new fish owner

[pedikeens11]

Hi everyone, I came across this forum site after doing weeks of research on owning fish. Learned a lot from the questions asked and answered.

I currently have a 20 gallon freshwater setup. 3 albino cory catfish, one red mickey, 1 sunburst wag platy, 1 black platy, and two guppies.

I did the whole monthly cycle before adding any fish(month and a half actually), did all the water testing, read up on the nitrogen cycle, how to add fish with no stress, no over feeding, what fish work best with whom, all the basics. I came home two days ago and noticed my all black platy had white pimple things on her. Tested the water did my 25% water change and did some more research. Purchased Kordons all natural ich attack as the store had nothing else and I did not want my poor fish to suffer. Followed the direction on the bottle and started the medication process. Looks like the spots are clearing up but my other fish are now scraping their poor bodies on the side of the tank. It is only the second day of the treatment so I'm sure it may take awhile, I'm just concerned and hate to see the fish suffer.

So all in all I was just wondering if there are any suggestions to make the process go faster and or easier for my poor little guys. Or if there is something I should be doing but am not or if I'm doing something wrong.

Thanks

[Freshwater_King]

Yeah , it would e cheaper , quicker, and easier to her rid or them all and do a deep clean and just start new with new fish.
Sorry to hear that
I am sorry I didn't welcome you to the hobbie

Freshwater_King

[Rodeo one]

What s your tank temp? You should increase it to like 85 & add salt but can t remember the exact amount.

[Rodeo one]

Make sure there s no salt in the medicine you re using tho. Do not agree with the above advice. A lot of people here have successfully treated ich.

[jwh0818]

Do not get rid of your fish because its easier. There are treatments that treat the whole tank. That advice from above is pointless to say the least. Ich has a very high survival rate. Slowly over 6 to 8 hours raise your heater to 86. Continue to use the ich treatment but you cant keep a carbon filter pad when using it

[pedikeens11]

I thought about starting over but I can't just kill these guys....I've increased my temp every two hours since last night...its up at around 80 now....I'll have to research the salt part as I've noticed a lot of people have recommended doing it that way.

Lol thanks for the welcome freshwater king!!!!

[jwh0818]

Oh btw welcome to AA

[cgthebeast]

No need to replace or get rid of your fish. Just crank the heat up to low to mid 80's. I completely disagree with the first commenters advice. Ick is not a problem an just keep the treatment up. I'm happy to see more beginners doing there research

[Oohitsae]

Originally Posted by cgthebeast

No need to replace or get rid of your fish. Just crank the heat up to low to mid 80's. I completely disagree with the first commenters advice. Ick is not a problem an just keep the treatment up. I'm happy to see more beginners doing there research

+1!
Put temp to 85-86 and add salt at 1tsp/5 gallons.
If you didn't have the cories in there I'd say 1tsp/gallon, but they are salt sensitive.

Ich is practically untreatable by medication, it can kill the form that hasn't attached to the fish with medication, but what is already on the fish will still survive.
Heightening the temp allows for the life cycle of ich to speed up and therefore your fish will get better faster.
Make sure to keep the temp up for atleast 1 week after the last signs of it (the white specks) are gone from all your fish. If you don't do this then there is a high chance of it reappearing.

Good luck and welcome to AA!!

[pedikeens11]

Thanks for the welcoming and all the help. Also what kind of salt am I looking for when I go to the store? Should I stop putting the ich meds in the tank also?

[pedikeens11]

Also if I stop the ich med should/can I put the filter back in?

[cgthebeast]

Originally Posted by pedikeens11

Thanks for the welcoming and all the help. Also what kind of salt am I looking for when I go to the store? Should I stop putting the ich meds in the tank also?

Hmm, there are a few different kinds, but it should say if it treats ick or not an I would keep up with the meds since u are seeing results

[Oohitsae]

You should look for Aquarium salt, API makes a good one, don't use ocean/sea salt as it's completely different, and keep treating for ich since you've already started, it can only help kill the ich that's not attached to the fish yet.

When you say "put the filter back in" do you mean just the carbon, or the whole pad? If you mean the whole pad, then you probably lost your cycle from removing it and put it back immediately in hopes some BB survived, and if you meant the carbon, keep that out until you are done with the entire treatment. The only real use or carbon is to remove medications, so I never use it except for Adam after I finish medicating.


Oh, and with the aquarium salt, make sure that when you are doing water changes, only replace the amount of salt you removed, say you remove 5 gallons of water, only put 1 tsp back in, 10 gallons, 2tsp. Anything less than 5 gallons I wouldn't mess with adding more salt to. I don't know what your evaporation rate is like either, but make sure you are only adding water to top off (with conditioner of course) rather than more salt. What you put in the water doesn't evaporate with it.
I know that probably sounds like common sense, but you'd be surprised how many people don't realize it! Lol

[Autumnsky]

Also if you treat with heat and salt do it for long enough and be patient for the Ick to grow through its life stages.

You will need to add an air pump for additional aeration. Adding salt lovers the amount of usable oxygen, same with raising the temperature.

Check about the medication you are using, if it can be used with increased salt and temp, some I understand should not be used in higher temps and with additional salt.

[Aquamandan]

Originally Posted by jwh0818

Do not get rid of your fish because its easier. There are treatments that treat the whole tank. That advice from above is pointless to say the least. Ich has a very high survival rate. Slowly over 6 to 8 hours raise your heater to 86. Continue to use the ich treatment but you cant keep a carbon filter pad when using it

Why should you not keep a carbon filter pad when using ich treatment? Because the filter pad will just catch all the medicine?

[Dallascowboys16]

The reason for removing the carbon is that the carbon will absorb all of the medicine. Ick is most of the time not deadly if treated so just keep doing what you're doing and your fish should be fine.

[jwh0818]

Originally Posted by Aquamandan

Why should you not keep a carbon filter pad when using ich treatment? Because the filter pad will just catch all the medicine?

The carbon absorbs all the medicines for treating the tank. You technically dont even need carbon. You could cut the carbon out completely if you wanted too

[pedikeens11]

Ok thank u so much everyone for all the help. On purchasing some salt and a sand stone thing I noticed that my tank was infront of my ac's flow. So I purchased a few watt larger heater and the temp has been fixed. Also yes I removed the carbon but not the filter. Dosnt look like any more othe fish are scraping around on the screen anymore either.....hope that's a good sign. What am I looking at for recovery time?

[jwh0818]

Originally Posted by pedikeens11

Ok thank u so much everyone for all the help. On purchasing some salt and a sand stone thing I noticed that my tank was infront of my ac's flow. So I purchased a few watt larger heater and the temp has been fixed. Also yes I removed the carbon but not the filter. Dosnt look like any more othe fish are scraping around on the screen anymore either.....hope that's a good sign. What am I looking at for recovery time?

Do the treatment for a week at least. Im glad you took our advice! Recovery time is just an estimate but if you followed our steps precisely then no more than a week but do the treatment for at least a week!