Hey! This is a lot please bare with my ADHD and thank you to anyone who can offer me some advice.
So I am new to fish keeping, have a 20 gallon tank that has 6 glo fish tetras and one albino Cory catfish. About 2 days ago I noticed on fish looking extremely lethargic and their fin was clamped. When I turned the light on I saw he and all the others had white spots on them. I know ich can happen in newer tanks, but when I researched how to help, I read about adding aquarium salt to the tank to help the fish and it will eventually kill the ich once they go through their life cycle. But I saw that Cory catfish are sensitive to salt but that others have used salt in their tanks with corys and they didn’t have any issues. I didn’t want to put meds in right away so I took a fish and. added enough salt for 5 gallons and I also have started gradually raising the temp it is at 80 currently . I did put some of the imagitarium parasite remedy it says it’s Non toxic. But my fish have all slowed down and they’re taking very short shallow breaths.
When I first started my aquarium I saw that I had to cycle it without fish so that way I built up beneficial bacteria, well my water got super cloudy and had large thick pieces of junk floating around but I let it run like that for about 6 weeks, I thought it would cycle and clear up but it didn’t so I changed all the water out I didn’t know to do a partial water change I thought that was only for when fish were in it. I got overwhelmed and Let the tank dry out for like a month and didnt add water again till november, I put the same filter with the old media back in it and started again but I added the tetra quick start this time after I found some better information my water never clouded and my tests were all in normal range no ammonia, no nitrites, no nitrates but my ph was higher, I read that glo fish tetras were hardy and would be alright with a high ph as long as it was consistent.
I originally had 7 glo fish tetras and my one Cory catfish I put them all in at the same time on Christmas Eve, I gave it a few days and then tested my water and my ammonia and ph levels were up but no nitrites or nitrates. I have a air stone with a tetra pump on it which pumps a lot of air and when I turned it off my ph was down to 8 the next day. My water temp stayed at 75.2
My biggest issue besides the ich is that my ammonia levels are remaining at .25 ppm and my PH is 8.2, I’ve started doing daily water changes I just lost one of my tetras named Qui-Gon Finn he was the one fish who was absolutely covered in Ich and I don’t want to lose anymore fish. my filter is the aqua clear 20 I’m honestly unsure what I need to do to fix this tank I’m worried it wasn’t cycled and i know now I added way to many fish at one time
again I’ know this is a lot hopefully some of you much more knowledgeable aquarists can help
Thank you very much
So I am new to fish keeping, have a 20 gallon tank that has 6 glo fish tetras and one albino Cory catfish. About 2 days ago I noticed on fish looking extremely lethargic and their fin was clamped. When I turned the light on I saw he and all the others had white spots on them. I know ich can happen in newer tanks, but when I researched how to help, I read about adding aquarium salt to the tank to help the fish and it will eventually kill the ich once they go through their life cycle. But I saw that Cory catfish are sensitive to salt but that others have used salt in their tanks with corys and they didn’t have any issues. I didn’t want to put meds in right away so I took a fish and. added enough salt for 5 gallons and I also have started gradually raising the temp it is at 80 currently . I did put some of the imagitarium parasite remedy it says it’s Non toxic. But my fish have all slowed down and they’re taking very short shallow breaths.
When I first started my aquarium I saw that I had to cycle it without fish so that way I built up beneficial bacteria, well my water got super cloudy and had large thick pieces of junk floating around but I let it run like that for about 6 weeks, I thought it would cycle and clear up but it didn’t so I changed all the water out I didn’t know to do a partial water change I thought that was only for when fish were in it. I got overwhelmed and Let the tank dry out for like a month and didnt add water again till november, I put the same filter with the old media back in it and started again but I added the tetra quick start this time after I found some better information my water never clouded and my tests were all in normal range no ammonia, no nitrites, no nitrates but my ph was higher, I read that glo fish tetras were hardy and would be alright with a high ph as long as it was consistent.
I originally had 7 glo fish tetras and my one Cory catfish I put them all in at the same time on Christmas Eve, I gave it a few days and then tested my water and my ammonia and ph levels were up but no nitrites or nitrates. I have a air stone with a tetra pump on it which pumps a lot of air and when I turned it off my ph was down to 8 the next day. My water temp stayed at 75.2
My biggest issue besides the ich is that my ammonia levels are remaining at .25 ppm and my PH is 8.2, I’ve started doing daily water changes I just lost one of my tetras named Qui-Gon Finn he was the one fish who was absolutely covered in Ich and I don’t want to lose anymore fish. my filter is the aqua clear 20 I’m honestly unsure what I need to do to fix this tank I’m worried it wasn’t cycled and i know now I added way to many fish at one time
again I’ know this is a lot hopefully some of you much more knowledgeable aquarists can help
Thank you very much
