Ich...

[Crazyshot97]

So, come the increased temperatures and somehow my pond has ich. Ive treated ich in a tank before with rid ich plus, but this is a thousand gallon pond, it would take a lot of chemical to treat all of this water.

Has anyone treated with salt when the water temperature is around 60-75? I heard that salt is effective at high temperatures, would it also be effective at lower temps for a longer period of time? How tolerant are goldfish to salt treatments? This sucks...

 

[AlyssaFish]

I've used salt to treat ich in high temperature water before with fancy goldfish I bought that were infected. If the water parameters are good, salt is very effective. I am not sure how effective it is at cooler temperatures (though it's better than nothing). However, to use the amount of salt you need to treat the pond, you will likely harm any plants that you have in your pond. Can you take the plants out before treatment?

It's going to be a lot of salt to treat 1000 gallons. How many fish are there? I am assuming there are too many for you to pull out of the pond and place in quarantine?

 

[Crazyshot97]

I've used salt to treat ich in high temperature water before with fancy goldfish I bought that were infected. If the water parameters are good, salt is very effective. I am not sure how effective it is at cooler temperatures (though it's better than nothing). However, to use the amount of salt you need to treat the pond, you will likely harm any plants that you have in your pond. Can you take the plants out before treatment?

It's going to be a lot of salt to treat 1000 gallons. How many fish are there? I am assuming there are too many for you to pull out of the pond and place in quarantine?

I might be wrong, but I would think that the only issue with treating with salt at a lower temperature is prolonged treatment, because of ichs life cycle at lower temperatures. That could be a problem with goldfish, prolonged exposure to salt, but I really don’t know.

The only plant I have in there right now (brand new pond) is a hardy water lily. I would need to figure out how to take it out and keep it alive while treating with salt if I decide to take that route.

And yes, a ton of salt. I have 12 goldfish in it but the largest one is a foot long, I don’t know how I would accommodate him in a quarantine situation.

 

[poconojoe]

Catch the fish and quarantine them in a plastic kiddie pool with water pumped from the pond. You can add whatever medication or salt to that. Add aerator for oxygenation.

 

[AlyssaFish]

I might be wrong, but I would think that the only issue with treating with salt at a lower temperature is prolonged treatment, because of ichs life cycle at lower temperatures. That could be a problem with goldfish, prolonged exposure to salt, but I really don’t know.

The only plant I have in there right now (brand new pond) is a hardy water lily. I would need to figure out how to take it out and keep it alive while treating with salt if I decide to take that route.

And yes, a ton of salt. I have 12 goldfish in it but the largest one is a foot long, I don’t know how I would accommodate him in a quarantine situation.

There's no risk for goldfish having prolonged exposure to treatment levels of salt for ich. At least, none that I have heard of. I would think it would have to be a very prolonged period to have any negative effects.

But you're right. The whole point of increasing the temperature is to coax the ich into the stage where they're vulnerable to the salt.

Of course, the longer the fish are sick with ich, the longer they're susceptible to other illnesses or death from ich itself. If they're strong and otherwise robust, that shouldn't be a great concern. We're talking all commons and comets, right? No fantails or other fancies? I only ask because single-tailed goldies are far more robust than fancies.

As for the lily, Home Depot, Lowes, and places like that frequently carry large planters or 35 gallon hard pond liners that could make a decent temporary home for a lily (assuming it's not enormous).

 

[Crazyshot97]

There's no risk for goldfish having prolonged exposure to treatment levels of salt for ich. At least, none that I have heard of. I would think it would have to be a very prolonged period to have any negative effects.

But you're right. The whole point of increasing the temperature is to coax the ich into the stage where they're vulnerable to the salt.

Of course, the longer the fish are sick with ich, the longer they're susceptible to other illnesses or death from ich itself. If they're strong and otherwise robust, that shouldn't be a great concern. We're talking all commons and comets, right? No fantails or other fancies? I only ask because single-tailed goldies are far more robust than fancies.

As for the lily, Home Depot, Lowes, and places like that frequently carry large planters or 35 gallon hard pond liners that could make a decent temporary home for a lily (assuming it's not enormous).

The lily is small enough that I was thinking even just a 5 gallon bucket might suffice. And the goldfish, yes, they are all shubunkins, sarassa and comets. I also have 2 small koi that I took from my uncle, they aren’t here permanently tho he just had a very small pond. So all single tails

I think if there’s no risk of treatment levels of salt to the goldfish then that might be the way to go. I figure at 60-75 degrees the life cycle of ich is what, 2-3 weeks? I’m not sure if 3-4 weeks of salt treatment is extremely prolonged but it might be the best way to go.

 

[mrsclem]

There is a risk of salt levels for any fish. Too high a concentration can kill. Short dips at high levels or sustained times at lower levels. It's been too many years since I treated with salt so maybe someone can post the amount of salt to use per gallon.

 

[Riftlake]

You might take a look at this article, then research the method further: https://thegoldfishcouncil.org/2018/09/the-power-of-purple/

I'm always real concerned about possibly introducing parasites when adding new fish, so I pre-treat and observe new arrivals for a couple of weeks or more before adding them to my herd. I have some new shubunkins I just got that are being treated for parasites as a precaution right now. Here's more on dips: https://thegoldfishcouncil.org/2020/05/dips-and-baths/