I have a serious ich problem. Need help!

[mel_20_20]

It wouldn't hurt, if he's looking hungry. Just be sure to remove any uneaten pieces in the morning.

It sounds like you may have been overfeedeing, by the description of the gunk stirred up. When you do a water change, how do you do it?

Do you have a siphon hose with the larger tube on the end that you can stick down in the gravel as you siphon. This is how you can get down in the gravel and remove stuff that has sifted down through the gravel, working it's way down into the substrate where it can accumulate and rot.

It is extremely important that a good regular vacuum of the substrate is a part of your routine. Every time you do a water change you need to do that, and with a 16 gallon tank I think I'd do a water change of about 4 or 5 gallons twice a week, and I"m talking about once you are through this crisis.

For now, you will need to be doing water changes more frequently than that, closely monitoring your params and responding quickly to detectable ammonia and nitrite.

Try to feed only an amount that will be consumed within a few minutes, this way you won't have a lot of food leftover and decaying. Decaying food will be eaten by the fish, and can cause intestinal problems.

What kind of pleco did you say you have in there?

 

[duragon]

Yeah, I'd definitely say I've been over feeding. I have a 'Gravel vaccum syphon hose' which is basically what you described. Its just a 6ft hose with a wide tube on the end. I stick it in the gravel, and it picks up hunks of it, and then I will shake it out. I will do this all around the tank. You can see the food and stuff coming out of the gravel up the tube. It took me a few tries to get the hang of it, but after this last water addition there was A LOT less junk floating around, and a lot more junk in the bucket.

As far as I know hes just a regular, average pleco... ugly as can be. Im not sure if he is hungry or just attacking the air bubbles. Like I said, usually he is on the glass, but after I did water changes hes been all over the tank, mostly on decorations... not sure if hes hungry or not.

Oh, and Ive even seen the babies, they are turning black and getting bigger!

 

[mel_20_20]

Can you get a picture of him? Some Plecos are small and don't get big, but some of them get HUGE. Your guy may be one of them, and if so a 16 gallon is too small for him.

Try to get a photo, or google plecos and try to find one that looks like him so you can let us know.

 

[duragon]

Here's the old boy... Right now hes maybe... 3-5 inches long.

 

[mel_20_20]

I'm not familiar with all the Plecos, there are so many of them, but he looks like he's one of the guys that gets really big.

I hope someone can ID him and help with that. Seriously, some of them get to be 22 inches long, even longer. He probably already is too big for a 16 gallon.

Fish that normally are big when full grown can become stunted in smaller tanks. Their body stops growing but the insides keep growing. That's an oversimplified description of what happens, but it is true that the become stunted, they suffer and don't live as long as they would in an adequate tank.

If you can, once everyone is healthy, you might try to re-home him to someone with a larger tank. Now that I've said all that, he may be one of the smaller species that doesn't get big, and that tank may be just fine, but I hope someone will stop in and let us know if that's the case.

Anyway, I'm gonna hit the hay... I'm really tired. I'll check in the morning to see how things are going. Hope your fish continue to improve.

 

[THE V]

It's looks a little bit like mine that I have in my 125 gallon tank.

Mine was identified at http://www.plecofanatics.com as being Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus. He's currently about 14 inches long and still growing. Pleco species are very difficult to identify and there are tons of species. I believe in time he will reach 18-24 or so inches long if I remember my research. So if yours is the same species as mine he won't fit in your 16 gallon for long.

 

[duragon]

Hello all, just a quick update. I have added the salt to the tank, and it appears that the mollies are loosing their spots after just 1 day! Hopefully no more will develop. The molly that turned white is starting to get its color back, though it is still very lethargic and pale. However, one of my glofish has developed 2 spots on its tail, a guppy has 2 spots on its top fin, and my poor plecostomus appears to be riddled with spots (possibly 15-20). I am not sure wether these are part of his look, though I dont think so... Only time will tell how he does. He doesnt appear to be ill in anyway. He is really active, and eats algae wafers like he hasnt eaten in months.

 

[mel_20_20]

Keep up the good fight. Don't stop too soon. I, personally, would go 10 days past the last visible speck. Vacuum the substrate, not only to remove the gunk, food, decay, etc., but to help get rid of the Ich cysts that are in the substrate waiting to hatch out, releasing thousands of the free swimmers.

Keep up the water changes, to keep the parameters perfect. You're doing a great job! Try some zuchinni for your big pleco. He'll love it. I get a zuchinni, do some long diagonal slices, wrap a slice in a paper towel and nuke for about 30-40 seconds.

I use a stainless steel fork, stab it, burying the tines in the slice, and drop that in the tank. One of those veggie clips for aquariums is good.

For the rest of the zuchinni, slice it up and put each slice in a snack ziploc baggie with some tank waterr and freeze it. When you thaw it it's good to go; you don't have to nuke them when they've been frozen.

Plecs love zuchinni, usually, lol. Your other fish may like it, too. You just have to watch out and not leave any uneaten in there for too long, but it will probably be scarfed up.

 

[duragon]

Today I did a 25% water change, added more salt and prime. I took my plants out, cleaned them off, took the barrel out and cleaned it to my plecos' dismay. Took new water readings.

pH: 7.6
Ammonia: .25
Nitrite: .50
Nitrate: 10

Why won't the Ammonia and nitrite stay down? This is the 4th or 5th 25% water change I've done in as many days...

And I hope I didnt kill the baby... I didnt see him the whole time I was cleaning... I hope I didnt bury him in gravel when I was vaccuming it.

 

[mel_20_20]

I think you still have a lot of gunk in there, and your beneficial bacteria can't keep up with it, yet. The nitrate you are seeing is a very good sign, though.

I believe I would up the water change to 50% every 24 hours. The readings on your ammonia and nitrite would be very worrisome to me if you weren't overdosing on Prime, as in the emergency dosage.

Prime is helping keep the water safe, even with those readings, and the salt helps to with nitrite poisoning, but I still think 50% every 24 hours would be a good idea.

Also, don't forget to keep working on getting the substrate cleaned out, vaccuiming well with each change.

You're doing a good job for your fishies. Don't worry too much, the beneficial bacteria will catch up and be in your tank in sufficient quantities before you know it.