I hope I didn't kill my fish..

[Lisseejay]

Hello! I am new to this website and new to the fish hobby. I've got a 29 gallon tank that recently got infected with ich. I've treated with herbal meds for 5 days and all looked good till this morning when I noticed 2 guppies still have ich.

I've switch herbal meds as of today AND turned the heat up to 81 degrees and added half a regular dose of aquarium salt.

I was worried about using the salt because I have ADF Corys and mystery snails. My fish guy said that everyone would be fine as long as I only use half the dose . Soon after using the salt my Cory's started floating to the top like they were dead, but they would start swimming when startled, then my snails started retracting into their shells and will only move in super slow motion like they are in pain and my ADF bloated to the point I though he was dead.

Luckily I have a small 5.5 gallon tank running and so I moved the bottom dwellers in there. I am praying I didn't kill my bottom dwellers because I love them so much ��

Anyone else have this issue or have any advice?

*Update Cory's,ADF and snails are doing better. I've moved to 5.5 gallon tank until my 29 gallon is doing better*

 

[csuggett]

hi, separate the sick from the healthy into a hospital tank. Keep the healthy tank at 78 degrees and do a 20 percent water change to remove the salt (how much salt did you add because it sounds like way too much from the symptoms). Get some fish meds instead of the herbal stuff.
From a holistic point of view....the ich probably started because your tank isn't setup properly mabye? Do you have an air stone for movement, charcoal, filter media etc? Stop using salt unless fish get sick then use it in a separate tank. Do 10-15 percent water changes once a week. Make sure to get those 6 in 1 testing strips so you know your levels. Make sure your temp is always 78 degrees and buy a digital thermometer. If you have aggressive fish or very large and very small fish then decide on what you prefer and stick to one size. This is to reduce stress which reduces sickness like ich. You might have all of this stuff but i am just giving you the advice i never got when i started.

 

[Lisseejay]

Hello, thank you for the advice. I have separated the sick from the healthy. I removed charcoal cartridge from filter and I have an air stone running. I used ich meds for 5 days and I did water changes evey other day and it seemed to clear up until this morning when two more of my fish got ich. I went back to the pet store and talked to their fish guy who's been there for 9 years and he said to use half a dose of aquarium salt . The regular dose is 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons, I have a a 29 gallon and only used 2 tablespoon and thirty minutes later I started having issues. I dont usually use aquarium salt, I just used it to help with ich.

I've had my tank running for a month and a half now, I've got my tank normally set at 79 degrees and I've treated it with proper meds. I took my water to get tested and petco said my water levels were great. The only thing I can think of that may have set everything off was my betta sorority. 2 of my 4 female betta became very aggressive and killed a guppy and started chewing my mystery snails up. I've since removed the betta .

I've bumped my temp up to 80 in the 29 gallon and will turn it up to 81 in 24 hours and so on until I reach about 82 or 83. I've also picked up erythromycin and will be picking up general cure tomorrow but I won't be able to start new meds until I do another week of ich treatment.

And just to update as of 830pm the bottom dwellers are doing much better in the 5.5 gallon.

This is so stressful! I don't want to loose anyone.

 

[csuggett]

i agree it is stressful....i went through this for the first year of the hobby until i hired an aquarium consultant to come to the house and tell me what i was doing wrong. He was awesome and steered me in the right direction.
As for you current issues, if i were in your position you need to remove the beta fish into their own tank. I suspect their aggression has upset the balance with your community fish resulting in sickness. Second, if i understand the timeline correctly, did you start a new tank and add the fish right away? You are supposed to run a new tank fishless for about 6 weeks to cycle it properly. Or you can speed up the process by purchasing beneficial bacteria bottles in the fish store. This would explain your tank issues. Unfortunately there isn't a test for bacteria levels.

 

[csuggett]

sorry, i just re-read your post about the betta being removed, you can ignore that part of my msg