Aquarium salt in planted tank

[Scaperoot]

   I found Ich on 5 of our Ember tetras a little while ago. Along with IchX, I was told to use aquarium salt as well. How much should I use in a heavily planted 10 gallon? I’ve lost 13 fish this week (various reasons), so I’d like to get ahead of this. My wife suggested removing the plants from the tank first. Is that necessary? 

[Theplatymaster]

On 3/12/2023 at 8:02 PM, Scaperoot said:

My wife suggested removing the plants from the tank first. Is that necessary? 

i dont think this is the best idea.

plants like to sit in one location, unmoved, so their roots can grow.

On 3/12/2023 at 8:02 PM, Scaperoot said:

 I found Ich on 5 of our Ember tetras a little while ago.

any other fish in the tank?

id just move the sick fish to a plant free hospital tank, and dose salt and ich-x there.

[lefty o]

dont move the plants, they will have ich on them as well as the rest of the tank. i myself would go with 4 or 5 tablespoons of salt in a 10g. if you have real hardy plants you can go up to 1tbs per gallon. even if you have to go heavier on the salt, most plants will bounce back from it.

[Scaperoot]

On 3/12/2023 at 8:04 PM, Theplatymaster said:

i dont think this is the best idea.

plants like to sit in one location, unmoved, so their roots can grow.

any other fish in the tank?

id just move the sick fish to a plant free hospital tank, and dose salt and ich-x there.

There are cpds, otos, shrimp, and a couple Nerites. 

[lefty o]

On 3/12/2023 at 7:04 PM, Theplatymaster said:

i dont think this is the best idea.

plants like to sit in one location, unmoved, so their roots can grow.

any other fish in the tank?

id just move the sick fish to a plant free hospital tank, and dose salt and ich-x there.

the problem is, if it is ich, the ich is in the tank, not just on the fish. the entire tank and its contents must be treated.

[Odd Duck]

You can start very light at 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons.  This is safe for most plants.  Are you completely certain that it’s Ich vs. Epistylus?  Ich tends to improve with increasing the temperature but Epistylus likes it warmer and lesions will often get worse if you turn them up like you would for Ich.  Ich lesions tend to be very consistent size and tiny, not very raised.  Epistylus tends to me somewhat uneven sizes, sometimes irregular shape spots instead of only tiny dots, and more raised than Ich.  If it’s Ich, then turn your tank temp gradually up over a couple days with a goal of 82 or even 84.  With low dose salt and increased temp, you likely won’t need Ich-X.

If it’s Epistylus, don’t turn the temp up, leave it around 76-78, and there’s a fair chance you’ll need Ich-X which is not a friend to every species of snail.  You may have to increase your salt level with Epistylus.

An ultraviolet filter can help clear either parasite faster but it can be a little harder to find a UV filter that fits in a 10 gallon.  They are available, but a little harder to find than larger ones.

Were all 13 fish in the 10 gallon?  Depending on what else is still in there, you may have been overstocked causing increased stress.  If everything was very small, you may have been fine.  A lot depends on your what biofiltration levels were/are.  Your heavy planting helps a lot, obviously.

Remove all carbon products if you end up using Ich-X as the carbon will filter it out and make it less effective.  Be prepared for the treatment to potentially knock down some of your beneficial bacteria, too.  You may need to do some extra water changes to keep ammonia/nitrites down.  May need some Prime, possibly some bottled bacteria if you like that type product.  If you have another tank, you can squeeze out some sponge filter “gunk” to help restore any loss of biofiltration.

[Scaperoot]

 

    Last week, my Cardinal Tetras (11) had Ich. I separated them, treated with Salt and IchX, and eventually lost them all.  I lost a Molly who was pineconing a few days later. He was still behaving normally and eating when I separated him, but he died shortly after. The last fish that died got stuck behind a breeder, totally my fault. Those were all in our 40 gallon. Now I'm seeing what appears to be Ich on 5 of our Ember Tetras in the 10 gallon. I believe the Ich came on some plants I added last week. I added plants from the same fish farm to both tanks. In the 40, we were about to begin the process of transitioning from the filter cartridges to bio rings and filter pad. Never got that far. None of the other fish in the 40 appear to have Ich (hopefully). 

[Odd Duck]

Hopefully dosing salt and raising the temp will do the trick.  Keep the temp up for at least 10 days.  If the fish are tolerating it, I’d go at least 5 days longer - 10 days past the last spot would be best.

Just FYI, Reverse Respiration should kill any Ich or other parasites on plants with zero risk to humans and minimal risk to plants although Vallisneria seems a bit more sensitive when the long treatment for algae is done.  You only need to treat for 30-60 minutes for pests and that should work for Ich and probably for Epistylus, too.

 

[Scaperoot]

On 3/12/2023 at 8:04 PM, Theplatymaster said:

i dont think this is the best idea.

plants like to sit in one location, unmoved, so their roots can grow.

any other fish in the tank?

id just move the sick fish to a plant free hospital tank, and dose salt and ich-x there.

Our Pictus catfish appears to have Ich, so I’m treating the community tank. I had to order another heater since we only have two and they’re in use. We had the same issue in this tank a year ago and we managed to treat the fish effectively with just salt. That was before converting to live plants though.

 

[rockfisher]

Remove the fish. Then treat the fish. With with out fish the parasite starts to die quickly. In 48 hours it starts to die and by the time 7 rolls around it’s all dead. It does not survive in tanks without fish. You don’t need to treat the whole tank. Depending on the plants you have some plants may not like the treatment. I saw that it was stated you have treat the whole tank. Not true but as long as you are comfortable with treating the plants you can. I have very hardy plants and have treated for ich. I don’t treat tanks with moss in them.