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I think two of my fish are showing signs of ich... a tuxeudo platty and and tiger barb. I've taken them out of the main tank and placed them in my hospital tank for now, but I am wondering what my best course of action is to treat the disease and keep all of my fish alive (including a pregnant platty... please read my profile for what all the fish are).

As for a little side info, my water specs are all good according to my lfs, but one change that has happened is that since a snow storm here, my tank temp has dropped 1-2 degrees (it's usually at 78F/26C) and I'm having the darndest time getting it bacuk up.

The reason I think it's ich is that the two fish have little white spots on their bodies. It's as though they've been salted.

Help please! It will be greatly appreciated.

Besides having the spots are they flicking on objects? If not, it could just be something on them. I see stuff on my fish now and then - its there one day, gone a few hours later or the next day.

Rid Ich Plus is really the best ich med. However, it will kill inverts like snails and if you have alot, can cause ammonia spikes. Snails buried in the substrate can die off too so the gravel would need to be vac'd if you have them.

If you have scaleless fish, you can use at half strength, or if you are concerned about the fry. It is really vital to get it in the affected tank before the fish get too filled with ich spots. That is the hardest part - seeing one or two spots and wondering if it is ich. If so, you definitely want the med in the water because that is when the parasite is vulnerable - when searching for a host.

Isolating fish with ich doesn't necessarily take care of the problem. If there is a spot on one fish that is ich, there are countless others already in the water column looking for a host.

Salt is helpful. If you don't have scaleless fish, you can use some freshwater aquarium salt (1 Tbsp/5gal), predissolved and added in incrementally over two days. You never want to raise or lower salinity abruptly. If there are scaleless fish, you can go 1/3 and maybe push it to 1/2 dose if they are tolerating it. Many fish will tolerate it if it comes gradual. One very gradual way to do this, is to get the rock type (Doc Wellfish is a good one) and place the desired amount in a disposable glad container with holes poked into the top. Just allow it to fill with water and sink it. The salt will take days to dissolve.

Any of this will likely harm plants.

Don't raise temps with any product containing Formalin/formaldehyde. It is a gas. With each degree of temp there is less o2 in the water. Add to that the gas, and it can be deadly. Let the med do the work.

Do you have a heater or is it having to work overtime because the house it just colder?

I hope this helps.

Diane