Sick Tank, Am I Stuck?

[Ksnell]

I have a 29 gallon tank that's been established for 4 months now. I have a proper 30 gallon tank filter, and also an undergravel filter with 2 outputs. In the tank I currently have 1 firemouth chiclid, 1 bolivian ram, and 3 buenos aires tetras. I used to have other fish in there, 3 tiger barbs and 2 pictus catfish (all still in small developing stages), and my fish all suddenly started to die. I had no idea what was causing it, and just when I thought I had it under control, the remaining fish caught ich. I've treated the tank for ich twice, and everyone first mentioned is still alive, although one of the tetras still seems to be displaying the white salt grains that are tell-tale of ich. All the other fish seem fine. My question is: what can I do with my tank? I'm afraid to add other fish, because I think they'll just get sick, and I'm out of ideas to treat the fish in the tank already. Am I just stuck with this tank until everyone finally dies? Any advice would be great.

 

[plecoperson]

How did you treat the ich? Did you test your water?

 

[Ksnell]

I treated the ich with dissolving tablets, and took out the carbon from my filter. I did this twice. I test my water regularly for ammonia, nitrates and nitrites, is there something else I should be testing for?

 

[Zagz]

Medications can affect the fish sometimes worse than the ich. Ich can be successfully killed by slowly turning the temps up to 86-87 F and adding aeration. Leave the temp up for 2 weeks after the last spot is gone. Some add aquarium salt to the tank while the heat is up, depending on the type of fish.

I would do a large water change, increase the heat, a degree every 12 hours, or every 6 depending on the severity of the ich. You could also add some carbon to your filter to remove any remaining meds.

What are your parameters exactly?