I heard I could treat Ich with salt. I have a 25 gallon tank, how much do I use?!

Please help me!



THANK YOU!

Dr Erik Johnson of koivet.com has provided the following salt treatment schedule to remove Ich ...

Remove valued live plants.
2. Raise temperature to 80 degrees F (26 degrees C max), tops.
3. Increase aeration! ... always important in any stress situation
4. Add one teaspoon of salt per US gallon.
5. Twelve hours later, add another one teaspoon of salt per US gallon.
6. Twelve hours later, add another one teaspoon of salt per US gallon.
7. Within 48-60 hours of the second salt dose at 80 degrees, the Ich will be gone.
8. Leave salt in the water for another 3-5 days unless you're worried about your live plants.
9. Remove salt via partial water changes. (30-40% at a time if desired).


credit to: http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/ichparasite.htm
Koviet

Is this still the recommend method to treat ich?

Isn't 80 degrees too high for goldfish to live in? I mean, I guess not, but how does that aid in treatment?

Ich is only vulnerable during certain periods of its life cycle, so increasing temperature is important because it speeds up ich’s life cycle and reduces the amount of time it takes to medicate the fish.

That's exactly right. Without heat, ich can take weeks to cure but with heat it only takes a few days. Plus, warmer water also boosts the fish's immune system, helping it fight off the disease.



The instructions Koko pasted are perfect, but just to additionally help you out, you need to add 25 levelled teaspoons of salt every 12 hours for a total of three treatments, except for the last addition when you shuld only make it 20 tsps (your tank won't hold exactly 25 gallons - it will be slightly less than this). Dissolve the salt completely first in some old tank water before pouring it in, well away from the fish and filter. Use only non-iodized salt which contains NO anti-caking agents. Remember you need to keep up the salt level during water chnages, so if you remove say 10 gallons of water you'll need to add 30 teaspoons of salt (although I'd play safe and add only 26-27) to the water going back in.

Keep the salt level up for at least 5 days after the last sign of ich has disappeared from the fish; ich can lurk in the gravel for a long time and easily come back if you stop medicating too soon.

Hope this helps.

I was just told in another thread that it should be a total of 2 1/2 tspn per gallon of water.

Can anyone confirm if it is suppose to be 2 1/2 or 3 tspn?


Also, if increasing the temp. boosts a fish's immune system, then why don't we keep the goldies in warmer water year round?

I don't know about the salt question, but usually temps are not kept too high because there is less dissolved oxygen in the water in high temps, and also goldfish will require more oxygen in warmer temps because their metabolism speeds up, so I guess its just easier to keep temps low because you won't have deal with aeration as much.