Problems With Ich

guppygirl123

guppygirl123

Proud Member of the Muffin Mafia
Oct 15, 2006
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Hey guys! I'm brand-new to this site. I've had my 29 gallon aquarium for about 2 months now. It currently has:
2 opaline gouramis
2 gold gouramis
3 fancy male guppies
3 mickey mouse platies 1 female, 2 male (I've heard that the males will harass the female but so far I haven't had a problem, if she starts getting really stressed I' going to add 2 more females)
3 baby mickey mouse fry (in floating fry container)
1 dojo loach
1 banjo catfish
1 farlowella catfish

The tank is very well planted with several pieces of driftwood and everything has been going quite well- I had a few platy deaths in the beginning but now everyone is healthy and they've all been eating like pigs. I do 10% water changes weekly with dechlorinated tap water or rain water (but that's only when there is enough to use, so normally we just use tap water). The only new fish in the tank is the farlowella, which I added yesterday. Just this morning, though, I noticed white spots on the fins of my gold gouramies. One has the spots only on his fins, the other has a few of the spots on his body too. All of the other fish are fine right now but I'm worried they'll soon get it too.... Should I add medication? I was going to do a water change tomorrow (right now the water isn't dechlorinated), but should I do that today? Would a bit of chlorine in the water hurt my fish? Any help would be appreciated because this is my first experience with ich.
 
Slowly, slowly raise your temperature to 84-86 degrees.

The water change will not hurt.

Let me find a post to give you on the ich salt cure....
 
This was based on a 20 gal tank. Since you have a 29 gal tank you will need to use more salt....

Shoot for the 2 tsp per gal mark. You have a 20 gal tank, and need to get the level of salt up slowly, doing it in stages, watching for reactions. 20 gal means you will be adding 40 tsp of salt by the time you are done.

Get it to one tsp per gal first. Mix 20 tsp of salt in one gal of warm water. Stir until well dissolved. Drain or better yet, gravel vac out one gal of water from your tank. Add one fourth of the saltwater mixture, every hour for four hours.

Stay observant on your fishes reactions, you may have to lengthen the time between doses.

Let them settle into that for a couple of hours. Mix another batch of water, 1 gallon and 20 tsp of salt. Drain out another 1 gal from the tank. Every 2 hrs add about a fourth of this mix to the tank. Keep close observation to their reaction.

You need to bring that temp up to at least 82-84 degrees, preferably 86. DO THIS SLOWLY. Note, higher temps mean less O2 in the water. If your fish hang out at the surface, gasping, add an airstone for increased air exchange.

Once you have achieved 2 tsp per gallon you do not add more salt. Continue the temp and salt water conditions for the length of time noted in the link. You will still have to do your required water changes. Ensure the replacement water has the 2 tsp per gallon concentration as your tank.
 
Thanks, I'll do this today. Do you think a a bit of chlorine would hurt my fish if did a 3 gallon water change with tap water that hasn't been dechlorinated?
 
Yes. If they are already stressed with ich in the tank, you do not want to increase the stress and make it worse.

Can you get more dechlor today so you can start the salt ich treatment?

At least start the temp increase to 86, since you can cure that way also. With the bio-load you have, you should be doing 40% water changes weekly.

We will save your overstocking/aggressiveness issues for later. :p:
 
So until I get the water dechlorinated I should just start turning up the temperature?
 
So far I haven't had any problems with aggression.... Which fish should I be worried about?
 
Fish behavior changes sometimes as they get older. I would have issue with your gouramis. Do a search on here for them and you will get an idea of the issues you may face.

Up the temp about 1 degree every 2-3 hours.
 
Okay. So do you think I'll be fine with my current amount of fish if I do more water changes? Like a 15% water change twice a week?
 
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