Ich Treatment On A Semi-Cycled Tank

[Coltrane9]

2 of my 5 Red Eyed Tetra appear to have Ich. It's this white, almost fuzzy looking stuff on either their mouths or the back of their tails...

I have a 55 gallon, Aqua-Clear 110, 6 Zebra Danios, 2 Gourami, 1 Pleco, and the 6 Red Eyes, along with a bunch of Live Plants.

Have had the tank going for about 8 weeks now. Water seems to be doing well for some time now.
Maybe a tad over 0PPM as far as Ammonia goes (It's a faint faint green, maybe a .1PPM), and NitrItes are at 0.
Nitrate around a 10PPM

So, I've been reading about Ich treatment, and it says that it can undue the whole cycling process?

Should I go ahead and buy a treatment from a LFS now, or wait a while? I know that waiting probably isn't good, but I don't have anywhere to quarantine the infected 2 fish.

Also, I haven't changed anything in the Filter yet. It's got the foam, carbon, and these white rock things.
Could that have anything to do with it?

If I should do a treatment, any suggestions? I'll probably have to go to a place like Petsmart/Petco

 

[mfdrookie516]

What you're describing sounds more like a fungus or columnaris, not ich. Ich looks more like grains of salt, not fuzzy in any way (IMO)... Can you post some pics of the fish?

 

[Coltrane9]

Yeah, let me try...

 

[Coltrane9]

I'm uploading the photos. Taking a picture of a fish is tough so they're not great.

It's almost like a pinkish white fur looking substance. It looks a little bit like an open wound surrounded by this "fur"

I'll have what I took up in a second.

 

[Coltrane9]

It's tough to see, but these are the best I was able to capture.
Too fast

 

[mfdrookie516]

Yeah, im not able to tell much from those... google columnaris and see if it looks similar. It usually starts on the mouth, then moves to the body (at least in my experience with it)...

 

[Coltrane9]

From what I'm reading about Columnaris it seems like it's a possibility.

White spots on mouth, edges of scales, and fins
Cottony growth that eats away at the mouth


Maybe the pinkish spot is the eating away?
I hope not...

Antibiotics? I'd go to a fish store tonight, but I'm sure the 16 year old dude at Petco will have no idea.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Here's a good article on columnaris- Columnaris Disease... its not the method that I used to treat my fish when they had it, but my method didn't work the best in the world... I lost 3 fish.

 

[Coltrane9]

I went to the pet store and they recommended Pimafix
"Antifungal fish remedy"

Though it sounds like a pain in the ***.
You have to take out your carbon for a week, and they said it'll make the tank look and smell disgusting for a few weeks.

So, fun...
Not sure if I'm going to use it or not.

 

[HUKIT]

If it's columnaris Pimafix will not work. I would recommend Jungles Fungus Clear which worked for my africans. Others recommned Maracyn 1/2 or API'S Furan or Tetracycline.

As far as the carbon it must be removed as it will remove any medication you add.

Good luck if it's columnaris it's a nasty disease.