[dan15daman]

hi everybody,

Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
nitrate- 10
30gallons
I have ick in my planted tropical tank. It does not have any cichlids but mostly just your normal tropical fish, a few cherry barbs, neon tetras, rummy nose tetras, zebra danios, a rainbow shark, and a gourami. I've had this before and treated with malachite green and formalin and all of my plants were killed. When I first spotted it a few days ago my first reaction was to raise the temp to 84 degrees, but it quickly spread and a few fish, mostly just the small ones, have died, and it doesnt seem to be going away. I decided to try out aquari-sol (copper based), which did not work too well when I used it on the first ick outbreak i ever had. I've been treating for a few days and there hasn't been too much improvement, although only two of my fish died yesterday compared to 5 the day before and none were dead this morning. thanks for any help,
Dan

 

[lloyd]

IME, a rise in temperature to mid 80's will only accelerate them. unless you raise your temp into the mid 90's, you will still need to salt the tank to be effective. and for every heavily infected fish you remove, you reduce their repopulation attempts by 1000 fold. and for every heavy vacuum of substrate, you do the same again.
it takes a few days to see progress no matter what method you attempt. and some plants, fish, and inverts will simply not make the trip either way. HTH, and good luck.

 

[Robin]

Hi,

first of all check out the ick article linked below.

2-3 tablespoons of salt per five gallons of water along with temps around 82 will speed up the life cycle and kill the ick, (heat speeds, salt kills), but you need to give it at least ten days. And as lloyd points out siphoning the gravel, quick removal of dead fish and daily partial water changes will reduce the overall numbers of the parasite in your tank.

Please post back with any additional questions.

Robin