I just had a quick question that i thought maybe someone on here could answer for me, since nobody at any of the petshops know a thing about fish. I have a ten gallon tank, that has 3 tetras, and 4 killifish, and they recently started to look like they were coming down with ich. Their fins are also a bit torn and tattered, but im pretty sure its because of the stress of the ich. Ive started using salt. I added 1 tbs. per 5 gallons. Should this work? Or should I add more? I also did a 50% water change before I added the salt today. Any advice would be very much appreciated!

Sorry I can't help you with tropical fish, don't have a clue if they can handle salt or not. I will move the thread to the tropical section that way it can be seen better.

Here is some information on treating ich in tropicals. I copied this into my "medications" file since I thought it was well written.

Take note of the instructions for treating tetras. I hope this helps and please feel free to ask questions.



***** HOW TO TREAT ICH (THE IMPORTANT STUFF) *****

1. Check your water quality!!!!!! 9 times out of 10, the fish can
do fine with a few Ichthyophthirius in the water, but when they are
stressed by anything, like questionable water quality, it makes it much
easier for the little buggers to set up shop in your fish's skin.

2. Do a 50% water change, just to be safe.

3. Add 3 tsp of aquarium salt per gallon to your tank. This
reduces the osmotic stress on the fish caused by the invading organisms,
and may adversely affect the organism as well.

4. Pick up an ich medication of your choice at the local fish
mart. Most of the ones that are sold are more or less effective. My personal
favorite is a malachite green/formaldehyde combination sold under the brand
name "Quick Cure". ("RidIch" has the same ingredients.) Note: Most people
recommend halving the dose of Malachite-containing medications if you are
treating small catfish, any scaleless catfish, or tetras.

***** 5. DISREGARD THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE BOTTLE!!!!! Use the DOSE
written on the bottle, but treat like this: Treat every 3 to 4 days for 4
treatments, changing 50% of the water before every treatment. Do NOT
treat once or twice, like the directions will tell you! You need to treat
over 12 to 16 days in order to get all the little guys when they are
vulnerable.