Another Ich question.

[speedy77k]

Hello all

I am a newbie. I have a 55 gal tank with a wisper 60 filter on it. I let the tank cycle for 3 weeks. Then I went to put in a few fish. I went to wal mart figuring I might as well try cheap fish if I was gong to lose them at all. I bought 4 neons and 2 black bettas. I lost one of the neons on the first night, But i think it was on its way out from the get go. two weeks latter I had not lost any fish so I decided to ad a few more. I went to my local pet shop and bought 5 guppies, 2 males 3 females. One week went buy then I started to notice a couple spots on one of the male guppies within a week all the guppies had died. The question I have is does Ich attack some types of fish more than others. The wal mart fish look to be doing fine. Is there something else I need to do.

thanks

 

[neilanh]

Welcome to AA!

it could be ich, I don't know much about it.

But it could also be ammonia poisoning. Since you added 5 new fish, you probably didn't have the bacteria built up to handle the additional load. I also question the readiness of your tank after 3 weeks.

Do you regularly test your water parameters? Ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte? If so, couldyou provide us the readings you have gotten?

My gut tells me if you were to check it right now you'd see a spike in either ammonia or nitrIte, both of which are toxic to fish.

 

[Zagz]

Welcome to AA. Neilanh is right about the parameters. You may very well be having an ammonia or nitrite spike. Test your parameters is a must.

Now on to the ich possibility. Are the spots white and look like grains of salt? If so then turn the heat up to 87F and add extra aeration or lower the water level a bit. Leave the temps up for 2 weeks AFTER the last spot of ich is gone. When turning up the temps, a degree or two every 6-12 hours is good. Keep in mind that when the temps are between 80-95 the ich's life cycle will speed up and the fish will look worse for wear for a bit. Avoid ich meds. To answer your question about some fish being more sensitive than others to ich, yes some fish are more sensitive than others. Clown loaches are one prime example. The guppies that died may have been the fish that introduced the ich to your tank and might have been infected longer.

 

[speedy77k]

I Have been testing my tanks levels using dip strip. the nitrite, nitrate are ok I have not tested for ammonia, the strips I have do not test for it. one thing I for got to ask is about water hardness, my strips say my water is hard to extremely hard. and my ph level is on the akaline side. is there any way I can go about changing this. I will try to get an ammonia tester tomorrow.

 

[Zagz]

Test strip kits are notoriously inaccurate. For very little money you can get an AP FW master test kit like this one . It has everything you need.

 

[speedy77k]

Thanks for the advice. I think I can get that same tester at the local pet shop. I noticed that the tester does not test for hardness. is that something I should worry about or not. would the PH being to high maybe have causeed this problem? If there is a problem with ammonia I need to add bacteria correct? like bio-zyme?

 

[Zagz]

If your ph is stable that is better than trying to adjust it. Are you planning on planting your tank? If not hardness is not a huge concern right now. You can get a hardness kit at a later date.

 

[speedy77k]

all right I finally got a master test set. Here are my reading.

PH 8.2
Ammonia 0ppm
nitrate 5ppm
nitrite 0ppm

It looks to me like my ph is very high. How do i fix this? Do I just go buy a ph lowerer or is there a different way to do it? I just did a 25% water change on sunday. I added stress coat when I did the change. I am not planning on planting the tank I am just using plastic plants. Do I need to worry about the nitrate level? I bought some bio zyme bought I have not added any yet. Thank you all for the help.

 

[Zagz]

There are some natural methods to keep ph down without chemicals. I would start by adding some driftwood into your tank as it is natural and easy. With your ph that high, the hardness of your water could very well play a factor. Driftwood can slowly lower ph without stress to fish. The fish get stressed more by ph swings which chemicals can cause.

Your nitrate level is fine. Aiming for nitrates under 20ppm is good. Don't bother with the biozyme. It won't help you with anything, I'd return it and get your money back. Buy a hardness kit with your refund.

Have you raised the temps in the tank and added aeration? Does it look like the ich description I gave earlier?

 

[speedy77k]

Ok I will look into some drift wood. I have not increased the temp I have not seen any thing that looks like ich sense the last guppy died. which leads me to belive that it was caused by some thing else. I have added more fish sense and they all seem to be doing well. I am keeping a close watch on it. Do I just get the drift wood from ebay or local pets store?

 

[speedy77k]

Here is another question. How big of a chunk of drift wood do I need to add. I am looking online and I have quite a bit of variety. Is there a certian size that will do? or do I just add and watch the PH level?