Hello all. I have frequented these forums for some time to browse existing threads and just glean as much information as I can, but now I need some very specific advice. I recently went on a 5 day vacation and bought automatic fish feeders for my 29 and 125 gallon freshwater tanks. I set them up a day in advance to make sure they were working properly, and they seemed to have worked ok in my absence. HOWEVER, I returned to find 2 dead fish in my 125, a female betta that was thriving before we left, and a rubber lip pleco that was added to the tank a few weeks back, but seemed to be doing fine nevertheless. Now my tank looks to be infested with Ick. My three Pictus Cats and one remaining Pleco (a Clown Pleco) have it really bad. My other fish seem stressed, especially my Bala Sharks, but I don't see any white spots on any of the other fish. I have read to treat this naturally by raising the tank temp to 86 degrees and leaving it there for two weeks. I've started gradually raising the tank temp by a few degree increments every couple hours, and now one of my Pictus Cats is breathing super heavy and not moving a lot. I have a 10 gallon that I can setup quickly and treat this guy with Ick Guard, but I'm just not sure what to do. I've already done a 50% water change after removing the dead fish, and I'm going to do another 25% water change tomorrow. My ammonia measured less than 0.25 ppm after the water change (I didn't measure before) with an API liquid test kit. I don't want to lose any more fish, but I feel that it is inevitable with the way some are stressed (especially my Pictus Cats). In addition to the 3 Pictus Catfish and 1 Clown Pleco, I also have a weather loach, 6 denison's barbs, 3 rosy barbs, 3 congo tetras (I know both the rosies and congos are schooling fish but that's all the LFS had when I purchased them, and I plan to complete the schools when they get more of each in stock), 6 bala sharks, and our favorite fish in the tank are a pair of Kribensis Cichlids. All of the barbs, tetras, and the weather loach seem to be the most unaffected right now, while the kribs and balas are stressed with no white spots. The Pictus Cats and Pleco are lethargic and not looking good. I guess my plan is to continue to increase the temperature of the tank to 86 degrees and hold it there for 2 weeks with frequent 20-25% water changes. I've added an extra airstone in addition to my two emperor 400 filters and bubbling volcano for a little extra aeration. I also have several live plants in the tank, so they should help with the aeration as well. I'm mostly worried about the weather loach with the high temp, since he's more a cold water fish. My normal tank temp is set at 75 degrees, so 86 seems like it will be quite an adjustment for my fish. I hope I'm doing the right thing. I treated with Seachem Prime and added a small amount of Seachem Neutral Regulator with my 50% water change. I also added a couple cap fulls of API Stress Zyme to help with the ammonia levels. I purchased some Ick Guard from PetSmart to treat if necessary, but I'm afraid to resort to medication if I can cure this naturally. My LFS was unfortunately closed by the time I got home this evening, so I couldn't go to them for advice.
I've educated myself as best I can using the internet as a resource, but any advice from seasoned fish keepers is greatly appreciated.
I've educated myself as best I can using the internet as a resource, but any advice from seasoned fish keepers is greatly appreciated.