Came home to half of tank dead

[AngelFishGirl]

So after school today I called petsmart and told them about my two angelfish I bought dying overnight and after some talk, the lady told me it's because of my recent bout of ich that just went away Thursday or so. I had cured it with heat and salt treatment. She told me to pick up this ich-kill treatment and pour it into the tank with the directed dosage on the bottle. Thankfully, my aunt was coming from that general area to take me to go get an MRI done on my knee. So she picked it up for me. I put in the tank as the lady from Petsmart instructed after reassuring her my pH, nitrites, nitrates, etc were fine.
(The story about my angelfish is on a different thread)

I came home from my MRI and found HALF OF MY TANK WIPED OUT!!

My PRIZED angelfish that's been with me since day 1 of getting the tank (put her in right away before cycling... Ummm didn't know what I was doing at that time. This was MONTHS ago though)
3 black skirt tetras
A Dalmatian molly
A red eye tetra
A platy

ALL wiped out......... By this newly introduced ich-kill....
When I tested the water. The nitrates had skyrocketed from 0 to over 10!!!!

I don't know how it happened!!
It's amazing my two algae eaters, one baby angel, 2 platys, 5 mollies, and one black skirt, and one red eye are still alive... I don't know how...


Problem is I just borrowed my dad my 10 gallon QT tank last week. So now i'm struggling majorly with this. With my bad knee I can't do a water change without my boyfriend's help (my bedroom's upstairs)
I have a little one gallon where my adult molly, couple baby mollies, and my angel are. The tank is unheated, but it's safer I feel than the 55 gallon tank's water.

Also, my male beta's aggression was tested today. He lives in a wall betta bowl (google it)
I put my swordtail Dalmatian molly in there with him. Thankfully, the two are not fighting at all! He thankfully turned out to be a very passive fish!!

Still.... I lost my prized angelfish... And half of my tank.... And I still have many inhabitants in the 55 gallon I can't save...... I'm so scared....

I've been crying my eyes out ALL night.. My boyfriend told me he'd never heard me cry so hard. I got a bloody nose from it. It was a hard loss for me. It's the first time I've ever went through a big loss of fish like that....

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I'm very sorry to hear of your losses.

This is the reason many discourage the use of ich medication. As soon as possible the tank needs multiple large water changes and some new carbon added to help remove all the meds. All you can do now is to keep the stress low for the remaining fish and hope they pull through.

 

[bud29]

I'm so sorry to hear that I've lost several fish to ich before, but it was gradual, I can't imagine how it would feel to lose them so suddenly.....It's not something I'm really proud of, but I cry pretty hard when I lose some of my fish too I hope the rest of your inhabitants can pull through.

 

[AngelFishGirl]

I'm very sorry to hear of your losses.

This is the reason many discourage the use of ich medication. As soon as possible the tank needs multiple large water changes and some new carbon added to help remove all the meds. All you can do now is to keep the stress low for the remaining fish and hope they pull through.

How do you add carbon?

 

[George9]

I'm very sorry for your loss

I agree, remove all of the ich kill from the water. Then throw the bottle away, never use it or petsmart's advice again!!

Don't get discouraged, it'll get better and before you know it you'll have a healthy thriving tank!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

How do you add carbon?

Activated carbon you can buy from the pet store fits right into your filter. It will help get the last bits if medication after some large water changes are done.

 

[bud29]

Activated carbon you can buy from the pet store fits right into your filter. It will help get the last bits if medication after some large water changes are done.

yup. just make sure to put it in a media bag of some sort, so no loose carbons can get out. I had ONE loose carbon jam the impeller on my HOB filter once.