Hello! Newcommer ich problem!

[Jujubee]

I posted my first question yesterday and have gotten great feedback. Now that I have that question relatively resolved I'm left with a new question, sadly!

Main story is I set up a 10 gal tank, it has a filter for up to 30 gal, & heavily planted. I let it sit for about a week and decided I'd start my fish in cycle..I admit to having done the cycle some what wrong and am now having to counter my mistakes with new found knowledge. Thanks to the people here . So, I got 3 platys that thrived for a week, end of week rolls around and I say hey I want another...I get one more...still doing awesome. Then by end of week two I thought it would be safe to add 3 guppies (again I know now I added too many fish at once for my cycle) well, two guppies came from the same tank (fancy cobra, I think is what they were labeled) the other a lyretail from a separate tank. I acclimated them by floating the bag for 45 min or so then added tank water and let the bag float another 30 min then netted them and added just the fish to the tank. After 4 days the two (fancy) guppies I bought didn't want to eat, one was bloated and I mean huge the other had white spots and a lesion next to one fin. I knew it was ich but have never had to deal with it. I quickly took those fish out and rushed to the petsmart I bought them at telling them what was going on. The guy gave me two new guppies and took my other two away, I was heartbroken. He gave me medication to put in the water for the ich ( the other guppy he said probably had an intestinal parasite) but I have yet to put it in the tank. I've read posts saying the medication can ruin my bacteria and my nitrogen cycle is so close to being complete so I would think its safe to assume my bacteria is finally growing?? And I don't want to ruin that, this is my first knowledgeable tank and I'm trying to do it right. Now, two of my platys have 2 white spots on their tails. I'm scared for my fish but have no clue how to safely treat my fish or water and keep them healthy and the water healthy at the same time.
Can someone help me?

 

[Mileymoo]

I googled white spot and you get a lot of contradicting advice, so I learned more about the parasite it can't breed in 30c and it dies off in 31 c it's if you fish can stand high temp, I add aquarium salt, turned temp up the degree an hour and watch your fish, while the temp is 30c get a air stone and do regular water changes as you are removing the ich from your tank, I also read uv filter also will help apparently you can get rid of it with out ich remedys but I still used white spot & fungal remover, I'm doing the high temp for 10 days and a 7 day course of ich remover, I'll let you know the results, good luck

 

[rmiller]

The other poster has some good points there. There really is no need for medications in most ich cases. Raise your temps slowly to about 85 and add aquarium salt. You'll want to dissolve the salt in a cup of tank water first then add it to the tank. About a tablespoon per gallon. Every day or two you'll want to do a deep gravel vacuum to remove the ich cysts from the tank. When you add eater back to the tank be sure to add salt for that amount of water.

 

[Jujubee]

The other poster has some good points there. There really is no need for medications in most ich cases. Raise your temps slowly to about 85 and add aquarium salt. You'll want to dissolve the salt in a cup of tank water first then add it to the tank. About a tablespoon per gallon. Every day or two you'll want to do a deep gravel vacuum to remove the ich cysts from the tank. When you add eater back to the tank be sure to add salt for that amount of water.

Thank you! I will be getting a heater and some aquarium salt today and do my first treatment. My fish don't seem stressed and aren't rubbing on anything yet and only 3 of the 7 have spots but deff want to prevent it from spreading and becoming fatal. I will update on the progress in a few days, fingers crossed!

 

[Jujubee]

I will take the advice to heart and go out to get a heater and aquarium salt today. I plan to do my first treatment today with the salt and deff get the water up to 85, it's about 75 sadly. It has been at 80 but the weather has dropped increasingly to about 30-50 outside making my apartment rather cooler. And I know, I should have gotten a heater to begin with
Do you guys have any recommendations? And are there dials on it to control the temp so I will know when it is getting warmer. I don't want to raise it to high too quick. I have no experience with a heater

 

[Hobgob]

You have plants right? Don't put salt in there if you like your plants. It will kill them all. In a planted aquarium heat is the best way. At 86.7f ich can no longer reproduce or attach to a new host at 87.5 its the opposite one and at like 89 something it will die instantly. The best way to deal with ich is to understand it's life cycle. But basically turn you heat up to 87f for at least 2 weeks. Mine is at 88 constantly in my discus tank so I never will need to worry about ich.
Are your water parameters better? Are you done the cycle?
Edit: the warmer temp will allow you bb to grow faster also only raise your temperature one degree an hour or your fish will have a temperature shock and their organs shut down. Its an easy way to cull fish also.

