Fish with ick

Question
QUESTION: Hi,I have a 29 gal.tank with 3 black skirts and 5 danios.I run a fluval 205 and have a 5 inch. bubble stone.Water temp is 98.3.I have had my tank since mothers day.Had water checked a week ago and all levels in normal range. Approx. 2 weeks ago I noticed some white spots maybe about a total of 6 spots on my 3 blackskirts tails on the edges. Bought super ick cure (API brand)contains 3.6 Malachite green,60 mg.nitrofurazone. Put in the dose for 29 gal. was supposed to does again in 48 hr. but didn't. Removed the carbon first.The dark green blue colored water kind of freaked me out a bit. After dosing 1 time 3 days later did a 25% water change. Spots were gone but the few are back again. Not sure how safe this product is? Don't want to stress fish out anymore. I noticed the spots last night when I did a 25% water change.My temp went down to around 97 when I changed my water is this ok for temp to drop during water change. I looked at different ick treatments on line and am not sure what is the safest.Thanks for any advice. Do all of these products turn water green? Also had been adding salt to my tank until I found out don't do it any more.was adding about 1/8 teas. per gal.jug. Thanks for your help.Last water change last night- no salt. Greatly appreciate it

ANSWER: Hi Kim,

Malachite green is heavy duty stuff, it's toxic and a known carcinogen. It may stain the silicone seams of your aquarium, also. For these reasons, I wouldn't use it...however, it is an "old school" ich cure, and it ought to be effective. The problem however, is that your temperature is WAY too high (!!) and since medication absorbs oxygen from the water (and warm water holds less oxygen, although your water is downright HOT) your fish are probably suffocating.

You can use salt and heat to combat ich instead of medication:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php

However, I suspect the reason your fish got ich in the first place is from the temperature being so high, this stresses them out. Are you intentionally heating up the water that high? Because if you are, gradually reduce the temperature - normal tropical fish temperature is 78 degrees. Discus, which need very warm water, are usually kept between 82-86, and few fish tolerate this much heat along with them. So you see, you need to cool that tank down right away!

If the ambient temperature is that hot, then there are ways of cooling down the tank somewhat.

Read this article to get some ideas:
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/item.php?news=1012

Not all medication stains the water, but several kinds do. Copper Safe from Mardel labs is one that I know doesn't stain. Whenever you use medication, add extra aeration - an airstone or bubble wand is fine but even better is a powerhead placed at the water's surface.

The amount of salt you were adding will do no harm, but it won't help either. Most boxes of "aquarium salt" (which is just non-iodized salt, same as kosher salt or pickling salt or sea salt from the grocery store) will say to add 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons. Usually I would say not to add salt, but since you are experiencing ich, it may not be a bad idea. I would stop using it when everything returns to normal.

Do make sure that ammonia and nitrites are 0 ppm, as hot as your aquarium has been, the beneficial bacteria in your filter are probably not faring as well as they could be. Test the water, keep doing water changes (especially if any level of ammonia or nitrites register) and give your gravel a deep vacuuming, when the cysts fall off your fish, they reproduce in the gravel...so best to get them out of there!

Best of luck, feel free to write back if you need further advice.

I hope that helps, take care.
Nicole

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

QUESTION: Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I got my numbers reversed on the temp. It's 79 deg. not 97.
Based on this, should I continue to use salt and if so, how much per gallon? I stopped it on my last water change because I was told I should quit using it.
How many days do I need to treat for ick, and how many days before I do a water change sfter each treatment?
What should my temp. be during treatment? Also, I have a bubble stone I'm currently running and my filter output is up near the surface to create water movement.
After treatment do I start changing the salt out again after the ick is gone?

Answer
Hi again,

All right, much better! I thought you might have made a typo, but since you said 98.3 and then 97, I figured that you either actually had the heater turned up that high, or your house really was that hot.

I would start by slowing raising the temperature to 85 degrees...about 2 degrees an hour. Lower the water level slightly so the filter makes more splash, and leave the tank cracked open - in the past, I have used suction cups to prop open the cover, but anything will work.

You need to keep the temperature 85 degrees at least a week, but I have left it at that temperature for two weeks without any apparent stress to the fish. It helps to leave the lights off also...of course, my aquariums get plenty of ambient light, so if yours is in a dark room just cut back the lights to a few hours daily instead of most of the day. Maybe just an hour before and after when you feed the fish.

Use 1 tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons for the first day. A couple of days later, add another tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons. (Assume your tank holds 25 gallons, allowing for displacement due to the decor.)

If you choose to use medication instead, follow the directions that the manufacturer recommends. If you have sensitive fish (like clown loaches) then you can do half doses for twice as long, but usually it is best just to dose the way they say to. Most ich medications are not invertebrate safe - I don't know of any that is - so any snails or shrimp must be removed or they will die and pollute the water.

Do always remove the carbon from your filter when medicating.

If you are medicating, the instructions will usually tell you when you can do a water change again. If you are using the salt and heat method, you can do a water change whenever you want - I would continue doing weekly water changes, if that is what you normally do. (Weekly water changes are best to keep your aquarium stable.)

The only thing is, when you do a water change, you will need to figure out how much salt to add back and try to get the temperature of the new water to match up. This shouldn't be too awfully hard!

I highly recommend the heat and salt method of getting rid of ich, myself. The only drawback is that you will need to do a 50% water change with fresh water at the end of treatment (like I say, I recommend two weeks, but one week should technically be long enough) in order to dilute the salt. The rest is not anything to worry about, it will eventually be diluted with your water changes. Running fresh carbon after the end of a treatment cycle is always a fine idea.

I hope that helps, take care!
Nicole