ICK! help

[Aquachronic@ogg]

Currently treating fish with salt and 80 degree temperature methods. I was also wondering best way to clean FT tank and GB?

[matthew ferrell]

don't worry about cleaning.  If you make ick uncomfortable it will die.  Just remember that it has a multi stage life cycle.  So when the fish shed the spots, it still exist in the bottom of the tank.  You must let that hatch and become exposed to the uncomfortable conditions you are running now.

[TCLynx]

Yep, what Mathew said.  This is why you need to treat with salt/temperature for an extended period.

[Aquachronic@ogg]

At the moment fish are separated from FT. I'm still running sytem through GB and FT w/ flood and drin. I thought that the parasites might be in my GB where I am not treating w/ salt and temp. Just don't want to reintroduce and go through this again soon

[TCLynx]

It is possible the parasites are in the fish tank or grow bed and since you are not treating with salt/temp, I'm not sure how long you would have to keep the system fishless to be safe.

[Aquachronic@ogg]

My only thought is to flush my system or treat w/ "proform c" which does not harm to my benificials but still researching on if it is ok for human consumption. Last option sacrifice what I can grow again :'(

[Aquachronic@ogg]

One more thought how long do I keep temperature up and do I have to bring the temp down s,lowly also or can I just remove the heater and let them temper down that way.

TCLynx, what is your salt rescipe for ick I get a lot of different measurments for my 10 gal hospital tanks

[TCLynx]

Here is my disclaimer, I've never personally had to treat for Ick and I am raising fish that don't take well to high salt levels, 5 ppt is the max the bluegill and channel catfish will tolerate so I try never to salt beyond 3 ppt for my systems and then only if illness seems to be causing a problem.

Here is my blog post where I put down numbers for figuring out how much salt to use.

Salt for fish health

I have salted my system to 3 ppt before to deal with illness and most of my plants handled it ok.  I didn't have any stawberries in to worry about and my sweet potatoes showed some dislike for the salt but they recovered.

I would say salt the system and keep it warm for a while to get rid of the parasites that might be in there.

I would avoid any aquarium chemicals or medications unless they are specifically for use with food fish and the truth is most of the chemicals I know of that are for use in food fish are antibiotics which will affect the bio-filter and probably are not appropriate with the plants but those wouldn't be for use against Ick.

In the future, quarantine new fish for a period of time before placing into the main system.

[matthew ferrell]

Salt the system, its safe and natural.  You will not be hurting the plants, and you will ensure a kill on the parasites.  it will also help you mitigate NO2 issues if they ever arise.

Also try never to move "sick fish".  They are stressed out enough already.