I NUKED ICH

zackcrack00

zackcrack00

Members
So my 75g started showing signs of ich three days ago... Thanks, fish gods.

Anyway, I was carefully measuring teaspoons of salt for my tank when I had a thought, "Why am I doing this??? The more the better!!!!!"

I dumped half a can of Morton brand salt into a lee's dip 'n pour container which filled it half-full, and it was probably at least 15-20 tablespoons... I added 3/4 to my 75 and for precautionary measures, 1/4 to all of my other tanks...

As of tonight, the ich looks gone and I dosed again but half of what I did (LOL) and all fish are very healthy except for one little guppy who is still recovering.

Long story short; Ich got knocked out. HARD.

I know my dosage was a little much, but I figured my hardy fish could handle it. And they did. So WOO HOO!


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jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
I could be wrong, but I don't think that salt by itself will kill ich. Usually, salt in combination with heat is used.
 
JasonC

JasonC

Members
jonclark96 said:
I could be wrong, but I don't think that salt by itself will kill ich. Usually, salt in combination with heat is used.
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yeah.. but freshwater ich and marine ich are different species... one cant survive the others environment... basically what he probably did was turn his water to brackish, or even borderline marine. Very dangerous for the fish though... glad it seems to have worked out.
 
dogofwar

dogofwar

CCA Members
Ich's in different phases: on the body of the fish, falls to the bottom and also free swimming.

I've heard of salt as a preventative (including really large amounts of it) but not as a "cure".

Heat expedites the parasites to move through its life cycle faster (i.e. fall off the fish and become vulnerable). It can also kill the parasites, if warm enough.

I'd raise them temps and do a water change (clean the bottom of the tank where the trophants have settled)...and make sure you don't mix water from this tank with others for a couple of weeks at least...

Matt

Matt
 
neut

neut

Members
JasonC said:
yeah.. but freshwater ich and marine ich are different species... one cant survive the others environment... basically what he probably did was turn his water to brackish, or even borderline marine. Very dangerous for the fish though... glad it seems to have worked out.
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+1 Would be harder on some fish than others, trick would be salt concentration the fish can tolerate but hard on the ich-- same as true for a number of meds out there-- or for high temps for that matter.
 
blkmjk

blkmjk

Members
I recently battled a ich infestation that would scare a terminex worker. Temps and salt did the trick lost a few fish but the expensive ie priceless ones IMO all survived.

Drew
 
Andrewtfw

Andrewtfw

Global Moderators
I also battled ich recently. Had no losses with the following:
Heat to 88 degrees.
Days 1-5: 1tbs salt per five gallons.
Day 6: wc 80%, redose salt
Days 7-10: redose salt daily
Day 10: wc 50% don't add salt
Day 15: wc as normal- ich is gone.
Day 20: wc as normal, reduce temp to normal setting.
 
daninmd

daninmd

Members
would be very careful about adding too much salt. fish might be ok right now but if the water is too salty the fish will die. they are ok for a short time, but their systems cannot handle that much salt for extended amount of time. I would empty out asap and treat per instructions. you also need to raise the heat. you might now be able to see any ich on the fish, but that doesn't mean they are gone. they most likely are in a different phase and are not dead.

Do a big water change to get the salinity down and raise that heat.
 
YSS

YSS

Members
You can't get rid of ich in three days. No matter what. Also, I seriously doubt that there was enough salt to kill ich.
 
daninmd

daninmd

Members
YSS said:
You can't get rid of ich in three days. No matter what. Also, I seriously doubt that there was enough salt to kill ich.
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well the question about salinity is unknown as we don't know what it is...but I totally agree with you that ich isn't killed that fast. my guess is they are not in the phase where they are attaching to the fish, they are in the next phase and not visible.
 
neut

neut

Members
YSS said:
You can't get rid of ich in three days. No matter what. Also, I seriously doubt that there was enough salt to kill ich.
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Not 100% true-- true in one sense, but not in another. There are two free swimming stages to ich: 1) when they drop off the fish (for a few hours until they settle and encapsulate) and 2) when they leave the substrate in search of a host. In either phase the parasites could be technically be killed quickly in the right conditions (or wrong conditions for the parasite).

