Maintenance yesterday,...and then spotted Ich :(

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jaysono

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
May 3, 2004
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Location
RSM, CA
Things were looking good in my tank for some time. I did notice a little brown algae the other day so I planned on doing the algae sponge scraper thing yesterday, along with a 20% water change and vacuuming.

First, I scrubbed most, not all, of the diatom algae I noticed on two of my walls. Then I vacummed about 35% of the surface area of gravel, thus sucking out about approx 3.5 gallons of water. Replaced water with conditioned water at same temp.

Then I noticed my bio-wheel filter wasn't moving so great, so I took a look at filter. Whoa! Worse than I thought, so I took it out and rubbed it on a new filter and added some squeezings....Bio wheel started spinning freely again.

About an hour later I went to sit down and feed my fish (I wasn't paying attention earlier), and all 3 of my Bleeding Heart Tetra's had a bad case of Ich!!!! :cry:

It just popped up overnight! Didn't see that at all the day before. What happened? What causes Ich so fast? And why only the Tetra's and not the others?

Anyway, I rushed on line, read the article here on Ich and started my regime. I began to raise the temp on the tank two degrees (81). I don't have a QT tank. Today, when I get home, I will notch it up another 1-2 degrees. (82-83) I also added a nice teaspoon of salt, and depending on how my critter are when I get home, I'll go ahead and add another TSP (it's only 16 gal).

I also have Quick-Cure and added the requisite drops for Tetra's (1 drop for every 2 gallons).

Appetite's seemed normal this morning. Did look at if they were slightly off-balance however....just a tad.

A few questions:

I hear some meds can be poisonous to Ghost Shrimp, but Quick-Cure had no pre-cautions, nor did the site Aquarium.net warn against invertabrates when discussing Quick-Cure, so I hope I'm okay. I realize many here don't advocate meds, but I'm taking the gamble (don't hate me) based on many sites that praise Quick-Cure. Does anyone have insight on the Ghost Shrimp and Quick Cure?

Why only the Tetra's and no other fish? Why so fast?

I know that Ich is an infection, but how can it get introduced into the tank if everything seemed to be doing so well for weeks? Water was fine, I clean often enough, I don't over feed, I *try* to have a constant temperature. Really puzzled.
 
Well, as of this morning, Thursday, every fish (including shrimp) still seem to be alive.

Added 2nd TSP of salt to tank last night, and raised temperature to 82 F. Re-treated with Quick-Cure as well (Directions say it's okay to treat daily).

It doesn't appear it has spreaded to any other yet, however, could be my eyes playing trick on me but it did look like one of the platty's had two spots on its dorsal fin last night.....but it could have been air or food particles (I did just feed them)
 
Friday morning....Still doesn't appear to have spread to other fish. Everyone has healthy appetite's. Took water readings and Ammonia and Nitrites both read 0.

Bleeding Heart Tetra's do look better after three days of daily Quick Cure. Cysts are almost gone, but still present, and they seem slightly more active today.

Temperature on tank is 82F. Also appears that Quick Cure (at least in Tetra strength) doesn't harm Ghsot Shrimp.

I'm just crossing my fingers I caught it in time, and the advice I received here on AA in reading other articles have really helped!
 
Well, it appears that after a few day of treatment, salt, and rasied temperature's the ich is no longer visible and my Bleeding Heart Tetra's are back to normal. Things have 'looked' normal for the past few days.... :wink:

However, I did awake to some sad news. One of my Red Wag Platies is now swimming with Neptune :( . Not sure if it was an after effect of the ich, though he never appeared infected, or perhaps the temperature was a little too high...(my tank got up to 84 degrees, more so do the weather than my heater), maybe it was just his time.....but needless to say I found him belly-up this morning.
 
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