Needing help with my 55

[syryjac2]

I made an obvious mistake and bought my fish from Walmart and now have lost fish due to ich. My tanks been up and running for close to a month now. I have 3 platys, 2 mollies, a sword, 4 corys, 2 silver dollars, 1 gourami, a pleco, 4 dwarf frogs and several ghost shrimp. I have been battling this ich for almost two weeks now. I was using Ich Away and that was only allowing treatment every three days, so now I have been using the tablets daily the last three days. I have been doing the water changes daily before each new dose as directed on the box. My ammonia and nitrite are high. I've added Cycle to my tank and I have C100 in my filter. Nothing seems to help. I've now bought the Jungle brand (ACE) ammonia, chlorine remover and am going to add that when I do my :fairy: vacuuming of the rocks tonight. I just am wondering if I"m doing things right. I have also been adding the aquarium salts to all new water I'm adding. I've had my carbon removed this whole time for the most part and am worried that I should put it back. I don't know I"ve lost three of my four dwarf gouramis to Ich. I"m also so very lucky not to have lost any of my corys, frogs, shrimp or my pleco due to the medicine, I know that it's bad for them. I also have my tank at 80 degrees. All help is greatly appreciated...........

 

[Star_Rider]

are you sure it's ich??

if the tank is now a month old..you are most likely dealing with cycling issues..this explains the high ammonia and nitrites..

I wouls suggest you start doing water changes..ccle won't help and the other products probably aren;t going to contribute too much to help you cycle.

can you get biospira?

ich may not be fatal..but it can weaken fish and make them suseptible to other secondary infections.

but the real prob you have is high ammonia and nitrites. those are fatal and will starve the fish of O2.

start changing water atleast 50% and take another reading..be ready to do daily water changes..you need to keep some ammonia and nitrites in the tank..but you want to keep them low to get the bacteria going.

once the cycle gets established..look at other issues..adding aquarium salt will help reduce nitrite uptake.

 

[syryjac2]

I'm pretty sure it's ich. The white sugar looking spots a little raised all over them. Thank You for the advice. I've been changing the water daily. All the fish I've lost have had the spots everywhere. Last night one of them looked so bad, his fins eventually looked stuck on his sides though he was moving fairly well, they were both gone this morning when I went to check on them. I just wonder if it's hurting that I have my carbon out all this time.

 

[syryjac2]

I will look into the biospera. I just had to get what I could in town and all we have here is the walmart products. I just tested my water again and the ammonia is down considerably, but the nitrites are still up. Ammonia was either .50 or .25 I couldn't decide for sure and the nitrites were at 1.0 , maybe 2.0. My ph is okay and my nitrates are fine. I sure hope I don't lose my last dwarf gourami, he's so beautiful!!!!!! They were in my tank the longest and when I brought the new fish in the ich started and unfortunately it spread to them. I'm so upset, I will definately go out of town for all future fish AFTER I make sure this Ich is gone and my nitrites are at 0. I just lost a cory, probably due to the medicine I'm treating the ich with...... Does anyone else have any suggestions about when to replace my carbon? Does it sound like I'm doing things right??????????????

 

[Rbishop]

This is all from IME...

Stop the additives except dechlor for chlorine/chloramine...

Run carbon for 3-5 days, new every day to pull out the meds...

Water changes every 12 hours, 50%, until ammonia/nitirte are just barely detectable..

Give exact readings on ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH, include the same readings on your tap water after it has set out overnight..

Stop the aquarium salts...

Your tank is not properly cycled, read...

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64301

and...

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3194

http://aquafacts.net/wiki/index.php/Ich

 

[syryjac2]

I'm so confused!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First off , Thank You for the advice. I appreciate all the help I can get. Now I'm confused. Is the salt bad? The article you sent about the Ich tells me to use salt. Maybe I misunderstood and it meant either the salts or the meds. I'm on my way to work for a few hours. I'll have to vacuum again and do a bigger water change as soon as I get home. Thank You again for everything!!!! I think I'm going to lose my last gourami now, his Ich is still there though less of it, but he has developed these blue streaks down his face and sides just like the last one did. I feel terrible........

 

[budrecki]

STOP!!! Stop were you are. You are apparently very confused. You seem to be adding ammonia ( as in doing a fishless cycle ) with FISH IN THE TANK? Is this correct?

Please answer this question and then we will walk through this fiasco...

 

[Lady G]

This is my sister, I told her to come here b/c you guys have helped me so many times and have been so good to me (thanks ). She is at work right now but will be home later this afternoon...but to answer your question YES she has fish in the tank, with ick & cycling going on right now.

 

[Star_Rider]

Like I mentioned..ich is the least of the worries..the tank is cycling and the ammonia and nitrites can do far worse damage than the ich.

I'm curious tho..salt can be used to combat the ich(I would not use any other ich med until the salt treatment) salt also change the rate of uptake of nitrite.

I suspect that once the meds are gone..you can use the salt treatment for ich and also assist with the nitrite absorbtion.

in the mean time do water changes to control the ammonia and nitrites..

 

[syryjac2]

Hello! Thank You both for the help!!!!! I don't think that I'm adding ammonia to the tank? I've been using the Jungle Ace Ammonia, chlorine, chloramine remover when I add new water. Do you think that I should not put meds in today only the salt??????? I'm using Aquarium Salt only, is this right? I've read something about using regular salt, but I'm afraid til I"m sure. I read alot of stuff before I even got the tank up, and thought I halfway knew what I was doing :duh: Guess I was way off with that huh????? I'm going to go test my water real quick and hope for the best............... My nitrites are still at 1 or 2 and my ammonia is at 1. So the ammonia's up a little bit. I just vacuumed my rock and did a 20% change this morning. My gourami has one fin stuck to him now, so It's just a matter of time before I lose him...... I just hope the aquarium salt takes the nitrites down. Should I go ahead and put my carbon back in?????????????????????