I have a 55 gallon. Just noticed several white spots on my oscars, mostly on the body and front fins. I can't remember how to add the salt to the water, its been so long since I have had to do this. My other fish have been very healhty for so long. Bless their little hearts!
I just need a refreshment on how much salt to add.
And should I raise the temp of the water? Right now its at about 79-80.
There are not A LOT of spots but enough that I noticed. I have had them less than a week, do you think they came home with this from the LFS?
Full Version: Baby Oscars With Ich
Since no one has answered you yet I will try but this is only how to add salt and treat ich for goldfish, which might be TOTALLY different for Oscars-especially if they are babies. I don't even know if Oscars can tolerate salt at all...I know nothing about tropical fish. Most of this is something I already typed up for someone else, you may already know most of it...
To add salt, just scoop some tank water out with a bowl, add the salt to the bowl and stir it until all of it is dissolved-if you have a lot of salt to dissolve you will need quite a bit of water. You can also use dechlorinated tap water, just make sure the temp is close to the tank. Once all the salt is dissolved pour it into the tank away from the fish if possible, but not into the filter.
For kinds of salt, you have to use one that is pure. So check the ingredients list and make sure the only ingredient is SALT. Aquarium salt is always safe, rock salt usually, pickling and solar salts too. Table salt usually has anti-caking agents and iodine that can kill your fish.
For how much to add, for goldfish it is 3 teaspoons per gallon. But you can't add it all at once. So first you add one teaspoon per gallon. Then wait twleve hours and add another teaspoon per gallon. Another 12 hours later ou will add another teaspoon per gallonm, and that will bring your level to .3%. Salt can only be removed with water changes. Whenever you do a water change you will need to replace whatever salt you take out-I find it easiest to add salt to the bucket as I add each bucket in, that way I don;t have to do any math.
***So for a 55 gallon tank you;d add 55 teaspoons, then a nother 55 12 hours later, then the final 55 12 hours later. With a big tank, sometimes people use the 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons rule since it is faster to measure. The measurements do not equal exactly the same but should work. So you could do 11 tablespoons instead of 55 teaspoons. I believe with the tablespoons they can be rounded, but with the teaspoons you want them to be level at the top.***
For ich you want to make sure and treat like 10 days after you see the last ich spots to make sure any of the ich in the water or gravel is killed too. Raising the temp can help speed up the ich's lifecycle too (***not sure if this is safe for oscars***), but you must do it slowly so not to shock the fish. Doing lots of gravel vaccuuming is imprtant too to get rid of all the cysts in the gravel.
Hope that helps and good luck!
To add salt, just scoop some tank water out with a bowl, add the salt to the bowl and stir it until all of it is dissolved-if you have a lot of salt to dissolve you will need quite a bit of water. You can also use dechlorinated tap water, just make sure the temp is close to the tank. Once all the salt is dissolved pour it into the tank away from the fish if possible, but not into the filter.
For kinds of salt, you have to use one that is pure. So check the ingredients list and make sure the only ingredient is SALT. Aquarium salt is always safe, rock salt usually, pickling and solar salts too. Table salt usually has anti-caking agents and iodine that can kill your fish.
For how much to add, for goldfish it is 3 teaspoons per gallon. But you can't add it all at once. So first you add one teaspoon per gallon. Then wait twleve hours and add another teaspoon per gallon. Another 12 hours later ou will add another teaspoon per gallonm, and that will bring your level to .3%. Salt can only be removed with water changes. Whenever you do a water change you will need to replace whatever salt you take out-I find it easiest to add salt to the bucket as I add each bucket in, that way I don;t have to do any math.
***So for a 55 gallon tank you;d add 55 teaspoons, then a nother 55 12 hours later, then the final 55 12 hours later. With a big tank, sometimes people use the 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons rule since it is faster to measure. The measurements do not equal exactly the same but should work. So you could do 11 tablespoons instead of 55 teaspoons. I believe with the tablespoons they can be rounded, but with the teaspoons you want them to be level at the top.***
For ich you want to make sure and treat like 10 days after you see the last ich spots to make sure any of the ich in the water or gravel is killed too. Raising the temp can help speed up the ich's lifecycle too (***not sure if this is safe for oscars***), but you must do it slowly so not to shock the fish. Doing lots of gravel vaccuuming is imprtant too to get rid of all the cysts in the gravel.
Hope that helps and good luck!
Thanks for the reply Jen. Since you are not sure about if the oscars can handle the salt or not, I found a website with a forum called www.oscarfish.com. I will see if they can answer my question there. I really appreciate the help. I will post back here and tell y'all what I find out. That way we all know for future reference. 
Oscars can take the salt but a more effective way would be to add extra airstones and raise the temperature slowly to 84f
Sandy's right....... although they can tolerate it, heat alone should get rid of it. Groucho's ich was cured easily with it.
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