# Heat/Salt in DENSELY planted tank with Ich?



## thegirlundertherainbow (Aug 12, 2004)

I have a DENSELY planted 20g with 5 nerite snails, an otto and a small (1.5") albino bristlenose pleco.
The BN had ich (didn't see it at first because his fins were clamped after being caught and with him being white I guess..
They were the first inhabitants to the tank and came from the same place.
after reading some dealing with this with just increased heat (which I've done with water changes but it's only been a week)

should I do some low salt also or no?

Have to post a full list of plants later.. but it's a lot.


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## saeisbest (Nov 29, 2015)

Don't use salt. It will kill your plants. Instead use heat and ridich. It is very cheap. Ridich will not affect plants at all. It will kill small snails such as malaysian trumpets but not mystery snails. Not sure about nerites though. You should probably quarantine them in the time treating your tank. It will turn your water blue. Keep the temp at 80-85 F. Good Luck!


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## Monster Fish (Mar 15, 2011)

To add to the previous post, increase the water oxygenation during the duration of the treatment.

Rid Ich Plus® | Kordon!


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## theatermusic87 (Jun 22, 2014)

I just wrapped up a treatment with heat alone, worked very well... Also i remember from somewhere that salt plus oto's is a big no no, something to do with them not having scales and directly absorbing the salt through their skin...


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## thegirlundertherainbow (Aug 12, 2004)

*ok*

I already have a lot of surface agitation ( I think) .. I have a bubble wand, and a second bubble stone in one corner ( to create movement for co2). Plus I dropped the water level a BIT for the HOB to hit harder.. 
I just read some places that said low salt was OK for plants and others that said NO and honestly from what I've read I can hopefully get this with heat alone..

thinking about taking my betta out and putting him in some tank water + salt and maybe also the BN?


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## Linwood (Jun 19, 2014)

Heat alone will work and is safer for the plants. Some level of salt won't hurt plants, more will, how much is too much seems a mystery with no ready answer (well, lots of answers, but no consistency). So I just didn't use it for Ich. 

For heat, be very sure you keep it over 86F. That means OVER, and in all corners of the tank, so the less flow you have, the more you want to err on the hot side. If there's a part of the tank that says (say) at 84 degrees you stand a good chance of it harboring ich and reinfecting when the temperature drops.

And keep it hot for the longer of 2 weeks or 5 days past the last sign. 

I did not see any change at all in my plants due to heat (anubias, jungle val, crypt wendtaii, rotalla, java fern, a couple I don't know names of). 

Note fish are likely to be more hungry and more active, they are cold blooded so the warmer water will increase their metabolism.

Also, note in the first couple days the Ich will get worse due to the increased lifecycle speed.


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

You mention you have snails. Kordon Rid Ich, Mardel QuICK Cure and other similar products containing Malachite Green and Formalin say it can be harmful to inverts (shrimp, snails). I've looked up people using Rid Ick in planted tanks and even tanks with inverts and some report no deaths of plants or snails. But personally I wouldn't be comfortable with it. Not sure how much I trust what some others say. Some say it's "great" for fish. No doubt it's a strong med and works on ich, but I have used it on a couple occasions and it clearly is a harsh chemical and distresses fish quite a lot, even killing sicker/weaker fish.

Kordon makes a organic herbal med called Ich Attack (or you can get Kordon Rid Fungus, same ingredients, different label) and it is safe for plants, inverts and very gentle on fish.

Here is a thread I recently posted a thorough post regarding ich and med options (mostly regarding potential harshness, not sure if all are safe for plants and inverts).
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/2...-benzaldehyde-green-bad-fish.html#post8652385

What Linwood has mentioned is good.
Although I mention my bad experience with salt + heat method (just my experience though, many others have had success. Maybe I had a heat resistant strain of ick). Not sure what was more responsible for killing the plants, either the heat or salt (most likely due to elevated salt levels, as my plants are fine in summer temps of 82-84*F). The more hardy, low demanding plants will probably survive, but not so sure about the more sensitive and higher demanding plants in how they will tolerate elevated salt and heat levels. In my case, my Java Fern and Anubias survived, but my ludwigia, bacopa and some others I can't remember, completely melted/died (didn't have many plant species at the time). Duration of exposure/treatment might be a factor though, as they did hold up for maybe a week before they started to completely melt/die.

But with adding certain meds and raising temps, increasing aeration/dissolved oxygen is needed. With whatever treatment you go with, monitor your fish for signs of distress so you don't overdo things and end up killing them (otos are said to be sensitive fish, so I would watch them especially).
Just mentioning.


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## saeisbest (Nov 29, 2015)

Yeah, almost any meds will stress your fish out a bit. Make sure you keep your lights off or dim in the room to reduce stress. Also the things about ottos being sensitive is probably not true. I know a lot of people say they buy them and do drip acclimation for a couple of hours and they die the next day. In my experience, they are quite a tough little fish. I got six of them to get rid of my diatom problem. I was very hesitant b/c of what people said about them being sensitive. I bought them from a store that does not take very good care of their fish. I swear I saw a severum bitten in half still living. Poor little thing. When I brought the ottos home I didn't even do drip acclimation. I just used the floating bag method. I added them to my tank. The angels were chasing them a little but they found their little hiding spot in the wisterias. They next day I noticed couple of leaves on my amazon swords were lush green again and the ottos were fat and happy filled with diatoms.


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