HELP. Tank dying!

[catfishkid]

So over the past few weeks I have lost 4-5 fish! They all have white spots on their bodies. I tried asking about how to treat ich and people said to raise the temp. in the tank, it didn't work. I'm worried that I'll end up having to do I full tank restock! Help!

Tank
22 gal.
2 sterbai catfish
1 dalmatian lyretail molly (female)
2 dwarf gourami's (1 power blue & 1 flame)
1 cherry barb

ammonia - 0ppm
ph - 6.4 ppm
nitrite - 0 ppm
nitrate - 5 ppm

 

[catfishkid]

UPDATE: I came home from school and two more are dead; my molly and one of the sterbai catfish

 

[HeatherW]

How high is your tank temp?

 

[catfishkid]

How high is your tank temp?

It's 77 degrees F.

 

[HeatherW]

That is not hot enough to kill ich! Let me check on this, but can someone give us the magic number? 84? Or maybe even higher... Let me check. You want to raise the temp slowly

 

[HeatherW]

Ok, so here is a link on ich and treating with heat only - this is what I am doing since not all my fish like salt ? but tried to copy and paste in here for you but it didn't work - temp up to over 85 for 10 days. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php from above link...
The second approach is to actually destroy the organism with heat, and can be combined with the salt treatment below, but not with meds. The data I studied (including a report by the Southern Regional Aquaculture Center, which is currently archived here) suggests that most strains of Ich cannot reproduce at temperatures above 85ºF. To use this treatment approach, slowly (no more than 1 or 2 degrees per hour) raise the temperature to 86ºF, while maintaining strong continuous surface agitation to oxygenate the water. This is extremely important because water holds less O2 at higher temperatures. (This is why meds should not be used in conjunction with high temp – most Ich treatment products also reduce oxygen levels. Less available oxygen, combined with the respiration difficulties an infected fish is already faced with, could be fatal.) You can angle powerheads up toward the surface, or lower your water level to get a little extra splash from your filter return. As with any treatment, observe your fish closely for signs of stress (labored breathing, erratic behavior) and reduce the temperature slowly if necessary. (A note to the wary; my Malawi haps and clown loaches endured a temperature of 88ºF for 10 days with apparent ease – I never detected the slightest hint of distress – and the Ich was completely wiped out. One article that I read suggests the temperature be raised to 90ºF!)

Hope this helps!

 

[catfishkid]

Thank you! that helps so much!

 

[HeatherW]

Good luck!

 

[venymae]

good luck! ich can be infuriating, I know!

 

[catfishkid]

Update:

Today alone two fish have died! Two! I only have two left! What the heck is going on?! If you've seen my other posts, a few died from ich but these two just seemed random. What do I do?! What am I doing wrong?

 

[ashleynicole]

Tank needs to be 86-88 with an airstone to increase oxygen. Cories dont tolerate high temps so may die from stress.

If the ich is all over their bodies its caused a lot of damage and the fish are sick. The ich causes a lot of inflammation and secondary infections can take hold. Even with the heat you still may lose fish. Lots of very large volume water changes will help keep water nice and clean for the fish that survive to heal.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Josie.paolillo]

I'm sorry to hear that

Raising the temp is good, also adding salt (only half the recommended dose because of your scaleless fish, they don't do well with too much salt)
Daily vacuuming of the substrate will get rid of a lot of the ich cycsts, the parasites will drop on to the substrate and burst, creating hundreds more so vacuuming frequently gets rid of a good amount of them.

 

[venymae]

Also, ich can sometimes be in the gills and not show on the surface of the fish, so keep at it even if you can't see it on some fish.

 

[Tieberion]

Seachem Paragurad. Takes itself out of the water without the need for Carbon, is 80%-99% safe for plants/snails, and was the only thing that saved my tank, even my clown loach, from a super strain of ich- Good Luck!