Ick is the culprit, 2 fish left, now what?

D

daisyduketuf

AC Members
Feb 28, 2006
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I have a 75 gallon tank that did contain a turquoise rainbow, two red rainbows, synodontis catfish, 2 baby upsidedown catfish, boseman rainbow (can't remember the spelling), and a sucker fish. I've had all the fish for 6 years except teh boseman rb and the 2 baby upsidedown catfish. I recently bought a baby oscar to go in my 55 in my 5th grade classroom from petsmart. I had an emergency when I got home a had to put him in my 75. My fish got ich from him and I treated them with copper. They all died except the boseman rb, 1 upside down catfish and the suckerfish. This stinks!!!! The turquoise was the last to die and he died yesterday. Looking at the rb, I only see two white specks on him. I put the copper in 1 wk ago. How long do I need to wait to add fish to this tank? Is there something else I should have used instead of copper? I'm sad and frustrated. :duh:
Thanks,
Trina
 
I would wait at least 2 weeks after you see the last signs of infection, or longer to be safe. the life cycle of ich is that the parasites are on the fish, then fall off and go down to the bottom where they become cysts, and then hatch out again to become free floating before reattaching. someone correct me if i'm wrong. . . .anyway, there is more to ich than just seeing it on the fish. . . it can be in the tank without being visible. using something like the salt/heat method kills it because the heat speeds up the life cycle into a period of a few days while the salt kills the free-swimming form of the ich. i would find the sticky about this topic and follow the instructions there to make sure your tank is clean.
however!!! always quarantine your fish! that way your original fishies won't catch any more bugs from the new fish like they did this time. at least a month, longer if they show any symptoms.
 
Thank you for your reply. I haven't lost anymore fish yet. I'll wait 3 or 4 weeks before I get any more fish. I think I will order them online this time. I also bought 2 oscars about 5 or 6 weeks ago to go in a new 55 tank and they died of ich also. I'm not having much luck around here getting healthy fish. I've been waiting to buy more fish to go in there also. I'll use salt and heat next time instead of copper. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't copper stay in the tank for a month after you put it in the tank? I'm not sure if I should put new fish in a tank that contains copper treatment or not.
Anyways, thanks for your help.
Trina
 
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