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I used temp and salt to treat an ick outbreak in my tank and I lost 2 cherry barbs out of 6 in the process. I've since read that cherries are sensitive to salt. Has anyone had a similar experience? I have done a couple of 25% water changes recently to get rid of the salt, but the remaining barbs still aren't acting "normal" Is there anything else I can do?

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

"normal" as in still have ick, or what.
well i know clown loaches are not salt go-ers but i did it one time, and did a water change and they seemed fine.

u dont want to change the water too, much so whats done is done. if i may, next time u have a ick infection, try useing jungle buddy ick clear, i found this product to be very good.

No, the ick is gone. The cherries were very active before the treatment and now they hide all the time. The water changes were spaced out over a couple of days. I've previously used the Ick Clear by Jungle Buddies (in a different tank) and it made my tank super cloudy. I was looking for a more natural treatment than malachite green. That stuff, along with formalin, is so tough on the bio-filter.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

Hey crazyred
Welcome to the FP family.
Unfortunatly the only thing that will remove the salt is partial water changes. If your you can fit it in I'd suggest a 10-20% water change daily for the next week or so. That will reduce the ammount of salt disolved in the tank withough having to undergo a massive water change that can stress the fish further. Make sure the temp of the new water matches tank temp and all that fun stuff. Since you just went thru treating for ich you don't want to further stress your guys .

If you haven't got live plants leaving the tank lights off for a few days may help reduce stress. Be sure to check your ammonia and nitrIte readings as the death of your two barbs may have caused a small ammonia spike which could be what's stressing the fish now.

Aquarium Salt does work against ich, but there are some fish that are sensitive to it not to mention plants. With the number medications available today many of them for ich specifically I really see no need to use salt which can sometimes cause more trouble than good.

^_^[font color="#999999][hr width='40%']"Let's compare scars I'll tell you whose is worse
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We live on front porches and swing life away
We get by just fine here on minimum wage
If love is a labor I'll slave 'til the end
I won't cross these streets until you hold my hand"" ][hr width='40%']"Let's compare scars I'll tell you whose is worse
Let's unwrite these pages and replace them with our own words
We live on front porches and swing life away
We get by just fine here on minimum wage
If love is a labor I'll slave 'til the end
I won't cross these streets until you hold my hand"

Thanks for the reply. I will be doing water changes to get rid of the salt. I did test ammonia and nitrites I had no ammonia, and the nitrites spiked a tad, but nothing dangerous (.5 ppm). The reason I think it was the salt is because:
1) I have since read that cherrry barbs are sensitive to it

2) A couple of the barbs now have ragged fins where the platies that I have don't

3) My 3 platies and my pleco are doing well.

As far as treating ick goes, in my view, all ick treatments are almost as bad as the disease. I've never had good luck with anything I've tried.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."