Ich and tired!

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

AkPudge

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Apr 1, 2013
Messages
10
Location
Alaska
Alright, again unforntatly the only "pet store" on this island sold me a pleco that looked fine but immediatly got ich, or a fuzziness to him that quickly rotten his fins off...within 2 days he went from fine at the store to dead at my home. Im now afraid my other fish will get ich, if that is what the pleco had, and due to a ichy pleco past from this store I believe it is. My plan was to vaccuum gravel and do a 25% water change daily, add aquarium salt to kill the ich and raise the temp to around 82-84F. Im not sure how hot or how much salt to use with my crayfish, beta, barb setup, any advice at all is so very welcome! Also just in case anyone askes, the crayfish is missing one front pincher and a few legs, I was hoping this would make him less able to attack and eat the fish which he seems pretty disinterested in. The beta chased the barbs around for a few minutes in the beginning but has since left them alone, he spends a lot of time in his floating log cave and floating on the fake plants the barbs dont seem to want to eat him either.

1~What type of fish is afflicted? So far just my now dead pleco, my coworker gave me a almost dead cory that was treated in her tank with Quickcure but that seems to have gotten the cory very sick, I took him into my tank to see if fresh unmedicated water would save him although Im not hopeful.

2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Brand new tank, not cycled yet, NO3-0, NO2-0, GH-0, KH-40, PH-7.2 TEMP- 74F to 76F. I have seashells in the tank that I was hoping over time would raise the KH GH and PH which originally out of tap is 6.0PH

3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up? 2o gallon, has been set up for almost a week, strong fish put in to help cycle tank.

4~What type of filtration are you using? Umm, not sure, just the aqueon QuietFlow that came with the tank kit.

5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes? 4 tiny tiger barbs, 1 male beta, 1 crayfish-missing a large amount of limbs, 1 cory and one pleco -cory almost dead/ pleco died today was removed.

6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time? Just set up tank, plan on doing 25% water changes every week, more if needed.

7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them? The fish were put in the tank 3 days ago, all floated in bags slowly adding tank water over a 25 minute period.

8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.? Everything is new in tank.

9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently? Aqueon tropical fish food and algae wafers for crayfish and pleco/cory.
 
To make sure the ich doesn't have time to reproduce or ''re-born'', up the temperature to 80-84. You don't need aquarium salt. Also, you should identify you're filter, and start the cycling process. Though, I don't see you're true question.
 
I guess my question was how much salt and how hot can I make it with the fish I have, will any of the fish or cray fish have problems with salt or heat? I think its a Aqueon Quietflow 20 125GPH, I also have a bubble stone bar going.
 
I suppose they should survive not 100% sure, but pretty confident. 80 isn't really high temporarily. You don't need salt. And I suggest getting another filter, such as aquaclear 30. Adding an additional 150gph might really help, because you're gph isn't really high at the moment.
 
I don't know anything about crayfish but, if the other fish aren't showing signs of stress or ich or fin rot, then I wouldn't medicate or use salt. As stated above u can up the heat small amounts at a time. I cant remember exactly what tempurature does what but i think at 84 or so the ich cant breed, and at 86 or so theyll eventually die off, their lifecycle is quicker in warmer temps. i wouldnt put it any higher then 86, but like i said, idk about what the crays can handle. If u haven't already, get an API master test kit, and keep your params in check as to not stress the fish more then need be.
 
Follow up

The tank has been at 82-84F for a few days, the cory did seem to rally but died, he had no ich spots on him anymore so Im not sure what killed him, too much stress I assume. Two tiger barbs now have ich spots though, so its spread instead of going away. I raised the temp again today to see if I can get it in the 84-86F range, not sure if that will harm anyone in there? How long can I safely keep it that hot? Im confused on how the high temps would stop breeding, I thought the ich fell off as a cysts and hatched into many swimmers, does that mean the high temps stop them from hatching?
 
The tank has been at 82-84F for a few days, the cory did seem to rally but died, he had no ich spots on him anymore so Im not sure what killed him, too much stress I assume. Two tiger barbs now have ich spots though, so its spread instead of going away. I raised the temp again today to see if I can get it in the 84-86F range, not sure if that will harm anyone in there? How long can I safely keep it that hot? Im confused on how the high temps would stop breeding, I thought the ich fell off as a cysts and hatched into many swimmers, does that mean the high temps stop them from hatching?
They might have died because you might have augmented the temperature to fast.
 
I only did two degrees a day, what is the normal time for adjustment? he was best the very last day but by night he was listless and dead in the morning.
 
Ich has gotten on all the tiger barbs now, temps still between 84-86F should I use salt or medicine at this point or carry on and see if it gets worse?
 
I would recommend meds. The ich currently on your fish will fall off and the Medicean will kill ich that is in it's free swimming stage. Just be sure to leave the meds in long enough to let the ich run its cycle. It can only be killed in its free swimming stage.
 
I would recommend meds. The ich currently on your fish will fall off and the Medicean will kill ich that is in it's free swimming stage. Just be sure to leave the meds in long enough to let the ich run its cycle. It can only be killed in its free swimming stage.
Sorry but this isn't true IMO. Med's is an option, but certainly not recommended. A lot of people would agree with me. It's too hard on the fish, and heat can kill the ich almost as easily, it's just a bit longer, we're talking about a few days to maximum a week, and it's free, and put's a lot less stress on the fish.
 
Sorry but this isn't true IMO. Med's is an option, but certainly not recommended. A lot of people would agree with me. It's too hard on the fish, and heat can kill the ich almost as easily, it's just a bit longer, we're talking about a few days to maximum a week, and it's free, and put's a lot less stress on the fish.

I agree it's much better on the fish. I am seldom able to get my temp high enough.
 
Ok so it sounds like you are both agreeing to use heat not meds, how long should I wait to see improvement? its been a week and they still have ich spots if not more. Ill try to raise the temp more if my heater can go any hotter
 
Ok so it sounds like you are both agreeing to use heat not meds, how long should I wait to see improvement? its been a week and they still have ich spots if not more. Ill try to raise the temp more if my heater can go any hotter
Make the temperature go up to 86, and do gravel vacuuming+extra water changes. I assure you that's gonna work very well:)
 
It can look worst before it gets better, I would do 86F, if it were me. Also when you do your water changes try to make the water just a tiny bit warmer than the tank, just not any cooler.

If you have an extra air bubbler, add it, and/or lower the water level at least an inch (or 2) so the water falls farther and creates more oxygenation, as the usable amount for the fish is reduced when the temp goes up. They are pretty cheap and it is good to have a spare.

Keep up the heat for at least 10 days after the last spot is gone, then begin reducing 2 degrees per day or so. Till back to normal.

Vacuum the floor of the tank maybe every, or at least every other day while they have spots and you do your water change.
 
Ich does not infect new fish at 85. It stops reproducing at 86. It dies at 89.5. That article I posted the link to recommends 89.5 for the first 3 days then slowly drop to 86 and keep it there for 7 days, or until it's all gone.
 
Back
Top Bottom