Icky ich

[maestromad]

Ok so I have ich, my poor peppered corys are covered, and I have lots of small white dots floating around the tank!

I have started treatment with Protozin today and my temp is currently 26C (78.8), my tanks has 2 peppered corys, 4 juv guppies and 3 adult guppies (all male).
My readings are: pH 7.4 Amm 0.25 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0,
After taking those readings, I rinsed the filter in tank water to get rid of the gunk, vacumed the sand (as best I could) and did a 20% wc

My questions are:
1. what is the safest temperture high I can achieve (to hurry up the ich cycle)
2. I have tried to vacum the sand but wasn't very good at it any tips?
3. Also, my plants are being delivered in the next few days will they be ok to add to my tank??

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Ok so I have ich, my poor peppered corys are covered, and I have lots of small white dots floating around the tank!

I have started treatment with Protozin today and my temp is currently 26C (78.8), my tanks has 2 peppered corys, 4 juv guppies and 3 adult guppies (all male).
My readings are: pH 7.4 Amm 0.25 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0,
After taking those readings, I rinsed the filter in tank water to get rid of the gunk, vacumed the sand (as best I could) and did a 20% wc

My questions are:
1. what is the safest temperture high I can achieve (to hurry up the ich cycle)
2. I have tried to vacum the sand but wasn't very good at it any tips?
3. Also, my plants are being delivered in the next few days will they be ok to add to my tank??

1. 86F-88F is a good temp to treat ich. IMO the meds are not needed. Just the heat alone is enough to cure the ich. The addition of half a dose of salt will help too.
2. Hover about 3cm above and move slowly.
3. The plants will be fine to add.

 

[maestromad]

Thanks for that, will my fish be ok at that temp, one is real sick and I have one on a downward spiral too.
I have two airstones in the tank so plenty of O2

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Thanks for that, will my fish be ok at that temp, one is real sick and I have one on a downward spiral too.
I have two airstones in the tank so plenty of O2

They will be fine at those temps as long as there is plenty of aeration (like you have already). The very sick one may not make it sorry I would do a large PWC with temp matched water to remove some of those meds. It won't be helping the weaker of your fish.

 

[maestromad]

Thanks all fish were looking much perkier this evening hopefully they will continue to improve over night!!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Thanks all fish were looking much perkier this evening hopefully they will continue to improve over night!!

That's good. If you choose the heat method make sure you keep it at 86F for two weeks or more. Even if the ich appears to be gone.

 

[maestromad]

Yeah I will, will up it again when I get home to another degree and have another vacuum!

 

[Koikid88]

Hopefully you read this before you raised the temp!!!!

DON'T just raise your heater to 86-88 if your tank is 78. That would be too drastic of a change.

Slowly go up 2 degrees every 10-12 hours. If there's no salt already in the tank, maybe do a half dosage to what is directed on the box. Followed by the rest of the salt in the following days.
Scaleless fish don't handle salt all too well, if you have any, cut the overall dosage in half.

 

[Koikid88]

Is the ammonia still .25?
If it is, this will be causing stress and slowing the healing process. It may be the reason why they became ill in the first place.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Is the ammonia still .25?
If it is, this will be causing stress and slowing the healing process. It may be the reason why they became ill in the first place.

Nice catch. Missed that.

 

[maestromad]

My ammo has been 0 until the change over, and I am only slowly raising the temp. All fish are still alive my sick one is holding on well!
Thanks to all for yr help and advice hopefully everything will start evening out now

 

[Mumma.of.two]

My ammo has been 0 until the change over, and I am only slowly raising the temp. All fish are still alive my sick one is holding on well!
Thanks to all for yr help and advice hopefully everything will start evening out now

If the ich gets worse in the next few days don't freak out. It usually gets worse before it gets better.

 

[maestromad]

Well the good news is my sickly guppies has actually swim about today although his fins are still clamped, I've added a pic of my cory with the silvery marks some of the fish have, he is also acting a bit weird! My temp is up to 80 now and I'll put it up again this evening thanks for all the help again

 

[LyndaB]

The fish can get very lethargic in the higher temps. You'll probably see more typical behavior once the treatment period is over and you can slowly decrease the heat.

 

[maestromad]

Thanks my one cory has taken to hanging out resting on te thermometer and sucking the air bubbles that come to him!! He is still swimming around periodically though! The temp is now 82 should I keep going up? I don't want to stress the corys

 

[maestromad]

One more question what should mu nitrate reading be? Is it ok at 0?

 

[maestromad]

Totally gutted, just found my healthy guppy dead

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Totally gutted, just found my healthy guppy dead

Oh I'm sorry to hear that

 

[LyndaB]

One more question what should mu nitrate reading be? Is it ok at 0?

In a cycled tank, you should expect to keep your nitrates at <20, unless the tank is heavily planted, in which case your nitrate will be closer to 0.

Sorry about your guppy.

 

[maestromad]

Thanks, luckily my sick guppy is making a wonderful recovery my readings were a hit high ths morn nitrite 0.5 ammo stil 0.25 and nitrate 0 so pwc it was! Hopefully things will start to settle now