DestinyUneke
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2017
- Messages
- 1
I have a 29 gal (standard) community aquarium. Solid water paramaters, cycled for 10 months. Some would say it's overstocked but I haven't had any problems up until now. I have four platties, four mollies, eight zebra danios, and two gold mystery snails. I do bi-weekly/weekly (depending on laziness) 25% water changes. The tank is kept at 78 degrees Fahrenheit, I have a Penguin Biowheel 200 and plenty of aireation.
After doing a lot of research I selfishly decided on changing my substrate from gravel to sand one day ago. I used & thoroughly cleaned pool filter sand. I removed all my tank inhabitants as well as decorations and plants and kept them in a 10 gal aquarium with their own tank water and heater. Meanwhile, I drained the 29 gal completely and removed all the gravel and put it in a separate container with aquarium water as well in hopes of keeping some of the beneficial bacteria alive. I did not touch/clean/remove my filter media. This process took about 6 hours so the fish weren't out of their original tank for that long. I placed some of the old gravel into a pair of panty hose, cut the legs of each side and tied it off and placed the balls of gravel into my aquarium, hoping that the beneficial bacteria would recolonize in the sand.
It's been 24 hours and I'm seeing what appears to be ich on one of my platties, I've never treated fish for ich before. Im assuming they had it prior to my substrate swap if my understanding of the life cycle of ich is correct. I've read online that an effective way to treat would be by slowly raising the temperature in the tank to around 88 degrees Fahrenheit. Unfortunately I'm unable to do that with a preset heater but I'd be willing to go buy an adjustable one. I just have a few questions about treatment.
1. I read that the heat will cause the baby ich in the sand to come to the surface of the substrate, and from there I could vaccum them. Is this the only way to remove the ich? I'm avoiding the vaccum now because I don't want to disturb the nitrogen cycle anymore than I already have.
2. Will my snails be able to withstand such high temperatures, or should I temporarily house them in my cycled 5.5 gal aquarium that also houses two mystery snails?
3. Would a chemical treatment be more effective than heat, and if so, are there any chemical treatment options available that are safe for invertebrates. If not, would I be able to readd my snails back to the tank after chemical treatment?
4. I also read about using aquarium salt which I have. How effective is this and are snails able to withstand the salt?
Thanks in advance, this is my first time posting to this forum.
After doing a lot of research I selfishly decided on changing my substrate from gravel to sand one day ago. I used & thoroughly cleaned pool filter sand. I removed all my tank inhabitants as well as decorations and plants and kept them in a 10 gal aquarium with their own tank water and heater. Meanwhile, I drained the 29 gal completely and removed all the gravel and put it in a separate container with aquarium water as well in hopes of keeping some of the beneficial bacteria alive. I did not touch/clean/remove my filter media. This process took about 6 hours so the fish weren't out of their original tank for that long. I placed some of the old gravel into a pair of panty hose, cut the legs of each side and tied it off and placed the balls of gravel into my aquarium, hoping that the beneficial bacteria would recolonize in the sand.
It's been 24 hours and I'm seeing what appears to be ich on one of my platties, I've never treated fish for ich before. Im assuming they had it prior to my substrate swap if my understanding of the life cycle of ich is correct. I've read online that an effective way to treat would be by slowly raising the temperature in the tank to around 88 degrees Fahrenheit. Unfortunately I'm unable to do that with a preset heater but I'd be willing to go buy an adjustable one. I just have a few questions about treatment.
1. I read that the heat will cause the baby ich in the sand to come to the surface of the substrate, and from there I could vaccum them. Is this the only way to remove the ich? I'm avoiding the vaccum now because I don't want to disturb the nitrogen cycle anymore than I already have.
2. Will my snails be able to withstand such high temperatures, or should I temporarily house them in my cycled 5.5 gal aquarium that also houses two mystery snails?
3. Would a chemical treatment be more effective than heat, and if so, are there any chemical treatment options available that are safe for invertebrates. If not, would I be able to readd my snails back to the tank after chemical treatment?
4. I also read about using aquarium salt which I have. How effective is this and are snails able to withstand the salt?
Thanks in advance, this is my first time posting to this forum.
