About to treat Jack Dempsey for Ich.

[robnepper]

Hi all. I just found some Ich on my 2 inch JD today. I am thinking of treating with temp and salt. Has anyone ever treated this fish with this method?

[luvfins]

Not salt, but I have succesfully treated ich with just heat.
84 degrees for 2 weeks, 20% water change every 2 days with small gravel vac, clean (dont change) fliter at the end of each week, then do a deep gravel vac at the end of 2 weeks.
Raise the temp gradually and then lower it gradually at the end so they dont get shocked.
This is what worked for me.

[robnepper]

Well. Great news. Ich is gone. I treated with heat and salt for two weeks and no spots. I will gradually start reducing temp now. Thanks for the input, Luvfins.

[donvichu]

good to hear that ich is gone...thumbs2: thumbs2:

[gunk]

My Jack Dempsey just got ich. How much salt did you use and how high was your temperature?

[Nick89]

I wouldnt use salt.. Id just slowly raise the temperature and add like Ich Guard..

[robnepper]

I wouldnt use salt.. Id just slowly raise the temperature and add like Ich Guard..
As for it being right or wrong to use salt, I couldn't tell you. Perhaps Soxfan is correct and I did something dangerous. I did my research though and even the fish diagnoser on this site recommended the treatment that I employed. I used 1 Tbsp/2 gallons initially and gradually raised my temp to 86 deg. the white spots began to fall off within 24 hours and I did deep gravel vac which also took a 50% water change. I only used a salt raio of 1Tbsp / 4 gallons with the replacement water. i didn't feel comfortable with the amount of salt for some reason so I began to back it off earlier than recommended. I used less salt again with my last water change but the heat was always at 86 deg.

I started this process on the 13th and my tank is just now back to 78 deg.

If you go with Soxfan's method, you absolutely must repeat the treatment 3 to 4 times. These products do work, but they rarely take out Ich within the prescribed time on the package. Use the same dosage for a longer period.

Luvfins post in this thread makes good sense as well.

Anyway, you asked me what i did, so there it is.

[gunk]

Thanks for the advice. Yesterday I did a 25% water change and I've added a few tablespoons of salt and slowly raised the temp to 86F. The fish never actually developed white spots but he came from a tank that had ich in it and he's been brushing against the rocks a lot. But since I started treatment he has stopped doing that, so I think my treatment is working. I'm going to stick with small amounts of salt and frequent water changes and hopefully he'll stay healthy.