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My red devil has been sick for about 3 weeks. He doesn't eat and stays by the heater. I noticed white dots on his fins this morning. He lives alone in a 30 gallon tank and is about 5 inches long. Temperature is set between 80-85. What do you think is wrong with him?

Okay, I read some of the posts on Oscars and I noticed ick. I think that's what he has. Can you give me more information on salt. I would like to try that first. How much and how often do I put it in tank.

Adding cooking salt, (not table salt) at a rate of 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons
I did this to my oscars when they got it
wint away in about 4 days
learned this from one of the masters and it works

The directions on the salt said 1 tbls per 5 gallons so I put in 6 tbls. But how often should I do this and how long until I see any results? If I do need med. what kind do I get?

dont add any more "salt
if water is in good cond and water temp is 84-85 you should see something in 4 days
then do water changes about 5-10 percent every 3 days it worked with me
oscars are very tuff
with my old oscars i hade long ago
to change water i filled up a clean trash can with water throw them in clean the tank fill it up with water then put the fish back in they were happy and never stop being happy fish

Salt wont evaporate, so you only need to add more to reflect the amount of water being change(EG:-say you change 10 gallons then you only need to add 2 tablespoons of salt)
Raising the temp to 84F will speed up the life of the ich,which makes treatment more effective.

PS.30g is a little too small for a red devil especially if its a male. They get as large as oscars (even larger in a lot of cases)

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TONY
Australian and proud of it!!
My Cichlidfish.com Home page
No Feeder Nazi
worldcichlids.com

[This message has been edited by oscar2001 (edited 04-30-2002).]

So is this what I need to do to get my red devil well again. Take 5-10 percent of the water out of the tank every 3 days. Do I or don't I add more aquarium salt. How can you tell if I have a male or female?

how does the fish look now
about the salt?that is a math problem
cant help with that
fish should look good by now

10% of 30gallons is 3 gallons
5% is 1.5 gallons
After the inital dose of salt (a 30g tank would be 6 tablspoons) an raising the temp to 84 for 7 days its not neccessary to replace it if all is well.
I personaly keep salt in my tanks at a rate of 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons as a preventive cure.
BY the sounds your red devil has been sick for a while so I would reccomend keeping salt in the tank for a few weeks at least.
With a 30g I would suggest water changes at a rate of 5 gallons "Twice" a week to keep the red devil well.
I dont reccomend anymore fish in with the red devil which would add to his problem in regards to overcrowding,stress from bio overload etc.

------------------
TONY
Australian and proud of it!!
My Cichlidfish.com Home page
No Feeder Nazi
worldcichlids.com

Red devil is doing much better today. He or she (how can I tell if it's male or female? even came up to say hello to me this morning.Don't notice any ick on him. Looks nice and clean. I will keep salt in tank with water change twice a week. Thank you so much for your help.