Scared about my afericans

[crb530]

so after cleaning the salt tank i had to move to the aferican tank for a water change and cleaning

well when i looked into the tank every fish was acting weird then i look at the pictis cat and it is just covered in ich

every thing was alright yesterday

so right away i did a water test and my nitrates where a little high 40ppm but thats normal for my tank befor a water change

any ideas what could have happened

i realized the tank is getting to small but there is a new tank coming on friday

right now there are 5 cichlids sizes 3 to 5 inches and 1 ranbow shark 4 inches 1 picis cat 3 inches and the one red devil crab size of my palm there is no agrestion in the tank its a 37 tall with a 20 gallon sump and on friday they will be moved to a 60 gallon with 20 sump

any ideas what could have gone wrong

[Blueiz]

You say they have ich? Ich is a parasite that was brought into your system. Have you added any new fish recently? Are you treating the ich?

[crb530]

fish wise i added two chinse alge eaters and the crab three weeks ago but they looked fine when i put them in

other than that i havent added any thing sense june

and yes i am treating them

[Blueiz]

The ich was most likely brought in by the new additions and it's just now showing. It's nothing that you did wrong, it happens to almost all fishkeepers at least once. What are you treating with?

[crb530]

yeah i know it happens

but im just freaking out cause these are prize cichlids i mean i hand picked all five in over a four month time line drove to probly 10 fish stores so i dont want anything to happen you know?

but the ich is only showing up on the pictus cat so thats alittle better

umm i am right now just using the lifeguard ich tablets because i had good luck with thoughs in the past and the crab came out and went into a qt till its gone cause he was not cheap and most ich treatments are not good for them unless i do garlice which i dont want to yet cause it makes the room smell bad

should i wait to move them into the bigger tank which was going to happen this weekend or should it be ok i was thinking setting it up get the pumps going throw in my old filter and stuff let it sit for a week or so (for the mini cycle) the add the fish ? is that a good way you think

[mfdrookie516]

if you move them in to a bigger tank and they still have ich, it will cost more to treat because of the larger water volume...

[gzeiger]

Better to treat the fish in the QT tank if you can. Don't assume ich meds are safe for your filter.

[crb530]

what do you guys say would be good for treating ich

like the best

[Blueiz]

I use salt at 2 tsp per gallon of water, most ppl raise there heat as well but since I do not run heaters on my tanks I dont. I leave that in for about 6 weeks (which is most likely overkill..). So far I have never had a recurrence of ich after treatment.

[crb530]

alright sounds good thats about what i was going to do and by the time i am done treating the tank my new tank will be cycled and ready to go im picking it up tomorrow