New and in need of help with ich

[Ice Cold Bud]

Hi! I'm new here and have had my tanks for about a year. A 55 gal. And a 30 gal. Freshwater tanks. My 30 seems to be ok but my 55 gal. Is not very good to the fish. I bought about 15-20 fish less than a month ago and they are all dead! Looked like they all were rolling around in a pile of sugar! A friend told me it was ich but doesn't know how to correct the problem.

[DUPRASAQUARIA]

Hi I have found success with having a small amount of aquarium salt in the water as a preventive agent as well as using an ich treatment medication to rid yourself of this parasite. good luck!

[Ice Cold Bud]

Originally Posted by DUPRASAQUARIA

Hi I have found success with having a small amount of aquarium salt in the water as a preventive agent as well as using an ich treatment medication to rid yourself of this parasite. good luck!

I've heard that! Now that my tank is empty of fish, should I remove all the decor. And clean them? I also have a Biowheel and under gravel filter. Should i leave those alone?

[Mumma.of.two]

It treat ich all you need is heat. A temperature of 86f is enough to stop it in its tracks. To treat increase temp to 86f and increase aeration. Increase number of water changes and gravel vacs to help remove it from the tank. Leave the temp up for at least one week after the last spot is seen then slowly decrease temp again. If the tank has no fish then you have two options. You can tear down the whole tank and wash everything in very hot water then let it dry completely out. You will then have to cycle the tank again. Or you can crank the heat to 90f+ for two weeks before restocking. You will have to provide an ammonia source to keep the tank cycled. Pure bottled ammonia or a couple of raw shrimp in pantyhose.

http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich2.php
Give this article a read.

[DUPRASAQUARIA]

Originally Posted by Mumma.of.two

It treat ich all you need is heat. A temperature of 86f is enough to stop it in its tracks. To treat increase temp to 86f and increase aeration. Increase number of water changes and gravel vacs to help remove it from the tank. Leave the temp up for at least one week after the last spot is seen then slowly decrease temp again. If the tank has no fish then you have two options. You can tear down the whole tank and wash everything in very hot water then let it dry completely out. You will then have to cycle the tank again. Or you can crank the heat to 90f+ for two weeks before restocking. You will have to provide an ammonia source to keep the tank cycled. Pure bottled ammonia or a couple of raw shrimp in pantyhose.

http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich2.php
Give this article a read.

I agree now that your tank has no fish raising the temp is the easiest way to rid of the ich as this will speed up the life cycle of the ich and without a host(fish) to attach itself to it will die quickly. Don't forget when you lower the temp to normal to add some salts as a maintenance to keep the ich gone.

[DUPRASAQUARIA]

I agree that raising the temp is easiest way to rid of ich now that you have no fish!!

[Ice Cold Bud]

I can see a lot of white spots all over the decors. My heater is covered with them! As is the gravel. Do i need to clean everything or will the high temps fix that? Thanks for the input folks.

[DUPRASAQUARIA]

Just raise the temp and do gravel cleaning and water changes every second day 30-50% for about 2 weeks and after the first week it should be not visible but continue for a second week to ensure that it is all gone.

[DUPRASAQUARIA]

And if you still see the spots then use some ich medication. That will guarantee it to be gone. If you are concerned at all just use the meds as you don't have fish in the tank anyhow. This way you won't have to worry at all

[Mumma.of.two]

Originally Posted by Ice Cold Bud

I can see a lot of white spots all over the decors. My heater is covered with them! As is the gravel. Do i need to clean everything or will the high temps fix that? Thanks for the input folks.

Ich is not visible to the naked eye. The white spots on decor and equipment is not ich. The white spots that you see on the fish is where the fish's slime coat is reacting to the ich. To preserve the cycle I would treat with heat like I mentioned above. Ich will not survive 90f.

It has been found that Ich does not infect new fish at 29.4°C/85°F (Johnson, 1976), stops reproducing at 30°C/86°F (Dr. Nick St. Erne, DVM, pers. comm.), and dies at 32°C/89.5°F (Meyer, 1984), [1]

You won't need to clean everything with heat but it wouldn't hurt to do a good substrate clean.
The need for salt in a healthy tank is a very divided topic. IMHO it is not needed. I suggest you do some research before deciding before or against dosing salt to a heathy tank.

[Ice Cold Bud]

No power for three days! Are my fish doomed?

[DUPRASAQUARIA]

You could pick up a booster pack with an ac inverter and run a bubble filter for days off of it!! Canadian tire sells them for about 50$ that's the best I can think of !! Or from a computer store you can get an APC just not sure if those come charged.... Best of luck!