Ich in a not yet fully cycled tank?! Help!

[superjudi89]

tl;dr Does my platy look like it has ich? And if so, how do I deal with treating ich in an unstable, unccycled tank without having to destroy all of the bio filter that has built up (which will very well kill some of the fish)?



I started my tank about two weeks ago now. I got a used tank 10 gallon tank, scrubbed it a ton without soap, put in rinsed and scrubbed gavel and plastic plants, put in a whisper 10i filter, and then went to a fish store.

The people at the aquatics store recommended that I get 4 platies for the new tank and some of that Tetra safestart that is supposed to start having good bacteria in the tank. Between having too many fish for an uncycled tank, overfeeding due to my inexperience, and who knows what else I got some severe amonia levels after about five or six days.

I managed to get the amonia from heinously toxic levels (>6) down to manageable levels (<.5 on the last check I did this morning). The fish were finally back to swimming and being energetic in the tank. During this time, I did daily 50% water changes, added amonia reducer, rinsed the charcol filter, took out all of the plants etc and rinsed them, reduced then ended feeding for a few days, and did one panicked day of putting the fish in a glass of water for thirty minutes while I used the net as a filter and got out all of the decaying particulate.

I thought I was finally in the clear, and today I noticed some white spots on one of my platies. I'm still worried about having spiked nitrogen, and I'm surprised they survived the amonia. Everything I've read about Ich medication suggests that it will damage my bio filter and I'll basically have to cycle the tank again. I don't know if they'll make it, and I don't think I'll have time to handle amonia levels like that again between work and school.

So:
1. Based on the pictures, does it look like I might have the beginnings of an Ich outbreak on my hands? The one photo shows off the white dots well, but there's only one fish with them, and they aren't large or super visible and maybe she even had them before and I just wasn't paying attention...
2. If it is Ich, how can I handle the outbreak early without destroy my bio filter and having to go through cycling again (which will probably kill a few of them)
3. Any other general suggestions on how to handle the rest of this first cycling process with too many fish in the 10 gallon tank?

 

[Hholly]

I'm new too, but I've been reading that you can treat it without medication by slowly raising the temperature to 86 degrees for two weeks. A lot of sources also say to add aquarium salt too. Not sure how much though. Keep reading other threads on here. You'll learn a lot. Good luck!

 

[LyndaB]

Raise the temp to 86 slowly

Add an airstone to increase oxygenation

Do gravel vacs every 2-3 days to remove ich spore from substrate

Maintain this treatment for minimum of 2 weeks

Ich gets worse before it gets better. It also affects the entire tank, so do not take out symptomatic fish and try to treat them elsewhere. Be patient, this too shall pass.

Don't add ammonia reducer. All you need is a dechlorinator for when you add new water.

Get yourself an API test kit, if you don't have one already. What are your readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?