Help... --- ich

[Ptolemy]

Hi I'm new to this site and to having fish. My previous fish had ich, I treated with raising water temperature & salt water treatment - unfortunately, all my fish & shrimp died . So I waited a couple weeks, got new fish & shrimp .... and the night after I brought my fish home, it appeared as though my male platy has ich, agh! How can I treat without killing everything again?? Any advice would be great! Also, I am hoping to get a smaller tank tomorrow to use as a qt. & one of my platies is pregnant & I saw a couple fries today ... will treating ich harm her & the fry (provided they don't get eaten)?

 

[bruinsbro1997]

to AA!
Is the tank cycled?
Just because all the fish died and nothing happened for two weeks doesn't mean the tank doesn't have ick. It is a free-floating parasite that won't be dead unless you continue treatment even after it's gone. What are your water parameters?

 

[Ptolemy]

I tested my water two nights ago and everything was zero, except my ph which has always been 7.5.

I just retested -
Ph - 7.5
Ammonia - 0.6
Nitrite - 0.1
Nitrate - 5

I know this isn't good, gonna do a water another water change (once my girls go down for a nap).

I am getting another tank today - should I qt my fish in the new tank or try to move my shrimp & treat my existing tank?

To be honest, I don't know if I cycled my tank. It's been running for just over a month. I was definitely inexperienced when I started all this!

 

[librarygirl]

Are you using test strips or a liquid kit?

With ammonia and nitrite it seems your tank isn't fully cycled. What size tank is it and what fish do you have in there?

QT'ing the fish with Ich isn't going to remove it from your main tank, so you may as well treat the main tank and remove the shrimp. How long did you treat the Ich for? It needs to be treated for at least 2 weeks.

You'll also need to do water changes to keep ammonia and nitrite down until the tank fully cycles, although it seems you already know this.

In my signature there are two links for you: "what is cycling" and "new tank with fish." Also here's a link on treating Ich: Freshwater Ich? Yuck!

 

[Ptolemy]

Are you using test strips or a liquid kit?

With ammonia and nitrite it seems your tank isn't fully cycled. What size tank is it and what fish do you have in there?

QT'ing the fish with Ich isn't going to remove it from your main tank, so you may as well treat the main tank and remove the shrimp. How long did you treat the Ich for? It needs to be treated for at least 2 weeks.

You'll also need to do water changes to keep ammonia and nitrite down until the tank fully cycles, although it seems you already know this.

In my signature there are two links for you: "what is cycling" and "new tank with fish." Also here's a link on treating Ich: Freshwater Ich? Yuck!

I'm using a liquid kit. My tank is a 20 gallon. I have 3 sunset platy & 3 guppies & approx 20 cherry shrimp. Last time I treated for two weeks doing a salt water/temperature raise & everything died. & since having ich last time, I have been doing water changes every other day. I am going to move the shrimp into a new tank & treat my main tank. Should the new tank be cycled though? Is there a quick easy way to do this? Thanks for your advice. The only ich treatment my local store had was super ich cure - let's hope this works.

 

[Fishkeeper26]

What kind of salt did you use? How much did you use? And what did to set your temp to?

 

[Ptolemy]

What kind of salt did you use? How much did you use? And what did to set your temp to?

Last time, I raised the temperature to 31 degrees. Used aquarium salt, did three intervals (12 hrs part) of adding salt to make my aquarium 0.3 % salt (I think it was).

I set up a new tank today for my shrimp & some fry I saved (hope they weren't yet affected by the ich)! & I'll treat my main tank with an ich treatment.