I have no idea which course of action to take! PLEASE HELP!

**Aquariumferret** · 03-16-2013, 11:14 PM

I am having my first dreaded bout with Ich. Both my aquariums broke out at the same time as luck would have it. My giant betta, chase, developed about 15 white spots on his fins body and one on his eye. In my other five gallon tank my neon tetras have about three spots on each of them so i think it's in the early stage. I panicked and went to my LFS and bought some coppersafe, took out my two nerite snails and put them in the tetra tank and added it in my buddy chase's tank to hopefully catch it early. But now I'm afraid the copper will kill my plants. I want to treat my other tank but now I have no where to put my snails and shrimps and it's heavily planted! All of the methods iv'e looked at seem to have drawbacks for plants and inverts such as methylene blue, melachite green, and copper. People have recomened salt but won't that harm my plants at the recomended dose of one teaspoon per gallon for about 10 days or so? And I'm worried about raising the temp as some suggest because I have crystal red shrimp that can't take those high of temps! *I have two yellow rabbit snails in the tetra tank that I want to avoid hurting at all costs too. *Love those guys! *I have nowhere else to put my inverts or plants for an extended period of time. Iv'e read so many contadicting suggestions and reviews for and against so many of the same products. What should I do for my tetra tank, and should I take the copper out of my bettas tank with carbon and water changes and treat it a different way? I don't know what to do!!! Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Why do parasites even have to exist! So frustrating.

**mizzoutank** · 03-16-2013, 11:24 PM

That was a big read...

can you break it down?
tank 1:
size:
Fish:
temp:
Filter:

(repeat for tank 2)

did you recently add any new fish?

**Aquariumferret** · 03-16-2013, 11:40 PM

Sorry haha. Tank one is my 3 gallon fluval spec betta tank only holding my betta and two nerite snails, temp 80, filter is the build in fluval spec filter using carbon ceramic biological filtration and sponge filtration.

Tank two is my 5 gallon fluval spec, temp 78, holding ten neon tetras, two yellow rabbit snails, one cherry shrimp and two crystal red shrimp. Heavily planted. I recently added four neons to this tank and thats how i think they contacted the ich. But i havent added anything to my bettas tank.

**Aquariumferret** · 03-16-2013, 11:41 PM

The filter is the same as tank one with added biomax ceramic filter media.

**madagascariensis** · 03-17-2013, 12:44 AM

if you have used copper in any tank, it is likely that you will never be able to have invertebrates in that tank again(or at least for a very long while). residual copper is very hard to get rid of in a tank, and copper in even trace quantities are harmful to invertebrates such as shrimp and snails. The simplest approach to treating ich(without any chemicals whatsoever) is just raising the temperature to 30-32 degrees celsius for two weeks(or more if you still see remaining spots). I know you are worried about certain species, but in fact, 30 degrees is way about the preferred range for most aquarium fish too. however, they will tolerate it for the time it takes to defeat the ich parasite. you could keep observing your stock as you raise the tenperature and if the shrimp show signs of being uncomfortable in the higher temperature you could look for a large bucket and put them in there temporarily. if you change the water daily(shrimp and other invertebrates have really low bioloads) they will last for quite some time.

**Aquariumferret** · 03-17-2013, 03:15 AM

Originally Posted by madagascariensis

if you have used copper in any tank, it is likely that you will never be able to have invertebrates in that tank again(or at least for a very long while). residual copper is very hard to get rid of in a tank, and copper in even trace quantities are harmful to invertebrates such as shrimp and snails. The simplest approach to treating ich(without any chemicals whatsoever) is just raising the temperature to 30-32 degrees celsius for two weeks(or more if you still see remaining spots). I know you are worried about certain species, but in fact, 30 degrees is way about the preferred range for most aquarium fish too. however, they will tolerate it for the time it takes to defeat the ich parasite. you could keep observing your stock as you raise the tenperature and if the shrimp show signs of being uncomfortable in the higher temperature you could look for a large bucket and put them in there temporarily. if you change the water daily(shrimp and other invertebrates have really low bioloads) they will last for quite some time.

Thanks! Thats what i'll do for my five gallon. I'll comtinue to treat my betta with the coppersafe since I already treated it. Do you think it would be alright if I were able to move my ludwigia plants from my coppersafe treated tank to my untreated tank if I rinsed them off really well? I don't want them to die from the coppersafe but I dont want to harm my other snails and inverts in the five gallon tank. Is it to late for my ludwigia anyways? It seems like theyre doing fine but its only been day two in the treated tank.