Help! I have sick fish and too many tanks

[ppo8820]

Hey all,
So back in the day I had saltwater and freshwater tanks and my fish never got sick I even worked in a well known aquatic store. Well, I got bit by the fish bug again recently when my co-workers got me petsmart gift card. I got a 5 gallon Marineland tank and have a betta in it. Then I bought a 10 gallon set up, added safestart, and started with 2 small Endlers. That was a month ago, and now I have 2 baby plattys, the Endlers, and a small angel fish. (he will be moved to a 30 gallon hex I keep at work when he gets older). Well, in the interm, I had two adult platys and they had Ich. I removed them and took them to work, where I treated them in the hexagon (only fish in it). My tank here was fine for over a week, but now the baby platys have ich.

I researched and due to having 3 Mystery snails in the tank, I coudnt turn the temp up to 86 or treat with traditional ich meds. Well tonight I ran out and bought a small 3 gallon tank to put the snails in so I could treat my 10 gallon. That means I have 3 tanks in my apartment, lol.......and 2 at work.

Well, I started turning the temp up and added ich guard. I also added an airline for added oxygen. Now the plattys look miserable and arent as active as they were. I am also concerned about my snails in an uncycled tank! I did add safestart and I am oddly attached to my snails.

I really dont want anyone to die, so am I doing this right? any advice would be awesome. Thanks.

 

[ppo8820]

Yeah

Anyone have any experience with Ich attack (herbal)?

 

[Fresh2o]

I guess I picked the wrong forum to go to.

Not necessarily. It could be the timing of the post. 2 AM EST (where I am at)...traffic might be low especially on a weekend.
For your snails, just keep up the water changes.
For Ich, give the treatment some time. The heat will kill the organisms in the free swimming stage but the outbreak you are seeing on your fish are the pustules maturing and those (from what I understand) are not affected by the heat. Those will have to mature and run their course.
I do not have much experience with Ich. Maybe 3-4 bouts in the last 10 years. Last time I had it in a tank was over two years ago (which coincidentally was the last time I bought fish).


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[ppo8820]

I learned the value of a QT and will never just add fish to my tank again. The Platys have it the worst, nothing on the other fish so far. I am almost up to 86 degrees, which I hope they can all tolerate. I have ich guard in there, but will do a water change this evening and maybe stick to lightly salting and heat going forward. I also have a bottle of Ich attack herbal.

 

[Matt68005]

Salt plus heat plus Ich medicine = no more ich. Not sure what your question is, seems like you already know this....

 

[ppo8820]

Not so simple. I had snails. Now a baby platy died and I'm bummed. I liked that platy.


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[Fishfur]

It can be hard on younger or older fish. The main thing is to continue treating until there has been no sign whatsoever of Ich on any fish for at least a week. Isolating the two fish wasn't a bad idea, but unfortunately, the parasites would already have infested your tank and that's why the other fish got it. Once you have Ich in a tank there are only two ways to get rid of it. One is to treat the Ich. The other is to remove all fish, turn up the temp and wait a couple of weeks, because without fish as hosts, Ich will die and Ich can't just reappear unless another infected fish is added. Best reason of all to have a QT.

The snails should be fine so long as you keep their water changed. I'm very fond of snails myself, I have more than 10 species so far. Fortunately, they are immune to Ich.

 

[ppo8820]

Well any living thing I bring into my house, I tend to do my best to give them a good life. I dont look at any one life being more significant than the other and I dont find the suffering of any living thing to be humorous or entertaining.

 

[ppo8820]

Thanks for your reply. I havent seen any signs of ich in almost a week now. I still have the temp up and the air stone going and will wait until day 10 to be sure. I am excited for this to be over with and glad only 1 fish didnt make it, but the rest (including the snails) did.

 

[J.Mcpeak]

Up to the point where reproduction stops.
Warmer temp speeds things up, in cooler waters things take longer.

For ich
I think 38 days is the longest time for a full cycle and 8 or so at the short end.

Ich only affects fish as far as I know so a tank with no fish at normal temperatures without ich medication should be safe after the longest timeframe.

By removing the fish you break the chain and the life cycle stops.

 

[Fishfur]

Nice to hear.