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ICH in a planted tank...



Ok, my first battle with Ich.

First of all, I'm not sure what caused it.   Water parameters
are perfect, temperature was a stable 78 degrees.  Only new
addtions to the tank:

- A couple new plants about a week ago.  Fish in the stores plant
tanks show no signs of an outbreak.  
- live brine shrimp added 6 hours before the first signs of ich.
- two amano algae eating shrimp added 6 hours before the first
signs of ich.
- I added a small amount of rinsed Flourite.  I can't imagine
this having any relationship to the ich.

So, either the plant carried it, and it waited a while, or
the live brine carried it, but I don't think that could be,
since the freshwater ich would die in the brine water, right?
Or the Amano shrimp brought it, but I'm not sure if they could,
and the other fish in the store tank with the shrimp are all 
fine.

Next, I'm trying to figure out how to treat this, without killing
off all my plants.  
I added a SMALL amount of salt, approximately 1 TBS per 10 gallons. 

I also cranked up the heater to 85.   Will my plants have a problem
with the high heat?

I am starting a treatment using a Malachite Green solution.  It says
leave the tank lights off "during treatment".  Does this mean that
they want me to leave the lights off the entire time?  I read on 
the Krib to use the recommended dosage (Actually I'm using a 50%
dose because I've got a bunch of cories, and I've read that 
tetras are also sensitive to malachite green.)  But the 
stuff on the Krib said to treat every 3 or 4 days, for 
12-16 days total.  There is no way I can leave me lights off for
that long.  Every plant I've got will be dead.    I'm planning
a large (50%) water change and new dose of Malachite Green every
3 days, for 4 or 5 total doses.   I think I'll do the water change
at night, so the tank will be completely dark for at least 12 hours
right after adding the treatment.  

Do I need to leave the tank completely lights-out the whole time,
or should I run partial lighting, or can I leave the lighting 
at it's normal level?   I don't want my plants to die, but getting
rid of the ich is the first priority.

As a side-question, will the malachite kill my new amano shrimp?
I can't find them to remove them from the tank!  They hide too well
amongst all the plants...

--
Chuck Gadd
Director of Software Development, Cyber FX Communications
e-mail:cgadd at cfxc_com  http://www.cfxc.com