ICK

[griff5499]

One of my black mollies has what looks like ick. White spots. I am afraid to raise the temp to 86 for 5-10 days due to the ammonia levels rising in high temps.
Will the high temp affect my other fish? I have tetras, platies, and mollies.

 

[twiddlemuffin]

I'd raise the temp and be very up top on your water changes. Add an air stone.

 

[griff5499]

This is a new tank and unfortunately I got fish before I cycled the tank. All my fish have lived but I do have 1.0 ammonia reading, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrates. If I do water change, what does that do to the cycling process?

 

[griff5499]

I have added Prime to the tank to lower ammonia.

 

[Greta1981]

I don't know about ich, sorry, but I can answer your question about water changes. Water changes slow down the cycling process, but don't damage it in any way. The tank will cycle, just a little more slowly than if you weren't doing pwcs. There is no choice but to do regular water changes, as you are doing a fish-in cycle. At 1 ppm ammonia, you should change at least 30% of the water. Prime will bind toxins up to 1 ppm for 48 hours, but is not a substitute for the water changes. Hope this helped.

 

[Delapool]

Getting app crashes so this short.

What is tank ph?

Tetras (at least neons), mollies and platies will cope with temp.

Pwc's to bring ammonia down and temp increase for ich I would try (plus salt if not planted). I'll double check tonight ammonia/ph/temp tonight unless you have?

 

[Delapool]

Just in case useful. I have another link which I spot-checked one value and they are similar but this one is much easier to follow I find.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/your-guide-to-ammonia-toxicity-159994.html

 

[griff5499]

Tank pH is 7.8

 

[venymae]

WC are fine for cycling, most bacteria are going to be growing on stuff, NOT swimming in the water. I've had the best results with ich by raising the temp to 88 (slowly 1 degree an hour!) adding an air stone and doing TONS of water changes. 50% daily WC, until they show no signs of white spot, then 10% daily WC for a week. After one week of no spots, I SLOWLY lower the temp back to normal (1degree an hour). After the temp is normal I remove the airstone. It has worked way better than all the medicine I tried. I don't add salt because I have tetras. Start treating ich the moment you notice it, or you may lose lots of fish.

 

[Jmunroe]

Make sure to vac the gravel good when doing your water changes to pick up the unattached cysts. You need to do 50% water changes daily. It will slow down the cycle a minimal amount since there won't be as much ammonia for the bacteria to eat but it will not hurt the cycle, and your fishes health will need it.

 

[venymae]

doing WC are also important to keep your ammonia down in a fish-in cycle (I do fish-in cycling), it's a much better way to keep ammonia down when cycling than a chemical remover. Chemicals are more likely to mess with your cycle than a WC. IMO

+1 to vacuuming the gravel. That's important too!

 

[HeatherW]

so where are you now? temp? ammoinia? how are you fish doing? water changes?