Ich and adf

[confusedfishmom]

20 gal infected tank (early stages).
1-ballon molly
5-neon tetras
1-young oto
1-African dwarf frog
2- live plants

What are my options/best course of action?

I have an empty 5 gallon tank that I could use as an extra tank. But my stock is a little too heavy to use even with daily WCs I think.

I am doing daily water changes at 25%. Now that it's spread I'm boosting to 50%. I've increased temp to 80 and plan to hit 82 tonight. Should I do the ich treatment considering my plants and stock (adf)?

 

[absolutangel04]

So, here is the thing, you need to treat the ich. Changing water will not fix it nor will the temp at 82. It takes at least 86 degrees to kill the ich. I am guessing you are raising it slowly though?

I am not entirely sure what you mean about the 5g tank and a heavy stick. I am sorry. Could you please clarify that for me? At a glance I would say you should move the adf while treating the rest of the tank for ich. The frog will not get it.

 

[confusedfishmom]

That's what I decided to do. It should read stock. I was contemplating moving all the fish to the 5 gal and leaving 20 gal with no fish for a few weeks.

Ultimately, I decided to move ADF to 5 gal tank. Treat the other tank with heat and salt and hope I don't loose my plants or oto. (Or all the fish for that matter.).

 

[confusedfishmom]

I hope to get some ich meds tomorrow and treat with meds. Though I really wanted to avoid using meds.

 

[absolutangel04]

Ok, sounds good! Stock makes sense. I definitely think you made the right choice, that is really too much for a 5g.
Are you able to get your temp up to 86, or are you not certain yet? Your plants may wilt some with salt treatment, depending on what they are. But, they should live. If you don't want to deal with the salt, then check out meds. Most meds do not require the heater up. That speeds up the life cycle of the ich, but sometimes a raised temp and meds can be a bit much for fish. Also, if you get meds, make sure to remove any activated carbon from your filter.

 

[confusedfishmom]

I don't think my tank is going to go to
86. I'm honestly having trouble getting it to 80! So meds are probably best, just worried about my oto and infected neons since they're all young and new to tank but I'm not sure how effective the salt will be without the heat and I don't want to lose my plants, although they are lower priority than my fish.

 

[confusedfishmom]

Thanks for the help. I know I can't do meds and salt so I'm going to do a WC before I add meds tomorrow (I still have to go buy them) and hope for the best!

 

[confusedfishmom]

Now one of my tetras has cloudy eye and body slime. Should I treat this while treating ich???? Or does ich tx cover cloudy eye? I'm feeling do overwhelmed with this.

 

[absolutangel04]

Ok, I would abandon the salt and go for some ich meds from your lfs. In this case, the cloudy eye may just be from irritation or stress from all the ich. I am not sure exactly what your slime issue is, but I suspect the same culprit and the cloudy eye: overall unwellness. I do not find salt alone to be as helpful, salt is more a help to the heat since ich dies at 86-88 degrees in one of its life stages. If you get another heater, you can get the temp up where you need it. If you would prefer meds, most brands make an ich med. See what your lfs has. Get liquid, not one of he powder ones. I would do Kordon Rid Ich+ Make sure to read the bottle closely, you need to remove activated carbon and the meds will likely ruin your bio-filter (the beneficial bacteria that convert ammonia).

 

[confusedfishmom]

Ok thanks. That's exactly what I ended up doing. I used Kordon's last night and I've still got heat at 82. I read not to use heat and meds so I guess I'm splitting the difference. I'm worried my tetra has a secondary bacterial infection, which heat will make worse... So I'm only treating with Ich meds now and praying it goes away quickly, then I can treat with an second med for cloudy eye (if the ich meds don't work). But I read that Kordon's is used for both so fingers crossed. What a nightmare! So far no casualties.

 

[confusedfishmom]

Should I throw out my old filter or clean it and keep it? (Once all is said and done).

 

[confusedfishmom]

To further complicate matters. The molly gave birth last night! Most of the fry have been eaten. But a few remain.

 

[confusedfishmom]

For anyone who searches this topic in the future. After 2 days of Kordon's Ich treatment, all ich spots are gone. Temp is at 81, varies between 80-82. The cloudy eyes of my neon tetra have vastly improved after only the ich treatment. I have had no casualties, yet. The fish are handling the Kordon's ich MUCH better than the salt treatment. My neons were trying to jump out of the tank during the salt treatment (and we used minimum amount). Plants are doing great. Fish in the tank are:
molly
5 neon tetras
Oto

(And now molly fry).

I will do a final report in a week or 2 once treatment in complete.

 

[absolutangel04]

Yeah, the salt alone isn't very potent at all, it needs to be heat with salt. I have killed it with heat alone before, but never had any luck with salt alone.
Glad the meds are working for you. If you remove the carbon from the filter pad (like, cut the pad open and dump out the carbon insert) you can put the filter in again and the meds will kill the ich present there as well. If you cannot do that, I wouldn't chance re-infection and I would just throw it out. Unfortunately, that means you will have to cycle the tank again though. I apologize for forgetting to tell you that you shouldn't re-use that filter if you have not treated it for ich. Glad you asked! With many other treatments, rinsing and re-using the same filter pad is no issues since not all infections ect. are highly contagious like ich is.

 

[confusedfishmom]

Ok thanks. That's what I was thinking but wasn't sure. I'll just go through the recycle again and hope it's not too bad. Honestly, after all these fish have survived. They must be fairly hardy. <<knock on wood>>.

 

[confusedfishmom]

The ballon molly is just the gift that keeps on giving. First ich. Next fry during ich treatment. Sheesh. Hope we are done with crisis in the tank for awhile!

 

[absolutangel04]

Mollies are a bit high maintenance at times. lol Hopefully you have some fry who last now. Raising fry is always fun. In the future, once this is taken care of, you can use your 5g tank as a temporary fry tank if you would like to.

 

[confusedfishmom]

I moved the fry over with the ADF. They were getting eaten like hotcakes between momma and the neons. Not sure their situation improved much, but hoping they can hide from the ADF better than the hungry hippos in the other tank. Of course, they could be killed by residual ich. It's a crap shoot either way I suppose.

 

[absolutangel04]

Yeah, that is a tough situation. Hopefully none came over with them. They will likely hide better form the adf maybe pouncing on a couple here or there than the can from the hungry momma molly. Any kind of cover in the 5g tank will help their situation as well. Keep in mind that you could have to treat the 5g tank too now after you move the frog out. I bet the frog would prefer to live in 5g permanently without the piggy momma molly and neons to compete with him for food.