Wow, thanks for the info. A lot of good stuff in your post.
What concentration were you shooting for? Or rather, how do you determine necessary concentration of sodium chloride?
How often did you do water changes while you were adding NaCl? Daily? How much water did you remove during each change?
Did you just try to maintain a sodium chloride concentration in the water after each water change? In other words; would you add just enough NaCl after each water change to keep the initial concentration of NaCl the same?
What concentration were you shooting for? Or rather, how do you determine necessary concentration of sodium chloride?
How often did you do water changes while you were adding NaCl? Daily? How much water did you remove during each change?
Did you just try to maintain a sodium chloride concentration in the water after each water change? In other words; would you add just enough NaCl after each water change to keep the initial concentration of NaCl the same?
No. Aquarium salt. Sodium chloride.
Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate, NOT sodium chloride!!
Actually, when I was running seven tanks (small potatoes compared to some of y'all) I went out and got a bag of the salt (sodium chloride) you buy for water softeners. It was really cheap, and I don't anticipate running out anytime in this lifetime.
You want to gradually raise the temp. I bump it up a bit at a time, so that it takes a couple of days to get the temp up to 86F. That may be overcautious, but I think that in conjunction with the change in salinity you can't be too careful.
You also need to add the salt in several increments. I add a third at a time, twelve hours apart, until I'm at the concentration I'm shooting for. This also gives you time to observe your fish's reactions to the treatment. If they seem altogether too stressed, you can make adjustments to your treatment plan.
I have used as much as a tablespoon to a gallon, but IMHO you probably shouldn't do that with certain fish. With some tanks I just used one to one-and-a-half teaspoons to a gallon, depending on how my fish were reacting. However, I did the high concentration with a tank including cories, tetras, a gourami, and a weather loach, and only lost one cory and one tetra. Use your own discernment and do your own research regarding the salt/heat method.
I sprinkle the salt into the filter box. I've never read anything to indicate any problem with doing it that way, and it dissolves gradually into the stream of water.
Be sure you have plenty of oxygenation. Adding an airstone doesn't hurt. Running a micron filter isn't a half bad idea either.
You need to treat for about two weeks after you last see ich breakouts, if I remember correctly. Stopping too soon may lead to a recurrence.
At the end of treatment I bring the temp down gradually and do a series of 25% water changes, with thorough substrate vacuuming, to bring the salinity down gradually as well. One big w/c might do just as well, but I prefer to make the gradual changes just in case.
I've lost many, many more fish to ich meds than ever to heat/salt. This is just my experience, though.
Don't try to combine the salt method with using meds, though. Either one alone is very stressful for the fish. If you opt for meds, just follow the directions very closely.
Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate, NOT sodium chloride!!
Actually, when I was running seven tanks (small potatoes compared to some of y'all) I went out and got a bag of the salt (sodium chloride) you buy for water softeners. It was really cheap, and I don't anticipate running out anytime in this lifetime.
You want to gradually raise the temp. I bump it up a bit at a time, so that it takes a couple of days to get the temp up to 86F. That may be overcautious, but I think that in conjunction with the change in salinity you can't be too careful.
You also need to add the salt in several increments. I add a third at a time, twelve hours apart, until I'm at the concentration I'm shooting for. This also gives you time to observe your fish's reactions to the treatment. If they seem altogether too stressed, you can make adjustments to your treatment plan.
I have used as much as a tablespoon to a gallon, but IMHO you probably shouldn't do that with certain fish. With some tanks I just used one to one-and-a-half teaspoons to a gallon, depending on how my fish were reacting. However, I did the high concentration with a tank including cories, tetras, a gourami, and a weather loach, and only lost one cory and one tetra. Use your own discernment and do your own research regarding the salt/heat method.
I sprinkle the salt into the filter box. I've never read anything to indicate any problem with doing it that way, and it dissolves gradually into the stream of water.
Be sure you have plenty of oxygenation. Adding an airstone doesn't hurt. Running a micron filter isn't a half bad idea either.
You need to treat for about two weeks after you last see ich breakouts, if I remember correctly. Stopping too soon may lead to a recurrence.
At the end of treatment I bring the temp down gradually and do a series of 25% water changes, with thorough substrate vacuuming, to bring the salinity down gradually as well. One big w/c might do just as well, but I prefer to make the gradual changes just in case.
I've lost many, many more fish to ich meds than ever to heat/salt. This is just my experience, though.
Don't try to combine the salt method with using meds, though. Either one alone is very stressful for the fish. If you opt for meds, just follow the directions very closely.
