned afterwards) however if you’d like to read my article I wrote on cleaning sand substrate it may help you with this and also with future cleanings... also if you have a bucket give each of your fish a salt DIP (you can choose a bath if you’d like) but I find the dip more effective and can literally see the ich spores fall off the fish and into the bucket... but the salt amount is stronger so don’t leave them in too long... (if you choose dip) and I find with ich the most effective salt is Table salt but make sure it’s NON Iodized salt ... just the regular stuff or else you will kill your fish so read the box first!!! Very important!!

Combine this with the heat and you will be ich free before you know it

 

How do I give them a salt dip? Sorry I’m new to ich so if you could explain further or link me I would appreciate it greatly

 

Absolutely... you need a clean bucket... you can use the one you use for water changes or really any kind of bucket that has never had any type of cleaning product in it (just be sure if you use your water change bucket that you clean it to the extreme after... like scalding hot water and rinse and repeat a bunch of times) or if your fish are tiny you can use a container- again make sure it doesn’t have soaps or anything like that in it... temperature match the water in the bucket with the water from the tank
Then you mix your salt up in the bucket and dissolve it (the amount of salt you use will be determined by if you use un iodized or aquarium salt ** not the same as marine salt**- don’t use marine salt!!) so if you let me know what kind you will be using I can tell you how much to add
Then take the fish out of the aquarium... depending on type of fish and size of bucket you can do a couple at a time... put them in the bucket for about 5-10 minutes NO LONGER (closer to 5 minutes or if your fish is showing extreme signs of stress) Then put them back in the aquarium,.. no need to acclimate because you temp matched the water...
Also if you are also using the heat method... increase it SLOWLY... don’t just crank up the heater!! A couple degrees every hour or 2 is ok.. but you don’t want to do this too quickly

Sorry I’m heading to bed and not sure when you are doing this but for a dip I use a well rounded table spoon of regular salt (or even a bit more) per gallon of water.. (around 5 mins) if using aquarium salt just use the label for instructions but I find Table salt more effective....
warning you now... if this is a bad case of ick then your fish may already be comprised tok badly... if you put them in a salt dip and they start to go sideways or act weird just take them out and it maybe a bit late (I don’t know how far gone your ich is) that’s why it’s good to check your fish over everyday (ich will start on the fins usually) if you notice that most of your fish are completely covered... just be prepared for some losses... ich can and will kill your fish and the salt won’t be the cause of the death it will just be because they are already too sick..

 

Thank you so much! Will be doing this as soon as I get off work today. When it comes to taking the fish from the aquarium to the salt bath is there anything for acclimating? Just plop the fish in there as long as the temps match and obviously dechlorinator?

 

Yup that’s how I do it

 

Francine,
I tried to do the salt treatment but was not able to catch all the fish for the salt dip. I read that increasing the heat slowly to 87 degrees and leaving it there for 2 weeks will kill all the ick. I am on day 2 of this treatment now and so far my fish look much better. What say you to all of this?

 

Yup both are good treatments... depending on your fish I don’t think I’d go to 87 lol you may fry them (depends on what you are keeping) but up it just a little at a time don’t just crank it up...

 

So far at 87 everybody looks great but do you think two weeks is too long? The rummys should be fine because people keep them with discus at 85+ but Bolivians are ideally kept at 76..so we’ll see

 

Oh yes 2 weeks is too long IMO.... especially with Bolivians!
86 is the temp where it is perfect but usually can be done within 10 days I just hope your Bolivians can tolerate that... keep a very close eye on them and when you start the bring the temp back down do it slowly again.. don’t just crank it down... I’d be doing some gravel vacuuming every couple days (like spot cleaning) to try and suck up any spores that you might be able to remove... but do this only if you already have a very strong well established colony of BB (which I’m assuming you do)
Hopefully you can get it cleared up soon! Just remember how the ich cycle works... if you don’t see spots on your fish it could be still in the substrate and such... so when you decide to stop treating with heat then just keep a close eye that no spores reattach to the fish!
I’ll be honest I am a little concerned about your Bolivians

Also as much as everyone HATES adding meds to the tank in the future if all your fish are effected and badly affected... is honestly just go for the rid ex or whatever it’s called... it can be harsh but you have some fish that are low end temps so this could be more dangerous for them... it’s like nearly 10 degrees above their recommended temperature

Oh and I forgot if you have anything to create extra aeration I would add it in.... I’m sure you know but at those high temps the dissolved o2 is less so it may help