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hi i hate to flood your site with lots of questions but i now have a sick clown pleco on my hands.i have a 10gallon tank i thought had ich and i treated for ich useing "kordon rid-ich" suppose to be safe for scaleless fish.i had 2 mollies, 2 pepper corys, and an upsidedown cat in the tank all looking like they had ich. after treating all seemed well. after a few days i put in the clown plec now hes very spotted.im guessing he picked up the same thing they did but am looking for other opinions. i didnt quarentine him so he might have brought it along, however when i got him i got 3 clowns at the time and put one in each of the 3 tanks i have with him being the only spotted one. i am wondering if the spots are ich though or some sort of fungus.

all thoughts welcomed,thanks
todd

sorry forgot pics

Looks like ich to me, if you feel its best not to medicate again, this is what i do

1) Raise the temp gently in to 30oC or a bit over
Most ich will not survive higher temperatures but not all!

2) Add salt a little bit at a time (premixed in aquarium water). If someone could give an accurate measurement todd could use that would be great

3) Vacuum the substrate whenever you get a chance or remove the substrate completely and wash thoroughly in hot salted water before replacing back in aquarium when ich is gone.

These are steps that have worked for me before!

Hope this helps

hello, thanks for the reply. i have heard of giveing a freshwater fish a saltwater bath, but i cant find any info on how much salt to use or for how long or if it might be safe for plecos. sounds like an extreme idea and i dont want to kill the fish but i have never had a fish with that much ich before.
thanks,todd

I've never given plecos a saltwater bath but the advice above is spot on!

1 Tablespoon of Salt per 5 gallons

Also up the aeration since you're upping the temperature; airstone helps. And keep the tank dark, which will reduce stress.

hi thanks for the advice. will washing the substrate kill the bacteria bed as well?