Loaches Online Forum

Have a question about the use of salt. One place in the article "Dealing with Ich", it says "DO NOT" use salt and in another it says "malachite green and/or salt combination". What is the latest word on using salt to help get rid of ick?


"4. Dose the tank with Ich medication. DO NOT add salt despite the advice that is sometimes given. Generally speaking, loaches can't deal with salt and it ends up being a further stress on them."


"... UV in combination with weak (1/3 and perhaps even less) dosing of malachite green and/or salt combination or quinine-based drugs ..."

Don't mix malachite treatments with salt. Although I favour the malachite treatments for Ich over salt treatments, I think it would be really unwise to mix the two.

No doubt others will weigh in on this.

The problem with salt is that it takes a great deal of patience to administer the treatment properly. The addition and subtraction of salt can cause osmotic shock, which could damage or kill the fish.

If salt is added or removed, it should be added slowly (like over the coarse of a few days) and removed even slower (over the coarse of a few weeks).

The problem most people have with salt is that they'll do huge water changes after adding it, which usually kills the already sick and weakened fish. If salt is added, it shouldn't be removed until the fish is fully recovered. It could take weeks for the fish to fully recover. Also, it takes about 12 - 20% water changes to remove 90% of the salt from the water after a treatment.

I wouldn't recommend doing a salt treatment unless you know what osmotic shock is . I'd also highly recommend having a TDS meter so that you can measure the salt concentration of the water properly.

ON ITS OWN, salt can be a very effective treatment for killing many kinds of external parasites, such as ich, velvet, and flukes . Malachite Green and other medications need to be removed promptly after the treatment or they could become toxic. So that in effect make salt and Malachite Green a bad combination.

Osmotic shock-
http://www.fishyportal.com/cgi-bin/pub/diag?c=v&id=55

heat, 85F & UV is the safest route.

ChefKeith-

Your loachy method of adding and removing salt (slowly over time) seems like it would just be common sense to people, but I hear so many horror stories from others that I guess it needs to be spelled out like that.

I'll throw my hand up as one who treated ich quite successfully with salt in my 5 clown loaches. No losses and all have grown considerably since then (well over a year ago, maybe 2 years now).

I had ich once in my sid tank after a sloppy WC.
I'll throw up my hand backing the use of coppersafe.
I am not sure why ppl are so against it but it is so easy, simple and effective.
Perfect for those newbies with sick clowns.

Folks:

I have very much refined this protocol during the preceding two years.

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 use of medications.

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

Salt is defined as aquarium salt and NOT table salt although many folks indicate that table salt is acceptable!

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

I've used jones's method successfully several times(thanks jones:D ) but recently had a pesky case that wouldn't go away for good so I tried Kordon rid-ich. I really liked it! Easier, somewhat quicker depending on the circumstances of course, and it didn't dye everything green permanently. So far so good.
I also used it in my rivertank for the hillies so I wouldn't have to raise the temp so high.

Coppersafe is fine to use in bare bottom quarantine tanks.

The problem with Coppersafe is that it is nearly impossible to remove it from tanks with substrates.

Also Coppersafe turns toxic if it used with UV sterilizers or with some anitbiotics, such as Sulfa's or Neomycine

I too was confused about wich method should be used for Ich on my Loaches.
I have a few Dojos and Khulis that had ich very recently.

The method I chose was to used aquarium salt.

Temp on the tank was raised to 78*
I added the salt very slowly over a few days till I got
it up to around 1 teaspoon per gallon.
Then I waited a few days till I noticed some of the white spots were falling off the fish, then I raised the salt to 2 tsps per gallon over a few doses every 12 hours.

meanwhile I did a small water change once a day to try to suck up any Ich spots that may have fallen on the bottom (bare bottom).

I kept the salt at that concentration for a week. Then reduced to 1.5 tespoons per gallon for another 3 days.
After that I just continued to do frequent very small water changes without adding back salt.

None of the white spots returned and none of the fish died!