Ich and scaleless fish, please help.

S-kate

S-kate

Large Fish
#1
Oct 21, 2005
227
0
0
Ithaca, NY
#1
Hi I haven't posted in ages but...
When I turned on the light in the tank this morning I noticed a couple white spots on my betta. He is in a ten gallon tank with two oto cats, five whiteclouds and a huge apple snail. The otos are scaleless and I'm worrying that any medication for ich I add to the tank will make them sick. Last year I accidentally killed my first oto while trying to treat fin rot. I've already begun to raise the temperature and am considering adding salt. Will this harm any of my fish or my snail? The perameters are all normal 0 amonia, 0 nitrite, btween 5 and 10 nitrate.
 

Big Vine

Big Vine

Elite Fish
#4
Feb 7, 2006
3,895
9
0
47
Florida
#4
Get that snail outta there!
I recently 'dissolved' a 1.5" mystery snail by accident using the salt method of treatment at a concentration of 2-3 tablespoons per 5 gallons.

You might do fine because your snail is larger and/or because you're using a lower salt concentration, but personally I wouldn't risk it---not after what happened to my mystery snail.

Big Vine
 

Big Vine

Big Vine

Elite Fish
#7
Feb 7, 2006
3,895
9
0
47
Florida
#7
Good idea...just as a precaution, at the very least.
When I had that mystery snail mishap, I noticed that the snail completely retracted into his shell as soon as I added the salt. I figured that maybe it was just a little irritated by the salt and that it would come out again after the salt treatment was finished.

Well, after about the second day of seeing it still hiding, I picked it up and smelt that it was dead the instant it exited the water's surface...yuck!

I felt bad, but learned a valuable lesson nonetheless.

Big Vine
 

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