ich!!!!

[mrsclem]

I got a few fish and some snails & tadpoles from what I thought was a safe place. Didn"t quarantine. Guess what. lost half our goldfish so far and the rest don't look good. Used IchGuard- 4 doses- no good. Have salt at 3%. 3500 gal. pond. so far koi are ok. How long do I keep the salt level up? Still have rubbing and flashing on golds. Koi are eating and schooling.

 

[DrDave]

If you have 3% salt now, that is what is killing the fish. You want .3%. You can have 2% for no more than 10 minutes.
With .3% you need to do daily water changes and reduce the concentration to .1% in 3-5 days.

 

[mrsclem]

Forgot the point- Its at .3%. is it safe to start dropping the salt level after 3 days if I still have fish showing signs of the Ich?

 

[DrDave]

.3% for one day, then start dropping to .1% over the next few days. It is going to take a while to exchange the saltwater. Don't put it in your garden or lawn, you might not like the results.

 

[mrsclem]

won't the Ich come back if it's not totally under control?

 

[DrDave]

I think the object is to save the fish. They can only take the salt for so long. Let us know how this works for you if you choose to go longer.

The University of Florida did some studies on this. I have a link on my website to them under remedies. you might want to read then decide.

You can always repeat the treatment.

 

[mrsclem]

Changed out water and dropped salt to .2%. Thanks for the info. The fish were dying right before my eyes! Everybody seems much happier now. Still some flashing and scraping but I think we are thru the worst. My regular pond info guy past away last year. This site is awsome!

 

[DrDave]

Tomorrow, drop it some more. Make sure your water is decholrinated, with this much exchange, you don't want to introduce another element into this.

You can hold the pond at .1% indefinetely. If you have water plants, they are not going to survive long in this. I would remove them to a sallt free container until this is over.

Walmart sells kiddie pools for $15. These are a good investiment to use in a pinch. i have one set up for plants and baby koi.