Possible Ich during in fish cycling

[aquanooby]

I used a bio starter and am doing in fish cycling. In my tank I have 2 yellow labs and 2 electric blues.
I started tank on last friday 7/24/09
I first noticed spots last night 7/28/09 on the electric blue male and female well what i think and was told is a female
My current water parameters are
Ph= 7.8 Nitrite=0.0 ppm Nitrate = 5.0 ppm Ammonia = .50 ppm
1 1/4"
Live plants
80degrees
ugh what are my options here for treating while cycling.

 

[aquanooby]

here are two with flash

 

[lateinningmagic]

Raise the temp up to 84, and dose with salt. 2 Teaspoons per Gallon.

Since you are doing a fish in cycle which requires constant water changes, you will need to know exactly how much water your are removing and how much you are putting back in every time you do a WC so you can replace the lost salt.

This may be a big hassle and can get tricky. If you do not care about ever housing inverts in that tank then I would suggest using Copper Sulfate for the ick (combined with the higher temps) instead of salt. Buy a Copper test kit and monitor the copper levels as you do water changes. Just as big a hassle as with the salt, but at least with a copper test kit you are sure what your copper levels are.

 

[MTiffany]

Looks like Ich to me. Could be some other parasite. If you don't want to do salt or copper sulfate, I had good results with Kordon Ich Attack. It's "all natural" (mostly all natural) and it doesn't interfere with the establishment of N-cycle bacteria. It does, however, smell (and cloud the water).

 

[mel_20_20]

You've got to keep your ammonia down to barely a trace if not absolute 0, especially when you're fighting illness or parasitic infection.

Ich Guard, by Jungle is reported to be good, and it also has an antibiotic to protect the fish from secondary bacterial infection.

If you don't use Prime as conditioner, get some if you can. It removes chlorine, chloramine, but also detoxifies ammonia and nitrites and will do that for 24 hours after the dose, giving you time to do the needed water changes to keep your parameters pristine.

Excellent water quality is vital to help their immune systems fight this as you treat them, whether with salt or meds. I'm thinking the Jungle Ich Guard is a good product, from the experiences I've read about by posters here on AC.

You tank is still going through the nitrogen cycle and water changes with replacement water properly dosed for the salinity needed will be tricky. It can be done, I did it recently, but I think if I have another outbreak I'm going to go with Ich Guard.

 

[aquanooby]

ok sounds good trying to do water changes and messing with salt scares me at this point lol

 

[aquanooby]

one more thing i use a python tank cleaner filler should I just take out and replace water no cleaning ? or pull from substrate ?

 

[snoopy65]

Pull from the substrate as well. Ich is a parasite. What you see on the fish is just one stage of it. Those cysts will fall off into the substrate and make more ich. Which will get into the water and then attach on the same fish or the other fish and manifest itself into new little "salt crystals" or cysts. The only time during it's life cycle we can kill it is when it is in the water. So any you can pull from the substrate is fewer to attach to the fish. Also, you must continue treatment for up to 14 days after you see the last cyst (the average life cycle of ich), depending on your water temperature. We have you increase the temp, to increase the life cycle of the parasite so it goes a bit faster.

Your water changes need to keep your ammonia and nitrite as close to 0 as possible. Think of those as carbon monoxide is to humans. If exposed in high levels, death. But even exposed in small levels can permanently affect their gills and cause them to be sickly. If your garage is filled with carbon monoxide, you would let as much air out as possible to get it out. Same with water changes. If you need to do 2 a day to keep the levels down, then that is what you should do.

Hope this helps.