If the ich disappeared after three days they would have spent a few hours free swimming and vulnerable and it would be possible to kill them all with a salt solution. If so, bam, they're done. The ich would have lived more than three days (they've already been around for a while by the time you can see them) but you've actually killed them in a short time. So you could have have killed them three days after you first noticed the ich, but I'd want some insurance by continuing treatment in some form.

The unknown is whether any unseen parasites are still on the fish at that point (not grown large enough to be visible) or whether any survived to land on the bottom of the tank to continue their life cycle. Any survivors, and you still have ich in the tank and you will see them again if you don't continue treatment long enough, which is why it's so often recommended to continue treatment long enough to cover a minimum life cycle.

The basic caution is ich isn't necessarily cured when you can't see it anymore. In the right conditions it could be killed off within hours of shedding off the fish, but there are enough variables, temperature, salt concentration, strain of ich, etc, not to be dogmatic about it, either way.
 
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YSS

YSS

Members
neut said:
Not 100% true-- true in one sense, but not in another. There are two free swimming stages to ich: 1) when they drop off the fish (for a few hours until they settle and encapsulate) and 2) when they leave the substrate in search of a host. In either phase the parasites could be technically be killed quickly in the right conditions (or wrong conditions for the parasite).

If the ich disappeared after three days they would have spent a few hours free swimming and vulnerable and it would be possible to kill them all with a salt solution. If so, bam, they're done. The ich would have lived more than three days (they've already been around for a while by the time you can see them) but you've actually killed them in a short time. So you could have have killed them three days after you first noticed the ich, but I'd want some insurance by continuing treatment in some form.

The unknown is whether any unseen parasites are still on the fish at that point (not grown large enough to be visible) or whether any survived to land on the bottom of the tank to continue their life cycle. Any survivors, and you still have ich in the tank and you will see them again if you don't continue treatment long enough, which is why it's so often recommended to continue treatment long enough to cover a minimum life cycle.

The basic caution is ich isn't necessarily cured when you can't see it anymore. In the right conditions it could be killed off within hours of shedding off the fish, but there are enough variables, temperature, salt concentration, strain of ich, etc, not to be dogmatic about it, either way.
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Ich lifecycle is anywhere from 7 days to several weeks. You may be able to kill a single ich protozoan in three days, but you can't completely get rid of ich in an aquarium in less than two lifecycles. In my experience, the best way to treat ich is to raise your tank temp to 86 plus and leave it there for two weeks. No salt no meds are required.
 
daninmd

daninmd

Members
neut said:
Not 100% true-- true in one sense, but not in another. There are two free swimming stages to ich: 1) when they drop off the fish (for a few hours until they settle and encapsulate) and 2) when they leave the substrate in search of a host. In either phase the parasites could be technically be killed quickly in the right conditions (or wrong conditions for the parasite).

If the ich disappeared after three days they would have spent a few hours free swimming and vulnerable and it would be possible to kill them all with a salt solution. If so, bam, they're done. The ich would have lived more than three days (they've already been around for a while by the time you can see them) but you've actually killed them in a short time. So you could have have killed them three days after you first noticed the ich, but I'd want some insurance by continuing treatment in some form.

The unknown is whether any unseen parasites are still on the fish at that point (not grown large enough to be visible) or whether any survived to land on the bottom of the tank to continue their life cycle. Any survivors, and you still have ich in the tank and you will see them again if you don't continue treatment long enough, which is why it's so often recommended to continue treatment long enough to cover a minimum life cycle.

The basic caution is ich isn't necessarily cured when you can't see it anymore. In the right conditions it could be killed off within hours of shedding off the fish, but there are enough variables, temperature, salt concentration, strain of ich, etc, not to be dogmatic about it, either way.
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well that is assuming that all the ich are coordinating their cycles and everything happens at the same time, which is highly unlikely. most likely in an infected tank, you have ich present at all stages at the same time which is why treatment is prescribed for a long duration, long enough that you make sure you have killed them all when they are free swimming and vulnerable to treatment.
 
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