Have lost almost all my fish!! HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[freshwatergal]

Well, here is an update on my ich situation. I went out to my lfs last night and purchased quick cure. I figured since I hadn't put any meds in the water, and had carbon in the filter, for at least 3 days (and have done two major water changes) that I should start the new treatment. I put some quick cure in last night before I went to be (about 10:30) and when I woke up this morning, the ich spots on my rainbow fish and red phantoms were almost non-existent. My poor silver dollar though...he still has white spots, and his fins/tail is getting ragged. I still haven't given up hope though. Qucik cure claims that ich should disappear in three days, so I will give it a few more days, do a water change, and see where Im at. Once again, thanks for everyone's help, I do appreciate it

 

[BrianNY]

cool

 

[freshwatergal]

got home from work today, my rainbow fish have no more spots...my silver dollar is still hanging in there...but now their fins are splitting...ugh...

 

[BrianNY]

Maybe it's me but I try and avoid using meds (and I keep discus ). I prefer a holistic approach to everything. LOL. But if it's working for you. Great. Keep us posted

 

[freshwatergal]

ughhhhh, I seem to not be able to beat this ICH. I woke up this morning and while the white spots were going away on the silver dollar, now my red phantoms have white spots, and their tails and fins are splitting. grrrr...what to do what to do.... :|

 

[Allivymar]

Keep in mind ich has a 3 stage life cycle, and only one cycle is suceptible to meds. Depending on your tank temps, it can take a week or more for all the ich to reach that susceptible stage, which means in the meantime your fish will break out. Reread the ich article I wrote )I posted the link initially) and you'll see what I mean. Just keep medicating and vacuuming.

 

[freshwatergal]

Ok...so I cleaned out my entire tank tonight. I went and got a 1 gal. acrylic tank that I had to set up as a QT tank. I lost one of my red phantoms in the transfer as he got stuck in the bubble thingy in the 1 gal., which was my own stupid fault. I rinsed my stones off with super hot water, as well as cleaing my ornaments with a hot water/salt solution. I put a brand new carbon filter in my filter system...so we'll see what happens now. I haven't put the fish back in yet, as I will let the tank sit over night. Hopefully I won't lose anymore fish overnight, either due to illness or my cats.

This is kind of off topic, but has anyone heard anything about freshwater puffers? I saw them at a semi-lfs tonight, but the girl there said they were a very aggresive fish. Is this true? Is it a good fish or a bad fish? Also, what about an elephant nose? I think they might both make a good addition to my tank. Let me know...Thanks!!

 

[Allivymar]

Do keep a close eye on the tank parameters. If I understand correctly, you cleaned out the main tank. The combo of meds and removal of a lot of nitrifying bacteria will almost definitely cause a big ammonia spike (correct me if I misunderstood what you were saying when you said you cleaned out the entire tank) once you put everyone back. OOoo and do watch those cats LOL


And madasafish answered your puffer/elephant nose question in your other post.

 

[freshwatergal]

yes...I cleaned out the entire tank. Emptied all the water, cleaned the stones, ornaments, everything! I figured maybe I should just start over, I wasn't really having any luck with the meds. Maybe I did a bad thing....maybe Im just impatient...anyway...I will keep an eye on the ammonia level before I put my fishies back in.

 

[Allivymar]

Urk. Don't even put the ammonia test away LOL just keep it next to the tank.

Don't forget, the ich life cycle is a week at temps of 80F or so. Because of that, you need to keep with a consistent treatment for at least 3 days AFTER the last sign. The parasites will continue to pop up until they all have reached that susceptible stage, and that takes a little while. Even with the high temp treatment, which the ich cannot handle, it takes about 5 days or so before the spots start disappearing from the fish. They won't disappear in a couple of days; the ones you see no longer on the fish have most likely fallen off and encysted in the gravel, and are also not susceptible to meds.

In this case, patience IS a virtue, even if its one I also don't have a lot of LOL

 

[freshwatergal]

Well, all of my old fish except what I believe was the male rainbow have passed on to that great big tank in the sky. I have hope for this one though, as he doesn't show any signs of ich at all, nor did he ever. I will keep treating him though for a few more days before I move him back to the tank. Thanks again to everyone who offered help and hope. I just hope that my new fishies will do ok. I have kept an eye on the ammonia since I cleaned everything out, and it has been 0. My pH is high though, but I wont mess with that right now. I hope that this topic has been help for other people as well. The lesson that I learned from this: stick with what you know, not with what you think will work faster (i.e. jungle labs ich gaurd vs. Quick Cure...I recommend quick cure).

 

[Allivymar]

Awww. I'm sorry fresh I have my fingers crossed for the rainbow.

And thanx for the QuickCure comment; I've heard others who were pleased with it. Nice to have that confirmed again.

 

[freshwatergal]

Well, all my fish have gone to fishy heaven . I can't really say Im surprised. I was just too impatient I guess. I have on the other hand added the new fish to me tank (clean and all) and they are doing awesome. I have 5 in there now, so I think I will wait a few more days to add somemore fish. How long is long enough for a tank to cycle?

 

[Allivymar]

It really depends on the bio-load, which means how much waste the fish produce, how much food winds up rotting in the substrate, pH levels, how quickly the bacteria colonise the tank, etc etc. With a brand new tank, and no bacterial starter (ie: Bio-Spira or squeezings from a mature filter) it could take 3-6 weeks easy.

I suggest you wait (LOL) more then a few days to add more fish. Let the tank start to build up a nitrifying bacterial colony before you add even more ammonia to the tank (which is what you'll do if you add more fish). Just keep an eye on the levels for now, water change to keep the nitrogenous waste levels from getting too high and killing your fish, and once the ammonia/nitrites are unreadable and nitrates show up, you can add more fish. This way, they won't be too terribly stressed by ammonia and nitrite poisoning (if it doesn't outright kill them) and it will reduce their chances of getting sick.