PlanetCatfish.com

I thought I saw a spot of ick on one of my Synodontis during last nighting feeding. If it is, what is the best treatment to use on them? I understand that scaleless fish are more sensitive to chemicals then scaled fish.

I got ick in my tank over Christmas. I went with the mild salt and heat treatment. About 2 tbs. of salt per 5 gal water and slowly brought the temp up to 86 degrees. I took my time raising the temp over a 2 day period. Held the temp there for 10 days. I did water changes about every 2-3 days. This did work for me. If you add salt. do it slowly over time!!! I added the salt to fast and shocked the clown loaches in the tank. I lost 8 out of 9 loaches. the cats ( multi's and lucipinnis) were fine the whole time.

Steve

Raising the temperature is a relatively gentle to the fish, and causes the Ich parasite to speed up it's reproductive cycle. Unless the temperature is REALLY high, it doesn't, in itself, cure Ich.

There are those that suggest raising the temperature to about 95'F/35'C - this will kill Ich during it's reproductive cycle, so will eventually rid you of the illness. But this is quite tough on the fish, and definitely require good aeration of the water.

I personally prefer to use medication that is recommended for scale-less fish. Make sure you follow the instructions. Providing good aeration, and making a 50% water change before the medicine going in is good ideas.

Most fish are pretty resistant to illness, and Ich in particular is a "stress induced" illness - what I mean by that, is that under normal conditions, the fish will be able to keep the infection under control by itself - the "Ich" spores are quite frequently present in fish, without them getting ill - similar to cold virus being present in human bodies without getting a cold.

This means that there is probably some underlying problem that may need "fixing" - this could be water chemistry (primarily the nitrogenous waste products: tests for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, but checking the pH level may also be useful) or other environmental factors (e.g. temperature or stress from fish fighting).

--
Mats

35'C will kill a lot of species
it is also not necessary, since 28-30'c will do the job.

but it's different for some species.
VERY important to know for example is if the Syno's in this case are Riftlake Syno's (Malawian or Tanganyikan) or riverines.

Riftlake Syno's can handle loads of minerals in the water.
in this case: salt.
the best way to treat ich with salt is to use marine salt (the kind one uses for a marine tank!) and boost it to 5 grams per liter tankwater (!)
yes, that is a LOT. but Riftlake Syno's can handle that with ease and also: Riftlake Syno's can NOT handle temperatures over 30'C.

mind that you take several days to raise the salinity up to that level
do not dump it in 1 go, because you will kill all the fish!

for riverine Syno's this method is not good.
you can use salt, but never go higher than, say 1-2 grams of salt per liter tankwater.
but riverines often can handle higher temperatures than Riftlake, simply because the Riftlakes don't fluctuate much in temperature, but African rivers do.

also in both cases the use of massive airstones, a powerhead and/or a diffusor on the filter or pump outlet is to be recommended

warmer water contains far less oxygen than cooler water and the higher up the temperature, the smaller the amount of oxygen

since ich already affects the fishes' breathing (because the skin gets infected), you'll need all the oxygen you can build up in the water.

It is for Synodontis multipunctatus. Thanks for the help.

Riftlake Syno's can NOT handle temperatures over 30'C.

Sid said it quite nicely but I just want to back him up on this to stress how important it is....Rift lake fish and high temperatures are a bad bad thing.

Birger

Birger wrote:Rift lake fish and high temperatures are a bad bad thing.

I concur. I wouldn't go any higher than 86 deg F in a rift lake tank--and only up to that temp for a brief period of time (i.e.-less than a week).