sliderfish
Aquarium Advice Addict
I went on a short weekend trip to Milwaukee to watch my Cardinals play the Brewers. I was gone from Friday to Sunday night. My wife takes care of the tanks well while I'm gone, but I hadn't gotten a timer for my newest tank and forgot to tell her to turn the lights off before bed. The lights stayed on for the entire weekend and the small amount of algae I allowed to grow for my new ottos blossomed into a tank wide catastrophy lol. When I walked in the door my wife told me "You're planted tank looks gross." Immediately I realized my mistake 
. That was totally crappy, but fixable with some elbow grease so I didn't worry too much.
Then I discovered the major problem. Two days before the trip I added 3 otto cats to the same tank. I did not put them in the QT as I usually do, stupid move. The normally beautiful and lively black and neon tetras were staring blankly covered in white spots...Ich. I have prided myself in not having to deal with this devil for the last 5 years, comparing the disease to malaria or smallpox; something that affected the tanks of 3rd world countries or uneducated peoples. Boy did it kick me in the teeth. I then assumed my 300w fluval heater would be ample to boost the temp to 86 degrees to kill the Ich. My heater pooped out on me...died right when I needed it. I removed the carbon and dosed the tank with Ich meds. The next morning the majority of the tetras lost their battle. I knew this was coming as they looked really bad. The remaining tetras were in such poor shape that I decided to euthanise them rather than let them suffer. I lost a total of 17 black and neons. My survivors are a GBR and 6 out of 7 of my otto cats, they are looking OK still. I have moved them into a QT and slowly raised the temp to 86. I am doing about a 50% water change daily. Hopefully they'll pull through.
I have the original 29 planted sitting empty allowing the Ich to die from lack of food source. I am going to do 50% Water changes for a few days to help rid the tank. Is there anything else I need to do? How long should I wait before reintroducing the other fish to the tank? How will I know the Ich has been killed in the QT tank and the fish are healthy enough to be introduced to other fish? Thanks in advance!
. That was totally crappy, but fixable with some elbow grease so I didn't worry too much. Then I discovered the major problem. Two days before the trip I added 3 otto cats to the same tank. I did not put them in the QT as I usually do, stupid move. The normally beautiful and lively black and neon tetras were staring blankly covered in white spots...Ich. I have prided myself in not having to deal with this devil for the last 5 years, comparing the disease to malaria or smallpox; something that affected the tanks of 3rd world countries or uneducated peoples. Boy did it kick me in the teeth. I then assumed my 300w fluval heater would be ample to boost the temp to 86 degrees to kill the Ich. My heater pooped out on me...died right when I needed it. I removed the carbon and dosed the tank with Ich meds. The next morning the majority of the tetras lost their battle. I knew this was coming as they looked really bad. The remaining tetras were in such poor shape that I decided to euthanise them rather than let them suffer. I lost a total of 17 black and neons. My survivors are a GBR and 6 out of 7 of my otto cats, they are looking OK still. I have moved them into a QT and slowly raised the temp to 86. I am doing about a 50% water change daily. Hopefully they'll pull through.
I have the original 29 planted sitting empty allowing the Ich to die from lack of food source. I am going to do 50% Water changes for a few days to help rid the tank. Is there anything else I need to do? How long should I wait before reintroducing the other fish to the tank? How will I know the Ich has been killed in the QT tank and the fish are healthy enough to be introduced to other fish? Thanks in advance!
