What is wrong?

[MamaJasmine]

I have been struggling with what I thought was ich for the last month. I have tried everything. I tried raising the heat and the max I can get it is 80*.. I have tried salt.. rid-ich... super ick cure and now we are on to quick cure. I have maintained a rigorous vacuum and water change schedule.. you name it! One fish has a few white spots left on her tail and the rest seem fine minus one. She has been in hiding with fins clamped the entire time... and now her gills are swollen and she is getting thin.. she has moved from hiding to hovering near the surface in the back corner. She is also pale looking.. let me explain this better... her fins used to have an opalescent yellow look to them.. and now they are like a matte yellow. I am feeling very frustrated right now... any help will do.

 

[boadams87]

Get a btr heater u need it up to 84-86!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Hi!
You need to get the heat up to 86F or more. Any lower and you are just speeding up the life cycle. Have you checked your parameters lately?
http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich2.php

 

[MamaJasmine]

Get a btr heater u need it up to 84-86!

I love my fish..but I can not afford to just drop 40 bucks on a new heater for my little ten gallon tank... if I did that and my husband found out I would be up the creek! He would say "you spent 40 bucks to save a 2 dollar fish?!!"

 

[boadams87]

I love my fish..but I can not afford to just drop 40 bucks on a new heater for my little ten gallon tank... if I did that and my husband found out I would be up the creek! He would say "you spent 40 bucks to save a 2 dollar fish?!!"

I understand that,

 

[MamaJasmine]

Hi!
You need to get the heat up to 86F or more. Any lower and you are just speeding up the life cycle. Have you checked your parameters lately?
Using Heat to Treat Ich in Freshwater Tropical Fish - Article at The Age of Aquariums - Tropical Fish

water condition is fine... not to mention I am changing the water daily and at max every 2 days if I do not have the time to do it that day.

 

[LyndaB]

Stop using all those meds.... it can't be good for the poor fish. Don't know what to say, if you're going to keep fish, you need the proper equipment. Your heater isn't cutting it.

Not sure where you live, but you can get a heater for $10-15.

 

[Mab2000]

Stop using all those meds.... it can't be good for the poor fish. Don't know what to say, if you're going to keep fish, you need the proper equipment. Your heater isn't cutting it.

Not sure where you live, but you can get a heater for $10-15.

I agree. A heater th at you can adjust the temperature on for a ten gallon shouldn't cost 40 dollars. If you can't get the temperature right then there is really no reason to follow any other advise.

 

[MamaJasmine]

I agree. A heater th at you can adjust the temperature on for a ten gallon shouldn't cost 40 dollars. If you can't get the temperature right then there is really no reason to follow any other advise.

That is what they cost at the LFS they only carry fluval. My main concern is that it is something else and not ich.

 

[Alyxx]

If you have a Walmart nearby, they might have something in their pet department. I know mine has heaters that are under $20.

 

[boadams87]

If you have a Walmart nearby, they might have something in their pet department. I know mine has heaters that are under $20.

Walmart always carries them.

 

[Alyxx]

Walmart always carries them.

Well, some of them don't have much of a pet department. Mine phased out the fish stuff entirely for a while, but brought it back when they remodeled. But they should have them, and if not, there are plenty of inexpensive online retailers!

On another note, you may want to ask your fish store about carrying a wider range of products. If they know there is a demand for other brands, and that you would rather spend your money elsewhere if they don't have what you are looking for, they might think about widening their variety of products, which would be a win for everyone.

 

[boadams87]

Well, some of them don't have much of a pet department. Mine phased out the fish stuff entirely for a while, but brought it back when they remodeled. But they should have them, and if not, there are plenty of inexpensive online retailers!

On another note, you may want to ask your fish store about carrying a wider range of products. If they know there is a demand for other brands, and that you would rather spend your money elsewhere if they don't have what you are looking for, they might think about widening their variety of products, which would be a win for everyone.

The Walmart in my town is the only one that still carries live fish. Most all r doing away with them.

 

[Alyxx]

The Walmart in my town is the only one that still carries live fish. Most all r doing away with them.

Mine still does, sadly. They went away for a while, but came back. Along with newts and fiddler crabs in cups... But for some reason when mine took out the fish, they stopped selling tanks and pretty much all other supplies other than fish food. So hopefully if the OP has a local Walmart they haven't done the same thing.