 

[Jujubee]

You have plants right? Don't put salt in there if you like your plants. It will kill them all. In a planted aquarium heat is the best way. At 86.7f ich can no longer reproduce or attach to a new host at 87.5 its the opposite one and at like 89 something it will die instantly. The best way to deal with ich is to understand it's life cycle. But basically turn you heat up to 87f for at least 2 weeks. Mine is at 88 constantly in my discus tank so I never will need to worry about ich. Are your water parameters better? Are you done the cycle? Edit: the warmer temp will allow you bb to grow faster also only raise your temperature one degree an hour or your fish will have a temperature shock and their organs shut down. Its an easy way to cull fish also.

I haven't done a test today but yesterday my readings were 100% better than I expected. When I get home from getting my heater I will do a test and update you on it. Thank you for telling me about the plants, I do have quite a few and would be devastated if they were to die during this process. I have another tank where I bought the wrong plants and eventually they died, my water is cloudy now and I've been doing water changes daily to help. 3 dwarf frogs and 2 nitrite snails inhabit that tank. They are doing great besides the cloudy water. (Had them about 6 months) (I've cared for dwarf frogs before I had 2 for a little over a yr almost 2 before they passed)
I will do the temp raise for the next two weeks and a deep gravel clean today to help. Can you tell me more about ich? I saw yesterday two of my platys had 2 spots on their tails each today they have none but my lyretail guppy has about 6 on its tail now? I'm confused to this because I figured it would spread on the host It was on and not just randomly disappear?

 

[Hobgob]

You need to understand it's life cycle. If you wait two weeks to raise the temp you wont have fish left..you should try googling the life of ich or something like that. Then you wouldn't be asking half.the question you are about it. Basically one parasite attaches to a host(fish) and eats of your fish. The. Detachs and lays millions of eggs and this process continues. In warmer water the cycle is faster until you hit the 86_87 mark when they can't reproduce. Asmentioned above raise you temperature 1c (2f) an hour. It shouldn't take you a week to get it up thay high. If it's at 76 it should take 5-6 hours roughly to raise your temperature. The first hour it climbs to 78. Then next is 80, then 82,84,86. That is a 5 hour process once ypu get a heater. Also the best cure is prevention!

 

[rmiller]

When you get a heater, make sure it is an adjustable one. Some of the cheap ones are "preset" and aren't adjustable at all. Make sure to get a thermometer too so you can know exactly what temp you are at. Just because you set a heater to 87, doesn't mean that's how warm your water will actually be.

 

[Hobgob]

Yes not to many heaters are accurate some can be calibrated like my ehiem but you need the thermometer to no what its actually at.

 

[Jujubee]

My wording was probably off, I'm sorry. I do have a thermometer and I will get an adjustable heater. I meant that I will keep the water warmer (around 85-87) for the next few weeks like you said would help. I didn't mean raise the heat over the next few weeks I'll watch my wording the next time!

 

[Hobgob]

Lol maybe I miss read it! That happens with me a lot. I would put it at least 86. Honestly ich isn't that bad once you know what it is.

 

[Mileymoo]

Please don't tell me salt kills plants, my tank is full of plants oh dear!!

 

[Hobgob]

Normally it says it when you look up an ich treatment..n just to some pwcs to get itdowmn.

 

[Mileymoo]

What are pwcs what if I do a few water changes

 

[rmiller]

Pwcs=partial water changes, so yes...do water changes.

 

[Hobgob]

Makes sure the vacuum your substrate well. All the eggs from the ich lay waiting to hatch.

 

[Jujubee]

Update on platy/guppy tank.

Fish are active and eating. One was showing a bit of stress two days ago but since has been acting a lot happier. Doing 25% water changes a day, heat in the 80s. I've also been using a little bit of ich medication. The ich itself has spread on my fish so I'm waiting for it to detach itself and go about in the water hopefully to die due to the heat and medication. My plants are also doing great. Only thing is I think I accidentally sucked one of my guppies up since he was so small...if I did he's long gone :/ he's been missing for 3 days though and there's no other explanation unless he jumped out while I was cleaning the tank..and my dog got him. But how crazy does that sound?!

My tests were
20 nitrate
1 nitrite
7.5 ph
80 kh
120 gh

And ammonia 1.0

My cycle seems like it's also coming to the end, just waiting for ammonia to drop to 0 and nitrites to drop as well.

 

[Hobgob]

So your using meds? If you are, ypu need to follow the instructions properly or it won't work and your ich will become immune to that med.

 

[Jujubee]

It said one tablet for ever 10 gal I've used 1 tab dissolved in clean and dechlorinated tap before the clean I would hope with the temp rise it would help kill off anything the meds done and visa versa. My fingers are crossed but everyone seems to be doing awesome even having a bit of ich. I'll let you know how it goes today after work.
(Deep gravel cleanings have also been done) and they're only being fed once right now to keep ammonia down