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Like an idiot, I added salt to my tank to help treat for some ick (1 tsp/gal) without checking out how my pictus cats would react. Well now that it's done, two of the three are swimming up and down one side of the tank. However, the third cat is swimming in it's normal spot.

Can anyone offer some advice? Do I need to do a water change to get the salt out of the water or will the pictus cats be able to tolerate it for a short while? I guess I'm wondering if I just killed my pictus cats?

Thanks. And here's to hoping my cats are okay.

I would say start bringing the salinity down, don't just replace with all fresh, i would do 4 30% changes, starting now.

SORRY little overkill i thought the salinity was higher than that, but still if its a bad reaction to the salt mabey one 30% change and take it from there.

One of the cats that was climbing the glass is still having a little trouble (same skittish behaviour), but the other has settled down a bit. I think that these two might have swam over some undisolved salt crystals (accidentally dumped some in, I dissolved the rest prior to adding it to the tank), while the third stayed away. Maybe that had something to do with it, too.

I was planning on watching them for a few hours, and if they didn't "relax" or if they were to take a dramatic turn for the worse, then I'd get them out of there and do a 30% - 50% water change.

MY PICTUS always swam back and forth on the front glass; drove me nuts and the other fish also!!!

I've been treating my tank with salt for three days now. I've been following the recipe recommended by a number of people both here on Planet Catfish as well as other sites:

1 tsp salt per gallon daily for 3 days along with 30% water changes each day
Continued water changes thereafter to remove salt from the system

I have to say that there have been no ill effects to my pictus cats, asian bumblebee, ancistrus sp., or gibbiceps. As long as I made sure the salt was dissolved before adding it to the tank water, all went well. Only when there were undisolved salt crystals in the tank did the pictus cats act up (and they eventually settled back down).

Anyways, there you have it!

So is salt bad for pictuses?! This is the first time I've heard of this and I have salt in my pictus tank. Should I not add anymore and let it cycle out with water changes?

Unless you are using the salt for treating ich or something else, I would let it cycle out of the system.

Eek! Okay, I will do that. I just want them to be happy.