Ich in tank

rudie · Post by **rudie** » 18 Jul 2007, 12:23

Hi there guys.

I have noticed my one Hoplo to start showing signs of Ich. They recommend here to use aquarium salt at 1 x table spoon per 30-40L of water, also to up the temp to 28-29 Degrees C.

My question.
Does this not effect my catfishes, the bacteria, the plants.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 18 Jul 2007, 17:28

Yes, both salt and temperature changes will affect your tank in all sorts of ways, including plants and bacteria. Unfortunately, it's a question of "the lesser of the evils" here.

Raising the temperature, combined with, if possible, better aeration of the water will be a good and reasonably harmless start. Frequent water changes with vigorous gravel-vacing will help too.

I would be inclined to avoid the salt and use a treatment from your local fish-shop instead - it's more likely to be effective. Beware however that some of those medications are "harmful to catfish" (sometimes stated as "scaleless fish"), so read the label carefully.

--
Mats

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 18 Jul 2007, 17:36

I've beaten ich with just [very] high temps.

See my post here.

You don't say what other fish you have in the tank. Treatment would depend on this.

snowball · Post by **snowball** » 19 Jul 2007, 02:05

If it's a mild infection (just a few spots) then I would be inclined to treat it with higher temperatures (28 29C), but if it gets worse then you may need to take further action.

I know a lot of people recommend adding salt to the tank but I really don't think it is of much benefit unless used as a temporary bath at relatively strong doses. I use about two or three teaspoons in a 10l hospital tank for two to three days. However I have never tried this for white spot, only for fungal & bacterial infections.

Salt, as well as medicines containing malachite green, can have a bad effect on some plants such as Anubias and, as MatsP points out, catfish and scaleless fish too.