ich question - new fish

[Wat2Go]

Hi all,

The inhabitants of our ten gallon tank all died of a combination on ich with fin rot.

We cycled the tank with swordtails (2) and platies (2) and when we added some tetras (4), danios (3) and a small pleco (I already know the pleco needs to go) after 3 weeks, we got a severe infestation of ich that we treated all wrong (newby idiots) so that the swordtails developed fin rot, and all but one danio and the pleco died. We did 50 % waterchanges for two days in a row and finished the ten day ich treatments and then added 5 danios to recycle the tank.

These were very happy campers so when we had perfect waterlevels for three days in a row we added 3 fancy guppies. Hours later and 2 danios all of a sudden have ich again! The guppies are fine.

What are we doing wrong here? All danioas were fine, not a sign of ich for more than a week. Last time we got the ich in the tank the minute we added new fish, this time exactly the same!
We added the guppies really slowly (water from the tank in the baggie, poor some water out, water from the tank again and then net them in the tank (no water from the shop entered our tank).

The guppies are fine, no sign of ich. Where does this ich come from?

I removed the carbon from the filter, raised the temp a little bit (it was 76, I will try to get it to 80 over the next two days) and I added the Quick Cure drops. This time I also added antibiotics for fin rot. I can't do salt as we have a small pleco in the tank as well.


Man, I certainly do not want to loose all these fish again!

L.

[jm1212]

its is possible that the guppies brought it with them.

what temperature is the tank?

do you get all your fish at the same place?

[Madcrawdad]

here's a link to an article frequently posted in this and in other fish forums as it is informative and very well written... it helped me deal with ich on new clown loaches a couple of months back. http://aquafacts.net/wiki/index.php/Ich

[Wat2Go]

Thanks for the article, very informative.

I would love to try the salt, but I am not sure the pleco would be ok??? If I add the salt, do I need to redo that over and over, or untill I have reached a certain level and then just not do any water changes for, say a week (I know I will be able to find this somewhere on this forum...)?

The temp right now is 80 (up from 78) and I will raise it again, till it is 82. I am assuming the zebra danios and the guppies will be ok with this?
Another question: I haven't fed the danio's while they were cycling the tank, so they only had a TINY bit to eat about three days ago. Now, with the ich treatment it says not to feed the fish. Will the danios be ok (sorry for being such a newby...)

I have added the Quick Cure to the tank and so far all fish seem to be ok. The only one that seems stressed is the danio with the ich...


L.

[Madcrawdad]

I've never used the salt, but its my understanding that you only need add enough (gradually over a few hours) until you get it to the recommended level. if you do any water changes while you're treating, make sure to add the salt at the same level to the new water you're putting into the tank.

personally, I wouldn't dose with meds and salt at the same time.... one or the other

regarding feeding, and I'm not familiar w/ Quick Cure at all, I suspect the meds may contain Malachite Green...its my understanding that effectiveness of this med may be decreased by the presence of organic matter in the tank. Since you may be treating for a week or more, you may need to feed lightly at some point. Like I said though, I've not used Quick Cure, so follow their directions.

Fortunately, I've only had to treat ich 2x in the past 6 years...I successfully treated w/ Rid Ich Plus, and continued to feed lightly while doing so.

[Wat2Go]

Ok, here is stupid question number I lost count.

Quick Cure reads 1 drop per 10 gallon. Treat for 2 days.
I have been reading a lot of posts about ich, because I really want it to go this time. Now I learn that Malachite Green is quite toxic, especially for plecos (who did survive the first treatment round with flying colors)
I suppose though that I need to treat at full strength for it to work properly, and that I need to treat for a bit (a lot) longer than the 2 days. I plan to (again) treat ten days.

Here is the question:
Does this mean that I add 10 drops to my 10 gallon tank every day? Or do I add 10 drops now and then only for any wc that I do? I just did one so I could easily do no changes for a week. Unless it is better to do them? Aaarrgghh.

The guppies are sort of sitting on the bottom of the tank (tank lights are off and it is dark in the room), the danios are swimming very much just under the surface.

My husband still thinks we need a 29g tank, and we can't even keep this 10g running properly!

L.

[Madcrawdad]

do you really mean 1 drop per 10 gallons as you posted, or 1 drop per gallon? once again, I've no experience w/ QuickCure and don't have a bottle to refer to, but I suspect that you need to dose daily. Partial water changes before re-dosing will help.

As far as keeping the tank light off, it may help reduce stress on the fish, but won't affect the ich at all.

[Wat2Go]

yes, sorry. 1 drop per gallon.. I guess I need to keep light on, as we have live plants in the tank...
This morning everybody was doing well, the parasites are not on the danios anymore so I know we are in the "killing phase" right now!

L.

[Madcrawdad]

just keep a close eye out for a relapse.... as you may remember from the article, that the cysts drop off the fish into the gravel and lots more swimmers will then hatch out. you might want to do a gravel vac/water change before treating with the meds again today.

good luck

[TKOS]

2 days can't possibly kill off all the ich. If you do use the quick cure for 2 days i woudl follow that up with the salta nd heat treatment. It will be safe for plecos and any moderatley healthy fish. It is only long term life in salt added water that is a problem. The 2 to 3 weeks of low dose salt treatment isn't a problem.

[Ruben Tolon]

salt and heat is a relaible and safer method, and I've used it successfully to the point that I won't use other ich medications. I'd use it instead of the quick cure if the ich comes back

[Wat2Go]

As you all convinced me salt will work, and I actually think the QuickCure stressed out the previous batch of fish that came down with ich, I will go with heat/salt.
Right now the temp is 80, I will raise till 82.
Amonia is 0, ph is 7.0, nitrite is 0.

What is the best way to mix in the salt?

Do a waterchange and then mix in the salt in the new water? So, if I were to take out about 20% of the water, (which would be 2 gallons), would I add 2 teaspoons to the new water? Or is that doing it too quickly? And how will I know that I am at that level (if I add the salt with waterchanges I replace very slightly salted water with a bit more salty water, but how will I know I am at the 1 teasoon/gallon level??

Or do I take out a gallon of water, add ten teasoons to a new gallon of water and add it very very slowly to the tank? How slowly am I talking about?

Sorry for all these questions, but I do not want to mess with the tank as the fishies are all so happy right now...


Thank so much. You have helped me a lot already!!

L.

[Madcrawdad]

in the attached thread, liv2padl gives a good description of how salt should be added. http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97882