second filter and victorian green

Question
QUESTION: hello I have two questions. One, I have a marineland 200 power filter for my 46 gallon tank I did a large 50% water change but I still see small particles floating in the tank. And I have seen some aquariums with two filters. would a smaller filter help like a filter for a 20 to 30 gallon one.
Are all ich products that contain a green ingredient toxic to catfish. Also I heard that if you half dose a product like jungle ich cure it is safe for catfish but at half dose does it have the same results as full dose thanks.

ANSWER: Hi Ben,

Your powerfilter is way too little to filter a 46 gallon tank.  You should be running the Marineland 350x2.  Yes, please add at least one more.  I use the Marineland 200b on my 7 gallon nano tank.  It is efficient for that, but it's not efficient enough for such a large tank as yours.  Another instance of manufacturer over-rating.  I'd rate that to about 15/20 gallons at most.

Ich products do contain Malachite Green, and it is possible to harm catfish, depending on what kind it is.

If you are concerned about your catfish, I suggest using Marine Salt in you water instead.  2 teaspons to 3 teaspoons, dissolved thoroughly, per gallon will combat ich and kill them usually within a 24 hour period of time.

I recommend leaving it in 3 days, regardless, because there is one part of the Ich lifecycle that cannot be combatted by salt, but they are very fast growers.  Increase heating to 80 degrees, and anything that is sub-dermal (which can't be salt effected) will have hatched and gone to the freeswimming stage (which can be salt effected), within 24/48 hours.

I don't recommend dosing your tank with any "product" when you can cure it using salt.  :)  Ich is really tough and awful to deal with, but salt is an effective 100% cure.

If you are going to use the Jungle product, it is using the same ingredient as the other.  http://hubpages.com/hub/Jungle-Ick-Clear-A-Product-Review is a clear statement to the inefficiency of the Jungle Ick treatment (mispelled as well to read "ick" when the true spelling is "Ich").  No, I don't advise this product, which has an ingredient called "victoria green" which is the same, exact thing as Malachite Green, which is the primary ingredient in all ich treatments, except the stuff like Pimafix and Melafix - neither of which do anything at all.

The best treatment, imo, is using the Ich treatment that contains malachite green.  If you are using marine salt, stick to 2 to 3 teaspoons per gallon, you will not be overdoing it, and it is sufficient to kill the ich.

If you have a catfish, and it's a corydora cat, you are fine using malachite green. If you have a smooth-sided cat, it's not.  You can treat using salt at a half dose teaspoons for 24 hours on 80 degrees, and I recommend leaving the aquarium inhabitantless for at least 2 weeks while the rest of the Ich starve to death from not having someone to feast on, because if you treat the fish, then return it, the ich still live in the tank, and again will indeed eat whatever host they can find.

I'd also make sure the empty tank is 80 degrees.  The warmer the water, the quicker the ich reach larval stage, and starve to death.  The quicker the cycle, the faster the ich die.:)

I look forward to anymore questions you might have and hope this has been helpful and informative.

If there's anything else I can do, please feel free to ask.  I'm sorry you're having ich issues.

Happy fish-keeping.

Renee

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the advise before. Before I salt my tank I want to make sure its ich. none of my fish have white spots, only my two largest fish the silver dollar and my bullhead catfish scratch there gills on gravel. also because one of my severum has mild fungus could fungus cause a fish to scratch its gills . also could it be a parasite because I don't see an sings of fungus or ich.Im not sure what it is thanks.

Answer
Hi Ben,

If scracthing gills against something, there are 2 usual causes.

Ich- Ich invades the GILLS first.

Flukes - Flukes invade gills and are called Gill Flukes.

Both are parasites.  

I recommend the salt as the safest treatment you can give these fish, but if you wish to go with the other products work just as well, but might I make a suggestion as to a brand name?

If you go to Wal Mart, they carry Ick Away (again mispelled, lol) and it works, but it seems to be very gentle.  Perhaps their solution is less quality, hence, not causing any damage to weaker species of fish.

It will kill shrimp and snails.  It's very effective on inverts and parasites.

It is more reassuring it's Ich by the description of scratching gills.  There is a very good possibility that is what it is.  

Here's a link to help you out with reading up on signs of Ich.

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/ich.htm

And another about the gills http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/29/1/Freshwater-Ich-Yuck-/Page1.

Notice it mentions how they can infest ONLY the gills.  In your case, I have sufficient information to be particularly certain it's Ich above flukes.  I would proceed with that treatment, based on the info you gave me so far.

I hope this helps. :)  Write back if necessary.  

Renee