2 months ago I got Ick in my 10 gallon tank and I treated the one fish that was in there with medication. I just recently bought a 55 gallon tank and added the redtail from my old tank. I decided to buy more fish. I bought 2 balas and three swordtails. I quarantined them for about 2 days as the fish store said that they DO NOT have Ick. After about a week or so I noticed that the balas were getting Ick. I did not want to medicate my big tank so I tried the salt approach. It seemed to work as the white spots were no longer there. After about 2 days of there being no Ick the balas seemed to be looking rather weak. They would swim and then stop and look like they were dieing as they would start to float upside down. I immediately removed them from the tank and quarantined them. It took me 3 hours to catch the little buggers!!! I decided that I would medicate them as I did not want to lose them! By the next day I noticed that my female swordtail was getting ICk as well so I removed her from the big tank. This leads me to my question....... I have 5 fish in my quarantine tank (10 gallon) ... I have been medicating them for 6 days now. I am worried that there are too many fish for the tank for so long without a water change. I have been testing the water and everything is 0, the nitrates are running around 10. Can I cut the medicating short and just add them to the big tank? The Swordtail shows no sign of Ick. Thank you so much for your time! Please forgive the long explanation,
Since just about everybody has it, how about putting them back in the 55 and raising the temp. to 82 degrees? Per Dino, this is what he does. Some folks also use salt along with the higher temp.
Actually I was thinking of doing just that. Thank you for your post! Unfortunately I killed one of my balas! I noticed today that her fins were looking incredibly ragged so I removed the beta from the tank thinking that he may be the culprit. In my readings, I thought that maybe she may have fin rot.... I was not sure at all but everywhere that I read it said that a salt bath is the best thing for them...... Well I did that for about 30 seconds and she floated to the bottom and was dead within the hour! I am so upset about this!! I had been adding salt to my 55 gallon of course in lower quantities and they seemed to handle it ok... Not too sure what I did wrong but I know that I will NEVER do a salt bath again I have another bala whose fins seem to be in the beginning stages of what the one that died had, his fins are a bit seperated if that makes sense..... I am not too sure if it is fin rot or from my beta...... Does anyone have any suggestions for this 'fish out of water' as I seem to be failing at everything that I do!!!
Your bala sounds like it was pretty weak and probably would not have made it anyway. Don't kick yourself too hard, we've all been there. Once you get everythiing back in balance, you will see how worth it it all is.
Thank you so much for the encouragment but when am I going to get things in balance! I am second guessing myself now so much that I think that I will let my kids take over!! ??? my baby is a year old... he could probably do a better job! If it was fin rot, and I put the fish back into the 55, will they all get it?
I really doubt that your Betta would be bothering the fins. If your fish was sick it would be fair game for a case of fin rot. It seems to hit sick fish when they are down. Sorry about your bala. :'( Welcome to the group. Rose
If the rot has not gotten to the body of the fish will they die? It seems that another of my balas is not feeling too well..... II just don't know what to do to help them!
Try adding salt to the tank (1 tbsp. per 10 gallons) and see if this helps with the tail rot. Sometimes the salt will help their fins grow back quicker. It will also help keep the ick at bay if it still lingers in your tank. Don't get discouraged. Sometimes you go through before it gets better.
Thank you both so much for your replies, I was/am getting so discouraged. My other balas seem to be doing fine they are now in the big tank, I have had salt in there from when I first thought that they were getting Ick. How often do I add the salt though? I was adding some everytime that I do a water change, I was adding enough to compensate for the water that was removed. Does this sound correct?
Yes it does. If you put in 1 tablespoon for 10 gallons and you remove half your water and replace it with new, you should add 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (1/2 Tablespoon). That will keep the specific gravity of the water the same as what you started out with. The healing solution will have the same strength. Rose
This is a question for anyone to answer. Will salt really work with most fish or is that taking a big chance? What is the difference between table salt and fish salt????
From what I understand table salt has iodine in which is not good for the fish. I am certainly no expert but this is what others have said.
Thanks Jan... It's also a vague subject of how much to put in and what kind of fish like/dislike salt. I had 3 black finned sharks I got and they turned the water cloudy and all died.
Well I was using Aquarium salt and for this you are to put one level tablespoon for every five gallons of water. Recently I have spoken to my petshop expert and he said to absolutely NOT use salt so there is the dilemma for me. YOu should NEVER use salt on scaleless fish either such as Cories. If you do a search on using salt on internet you get plenty of information... here is one site that I have gone to Also check out the other thread about salt https://www.fishlore.com/Forum/index.php?topic=1277.0 Sharks are great I have 3 balas and a red tail.... Red tails are VERY hardy.... my has gone through Ick twice and a huge tank change and I could go on...... Do you have the kits to check your water quality as this is very important as well as water changes. I am sure that you have read all of that but I did not quite understand the importance of it all until I came here! THANKS FISHLORE!!!
