I recently bought a couple new plants from the LFS. I guess a good rinse and soak in my tap water is insufficient to get rid of Ich. I see a couple spots on my little Pop.

Here's what I'm doing.
Raising salt to .3% solution
Raising the water temp to just under 80F

Is that good enough? Should I Melafix the barrel pond too?

I chucked the plants. I'll siphon the bottom clean tomorrow and often thereafter. When the spots are gone, how long should I keep the water salted at .3%?

I guess Ich is pretty common, and easy to recover from. And so many people have more serious issues. But I haven't had a sick fish in 20 years. I'm a little nervous to say the least.

I know there are other threads on Ich, and I read them and the FAQ. I just want to be certain I'm understanding them correctly.

Test Results for the Following:
Ammonia Level? 0ppm
Nitrite Level? 0ppm
Nitrate level? 0ppm
Ph Level, (If possible,KH and GH and chloramines)? 8
Ph Level out of the Tap? 7.8
Tank size (How many Gals) 29 Gal
How long has it been running? 3+ years
What is the name and size of the filter/s? Hydor 300GPH HOB
How often do you change the water and how much? 15% X 1 to 2 weeks
How many fish in the tank and their size? 2 Ryukin 3 inches and 2 inches
What kind of water additives or conditioners? .3% salt (halfway there)
Any medications added to the tank? no
Add any new fish to the tank? no (a couple plants from LFS are new)
What do you feed your fish? Hikari Oranda Gold, Bloodworms, peas
Any unusual findings on the fish such as "grains of salt", Tiny white grains (Ich)
bloody streaks, frayed fins or fungus? no
Any unusual behavior like staying at the bottom, not eating, ect..? no

Daniel, I think you should be good with the salt and the raised temperature - looks like you caught it in time with just a few spots. I always notice that its harder to see Ich on a pond fish than a tank fish, and in the pond it often goes unnoticed for a few days.

You take all the plants out of the barrel pond then? Or you treat Pop someplace else? Melafix doesn't hurt, but doesn't do much either. Its more of a tonic than anything else.

Definetely keep the salt in until about 6 days after the last Ich spots have gone, not earlier. The little suckers might have laid eggs, and those are immune against the salt until they hatch, which takes a few days. So leave the salt in to get the "second round" of Ich-ies....

Thanks Ranchugirl.

I took the new plants out. I'm treating the whole pond with Pop, and Crackle, in it. I'd need to treat the pond anyway since the bug transferred from the plant to Pop.

Crackle has already been exposed I'm sure. He's probably just tougher. He's growing faster for sure. So everyone, pond, old plants, Crackle and Pop are all marinating in the salt.

Will the salt harm the cycle? It seems to be really good up to now.

Thanks again,

Salt won't harm your cycle at .3%.

Sorry about the ich- it's a pain. And just when you think it's all gone..it comes back -so as Andrea says..you should leave it in for 6 days after you see any spots.

Thanks Imogen!

Good luck with those two, Daniel - drown 'em in salt, so to speak!

How long does it take for the white spots to go away?

I put 1 rounded Tablespoon of API Aquarium Salt in for each 5 US Gallons. Is that enough to make it 0.3%?

Daniel, that'll bring it up to only 0.1%. Do that dosage two more times with a 12 hour interval, and you are right on spot.

How long it takes depends on how bad the infestation is. You said you only saw a few spots, so it shouldn't take that long. Since salt is so gentle, I never really worry how long its in there. I just watch them daily and see if the spots go away.

Thanks again.

It looks like the Ich is reduced with just the amount of salt I put in. And Crackel has no Ich yet.

Remember how this nasty parasite works! The little swarmers (free swimmers) will burrow UNDER the fish's skin and there will reproduce. The white spot you see is the growing "babies". The white spot (actually the skin of the fish stretched over the growing parasites so that it looks "white" - much like a pimple) will burst, releasing 1000s of tiny little swarmers/swimmers out into the tank's water. If they do not find a nice host, they can encapsulate and sit at the bottom of the tank for months and months, waiting until a stressed fish is available to attack.

The white spots are just the surface of the iceburg. The ones you have to worry about are the 1000s of water swarmers you do NOT see (and the encapsulated ones waiting for the future!) Even though your one fish is not showing any spots it does not mean that there may not be 1000s of nasty buggers swimming....

So do not go lightly just because you do not see anything at the moment. If there were white spots, you can be assured that there are plenty of the parasites in the water. So SALT away!

Kill them all - kill them with the salt - DIE ICH DIE!

How are the fish, Daniel - Ich all gone? Some salt still in the water?

Well, the white spots have been gone since about July 26th. I've kept the water at what I think is .3% according to your advice.

The bog plants appear to be unhappy, they are losing color. The pest snails are staying near the top, maybe they think they will find fresh water.

The fish look healthy, but Daryl's scary story has me spooked. Are the encapsulated ones killed by salt? How much longer should I keep the salt level up to be sure the critters are dead?

Do I just wait another week or so and make sure the fish are healthy and no more white spots crop up?

Thanks for asking,

Well, the encapsuled ones will not be affected by the salt until they hatch, which should take anywhere from 3-6 days, depending on the temperature. The warmer it is, the faster their life cycle progresses. Thats why we always like treatments with a bit warmer water to speed the whole thing up.

Can you take your snails and plants out? Snails hate salt, although the ones I have right now have been gone through salt treatments accidentally (forgot to take them out ) and did just fine. But if they look really distressed (and they sure sound like it right now), I'd take them out and put them someplace salt free. Same with the plants.

If it were me, I'd leave the salt in with the fish a few extra days, maybe Monday. Unfortunately, with Ich you can never be 100% that you have gotten them all. Even with a scope its hard to tell, since you won't see the encapsuled ones..

I'll vacuum really good this weekend.

Then start water changes again on Monday.

That should please the tired plants.

Thanks for your help. I'll keep you informed.

How is everything, Daniel? All up and swimming healthy these days?

Hi Andrea,

Everything seems to be fine, though the plants suffered from the salt.

I posted photos of the little buggers at http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...showtopic=61992

Thanks for all your help,

I am glad the fish are doing well, Daniel - and the plants will recover too....