 

[boadams87]

Mine still does, sadly. They went away for a while, but came back. Along with newts and fiddler crabs in cups... But for some reason when mine took out the fish, they stopped selling tanks and pretty much all other supplies other than fish food. So hopefully if the OP has a local Walmart they haven't done the same thing.

But I hate walking by the fish, the tanks are horrible and are littered with dead ones!!! They have some beautiful ted devil cichlids id love to have but I wont buy any from them!

 

[Alyxx]

But I hate walking by the fish, the tanks are horrible and are littered with dead ones!!! They have some beautiful ted devil cichlids id love to have but I wont buy any from them!

I keep green spotted puffers, and they are my babies. Every time I walk by and see itty bitty, starved GSP's with ragged fins cowering half dead in a tank with oscars I want to kill someone, or at least litter the area with printouts on proper care for the species they have in their tanks... Whenever I see people waiting for some employee to wander by to net the fish, I give them directions to the great LFS which is right down the road from Walmart.

And wow, we have gotten off topic! Sorry! As for the ich, please try to find a better heater, even if you have to wait a couple days for one to come in if you order it offline. In the meantime, do a water change to remove all the medications and add aquarium or kosher salt. Until you can get a good heater to get the temp where it needs to be, I can recommend ParaGuard by Seachem. I have used it as a preventative measure when adding new fish and I have never had an ich outbreak. It doesn't have as many dangerous toxins in it as a lot of ich medicines do. No copper, no formalins, and no methylene blue. http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/ParaGuard.html
I recommend the heat and salt method over using chemicals, but until you can do that method properly, this is the one med I can recommend from experience.

 

[MamaJasmine]

I live in an extremely small town our Walmart has half the stock of regular Walmart.. they basically have fish and a small end cap of food and bowls and a few chemicals. The LFS is the only one within a 2 hour drive for me.. and even that is 45 minutes away. We have a petsmart an hour away but I HATE buying from them.



Last time I was at Walmart I saw a teenager with a bag of 10-20 platys and my 3 year old asked her about her fish and she said she was planning on putting them in a BOWL! And I told her "they are tropical fish they need a heated tank with a filter and that is enough fish for at least 20 gallons" and she replied "well the lady that helped me said they could go in a bowl"

 

[Alyxx]

I live in an extremely small town our Walmart has half the stock of regular Walmart.. they basically have fish and a small end cap of food and bowls and a few chemicals. The LFS is the only one within a 2 hour drive for me.. and even that is 45 minutes away. We have a petsmart an hour away but I HATE buying from them.

Last time I was at Walmart I saw a teenager with a bag of 10-20 platys and my 3 year old asked her about her fish and she said she was planning on putting them in a BOWL! And I told her "they are tropical fish they need a heated tank with a filter and that is enough fish for at least 20 gallons" and she replied "well the lady that helped me said they could go in a bowl"

A coworker of mine was told by a wonderful Walmart associate that two male Bettas would be happy in a bowl together. She then had to go through the heartbreak of having one kill the other, then watching the winner die from his injuries. She went away from this just thinking she was a bad fish keeper and must have done something wrong...

 

[MamaJasmine]

A coworker of mine was told by a wonderful Walmart associate that two male Bettas would be happy in a bowl together. She then had to go through the heartbreak of having one kill the other, then watching the winner die from his injuries. She went away from this just thinking she was a bad fish keeper and must have done something wrong...

Ouch! I felt obligated to say something but I didn't want to over step my bounds.. she was also a teen who you could tell doesn't listen well.

 

[fort384]

I have been struggling with what I thought was ich for the last month. I have tried everything. I tried raising the heat and the max I can get it is 80*.. I have tried salt.. rid-ich... super ick cure and now we are on to quick cure. I have maintained a rigorous vacuum and water change schedule.. you name it! One fish has a few white spots left on her tail and the rest seem fine minus one. She has been in hiding with fins clamped the entire time... and now her gills are swollen and she is getting thin.. she has moved from hiding to hovering near the surface in the back corner. She is also pale looking.. let me explain this better... her fins used to have an opalescent yellow look to them.. and now they are like a matte yellow. I am feeling very frustrated right now... any help will do.

All - Please, let's keep this on track, i.e. the OP which I have quoted above.

Thanks!