Scared about my afericans

[crb530]

so after cleaning the salt tank i had to move to the aferican tank for a water change and cleaning

well when i looked into the tank every fish was acting weird then i look at the pictis cat and it is just covered in ich

every thing was alright yesterday

so right away i did a water test and my nitrates where a little high 40ppm but thats normal for my tank befor a water change

any ideas what could have happened

i realized the tank is getting to small but there is a new tank coming on friday

right now there are 5 cichlids sizes 3 to 5 inches and 1 ranbow shark 4 inches 1 picis cat 3 inches and the one red devil crab size of my palm there is no agrestion in the tank its a 37 tall with a 20 gallon sump and on friday they will be moved to a 60 gallon with 20 sump

any ideas what could have gone wrong

 

[Blueiz]

You say they have ich? Ich is a parasite that was brought into your system. Have you added any new fish recently? Are you treating the ich?

 

[crb530]

fish wise i added two chinse alge eaters and the crab three weeks ago but they looked fine when i put them in

other than that i havent added any thing sense june

and yes i am treating them

 

[Blueiz]

The ich was most likely brought in by the new additions and it's just now showing. It's nothing that you did wrong, it happens to almost all fishkeepers at least once. What are you treating with?

 

[crb530]

yeah i know it happens

but im just freaking out cause these are prize cichlids i mean i hand picked all five in over a four month time line drove to probly 10 fish stores so i dont want anything to happen you know?

but the ich is only showing up on the pictus cat so thats alittle better

umm i am right now just using the lifeguard ich tablets because i had good luck with thoughs in the past and the crab came out and went into a qt till its gone cause he was not cheap and most ich treatments are not good for them unless i do garlice which i dont want to yet cause it makes the room smell bad

should i wait to move them into the bigger tank which was going to happen this weekend or should it be ok i was thinking setting it up get the pumps going throw in my old filter and stuff let it sit for a week or so (for the mini cycle) the add the fish ? is that a good way you think

 

[mfdrookie516]

if you move them in to a bigger tank and they still have ich, it will cost more to treat because of the larger water volume...

 

[gzeiger]

Better to treat the fish in the QT tank if you can. Don't assume ich meds are safe for your filter.

 

[crb530]

what do you guys say would be good for treating ich

like the best

 

[Blueiz]

I use salt at 2 tsp per gallon of water, most ppl raise there heat as well but since I do not run heaters on my tanks I dont. I leave that in for about 6 weeks (which is most likely overkill..). So far I have never had a recurrence of ich after treatment.

 

[crb530]

alright sounds good thats about what i was going to do and by the time i am done treating the tank my new tank will be cycled and ready to go im picking it up tomorrow

 

[Blueiz]

I use regular table salt. If you are concerned about it being iodized or not, buy the uniodized.

 

[crb530]

i was just going to use aquarium salt ?


sad news the ich was clearing up on the pictus cat but he died this morning

 

[gzeiger]

Aquarium salt is fine, but it's expensive and not necessary. If that's what you have go ahead and use it, but kosher salt from the supermarket is just as good for this purpose.

 

[Tamara0629]

For ich, I would recommend the salt treatment along with the ich medication you are already using. And make sure to take the carbon out of your filter because the carbon will absorb the medicine and cause it to be useless. If the ich isn't gone in a week, do a 50% water change and try a different medication. API makes a good one called super ick cure, it's expensive, but hasn't ever not worked for my fish. If u increase the heat in your tank, it will help kill the parasite but don't go over 86F or you will kill your fish. In the future, when you buy new fish, it is best to quarantine new arrivals in another smaller tank before Adding them to all of your exising and established fish. Keep them quarantined for 2 weeks. If they have disease or ich, it will show up by then.

 

[Tamara0629]

Don't use table salt- it will kill your fish. Stick with the aquarium salt. It's really not that expensive and for a small container shouldn't cost more than $3. Sorry to hear that the pictus cat died, they are sensitive fish anyway. Are any of your other fish showing ich or rubbing themselves against decorations, gravel, or the walls of the aquarium?

 

[Tamara0629]

Also are you sure that it is ich and not something else like fish lice or body fungus?

 

[Blueiz]

For ich, I would recommend the salt treatment along with the ich medication you are already using. And make sure to take the carbon out of your filter because the carbon will absorb the medicine and cause it to be useless. If the ich isn't gone in a week, do a 50% water change and try a different medication. API makes a good one called super ick cure, it's expensive, but hasn't ever not worked for my fish. If u increase the heat in your tank, it will help kill the parasite but don't go over 86F or you will kill your fish. In the future, when you buy new fish, it is best to quarantine new arrivals in another smaller tank before Adding them to all of your exising and established fish. Keep them quarantined for 2 weeks. If they have disease or ich, it will show up by then.

I disagree with most of what you have posted here regarding treating ich. It's very stressful for fish to medicate to begin with (especially for catfish), doubling up on the meds at one time is not necessary for a cure. As far as changing meds if it isn't gone in a week, that doesn't make any sense. There are variables when treating this parasite that have to be taken into account, such as the temperature of the fish, the parasite life cycle. Since you can only kill ich in the free swimming stage you have to wait for it to get there to kill it.

 

[Blueiz]

Don't use table salt- it will kill your fish. Stick with the aquarium salt. It's really not that expensive and for a small container shouldn't cost more than $3. Sorry to hear that the pictus cat died, they are sensitive fish anyway. Are any of your other fish showing ich or rubbing themselves against decorations, gravel, or the walls of the aquarium?

Table salt will NOT kill your fish. All my fish would be dead now if it did.

 

[Tamara0629]

Additionally, since the pictus catfish died, and they are as sensitive as they are, have u considered a different catfish, like a synodontis cat?

 

[Tamara0629]

I have never had good results using table salt, ask my betta that died of body fungus why. I don't know if you are using iodized or non-iodized, but I use iodized table salt as do most other ppl. Although you are right that medicating fish is stressful, and especially with catfish and even more so with pictus cat, it only takes a few days for the ich to become free swimming, and once they infect a fish, it is usually assumed that it is already free-swimming. And I never said to treat with 2 medications at once. Salt is not medicine, it is a water treatment designed to help aid in ridding fish of disease and building slime coat to help protect them. I also recommended doing a water change before switching medication, which is standard protocol when switching medicine.