Ich Treatment - West Texas Style

jones57742

I have very much refined this protocol during the preceding year.

I have a community tank which includes cories, SAE's, Gold Nugget Plecos, Yoyo loaches and most importantly, for the purposes of this article, Queen Arabesque Plecos (as these are very, very sensitive fish).
I have determined this protocol to be successful without the uses of medications.

I normally maintain the water temperature at approximately 78F (25.5C).

Salt is defined as aquarium salt and NOT table salt!

Upon observing a white spot on a fish or a fish brazing themself on various tank appurtenances:

Day 1
Increase the water temperature to 80F (26.6C)
Perform a 20% WC.
Add 1 Tablespoon of salt per 20 US Gallons of water (76L, 16.6 UKG)

Day 2
Increase the water temperature to 82F (27.7C)
Add 1 Tablespoon of salt per 40 US Gallons of water.

Day 3
Increase the water temperature to 84F (28.8C)
Add 1 Tablespoon of salt per 40 US Gallons of water.

Day 4
Increase the water temperature to 85F (29.4C)
Add 1 Tablespoon of salt per 40 US Gallons of water.

Days 5, 6, 7 and 8
Do nothing

Day 9
Perform a 20% WC.
Decrease the water temperature to 84F (28.8C)

Day 10
Perform a 20% WC.
Decrease the water temperature to 82F (27.7C)

Day 11
Perform a 20% WC.
Decrease the water temperature to 80F (26.6C)

Day 12
Perform a 20% WC.
Decrease the water temperature to 78F (25.5C).

Day 13
Return to the typical maintenance protocol.

TR

fish_4_all

Did this have any effect on the plants if there were any in there?

jones57742

none that I could detect

TR

willow

i would much rather do this method,
than pump meds into my tank.

Little-Fizz

Alright I am slightly confused about this method. Can I skip the 20% wc? At least for the first one? On my other post you had said not to do a water change because it will stress the fish out. I want to start this treatment tomorrow, or if possible tonight but I would just like to know if I may skip the wc or not. Thanks again!

jones57742

Lf:

Item One

What I was "trying to say in the other thread" but did not "get it done" is that "cleaning" will induce a "very large instantaneous change" to the water conditions for your fish (thereby inducing significant stress).

A 20% WC will not.


Item Two

I do not know how "skipping it" will function as I have not tried it.

I developed this method as I have several very, very sensitive fish in my tank, including but not limited to Queen Plecos, and yet still wanted to "fight ich" with salt instead of meds.

TR

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