Treating ich without heat?

HI all,

I'm pretty new to keeping fish so sorry if this has been asked before or is an easy one.

I currently have an 80 litre tank stocking 4 cardinal tetras and 1 clown pleco. Yesterday I noticed the tetras have small white spots on them which I can only assume is ich. I have read that increasing the heat, salt, and medication can all treat ich but I'm not sure which route to go for. I have a heater that doesn't have any settings to adjust the temperature - it's set at 25c and I can't change that. I do have some aquarium salt, but I'm not sure how often to add it to the tank.

So far I've done a 50% water change and have added 1 tbsp of aquarium salt, would continuing on this way treat ich? And if so, how long would it take for the fish to be fully clear of it?

Many thanks in advance.

 

Water changes and salt won't solve your problem.

Buy an adjustable heater, set the temp to 88. Leave it there for 2 weeks.

Every day vacuum the tank WELL and change at least 50% of the water.

Do that for 2 weeks and your ich should be gone.

Now, the real question is WHY did they get ich? What size tank? Whats the temp? What are the parameters? Ich is always present, it manifests under stressful conditions when the fishes immune system is struggling.

 

Salt won't do it. If you can't treat with heat you'll need to treat with medication. As soon as possible. The disease will progress very quickly without it.

 

Thanks for the replies.

I’ll head over to the pet shop tomorrow morning and pick up a different heater and some treatment then.

 

Welcome to FishLore!

Just a word of caution, it is recommended not to use elevated temps and meds together. Warmer water holds less oxygen and it is said that many of the ich meds deplete oxygen from the water.

I've only had ich one time and I successfully treated it with Tetra LifeGuard.

 

Right. And on top of that, warmer water holds less oxygen so adding some extra air stones while treating with heat is always a good idea too.

 

HI all,

I'm pretty new to keeping fish so sorry if this has been asked before or is an easy one.

I currently have an 80 litre tank stocking 4 cardinal tetras and 1 clown pleco. Yesterday I noticed the tetras have small white spots on them which I can only assume is ich. I have read that increasing the heat, salt, and medication can all treat ich but I'm not sure which route to go for. I have a heater that doesn't have any settings to adjust the temperature - it's set at 25c and I can't change that. I do have some aquarium salt, but I'm not sure how often to add it to the tank.

So far I've done a 50% water change and have added 1 tbsp of aquarium salt, would continuing on this way treat ich? And if so, how long would it take for the fish to be fully clear of it?

Many thanks in advance.

Salt does not kill ich. It may help fish heal and it may help fish with fluid retention but it does nothing toward getting rid of the ich. So choices are heat OR meds but not both. Be sure to remove any carbon from your filter if going with meds, and do a big water change and vacuum substrate thoroughly before treating with either method.