Things were looking good in my tank for some time. I did notice a little brown algae the other day so I planned on doing the algae sponge scraper thing yesterday, along with a 20% water change and vacuuming.
First, I scrubbed most, not all, of the diatom algae I noticed on two of my walls. Then I vacummed about 35% of the surface area of gravel, thus sucking out about approx 3.5 gallons of water. Replaced water with conditioned water at same temp.
Then I noticed my bio-wheel filter wasn't moving so great, so I took a look at filter. Whoa! Worse than I thought, so I took it out and rubbed it on a new filter and added some squeezings....Bio wheel started spinning freely again.
About an hour later I went to sit down and feed my fish (I wasn't paying attention earlier), and all 3 of my Bleeding Heart Tetra's had a bad case of Ich!!!!
It just popped up overnight! Didn't see that at all the day before. What happened? What causes Ich so fast? And why only the Tetra's and not the others?
Anyway, I rushed on line, read the article here on Ich and started my regime. I began to raise the temp on the tank two degrees (81). I don't have a QT tank. Today, when I get home, I will notch it up another 1-2 degrees. (82-83) I also added a nice teaspoon of salt, and depending on how my critter are when I get home, I'll go ahead and add another TSP (it's only 16 gal).
I also have Quick-Cure and added the requisite drops for Tetra's (1 drop for every 2 gallons).
Appetite's seemed normal this morning. Did look at if they were slightly off-balance however....just a tad.
A few questions:
I hear some meds can be poisonous to Ghost Shrimp, but Quick-Cure had no pre-cautions, nor did the site Aquarium.net warn against invertabrates when discussing Quick-Cure, so I hope I'm okay. I realize many here don't advocate meds, but I'm taking the gamble (don't hate me) based on many sites that praise Quick-Cure. Does anyone have insight on the Ghost Shrimp and Quick Cure?
Why only the Tetra's and no other fish? Why so fast?
I know that Ich is an infection, but how can it get introduced into the tank if everything seemed to be doing so well for weeks? Water was fine, I clean often enough, I don't over feed, I *try* to have a constant temperature. Really puzzled.
First, I scrubbed most, not all, of the diatom algae I noticed on two of my walls. Then I vacummed about 35% of the surface area of gravel, thus sucking out about approx 3.5 gallons of water. Replaced water with conditioned water at same temp.
Then I noticed my bio-wheel filter wasn't moving so great, so I took a look at filter. Whoa! Worse than I thought, so I took it out and rubbed it on a new filter and added some squeezings....Bio wheel started spinning freely again.
About an hour later I went to sit down and feed my fish (I wasn't paying attention earlier), and all 3 of my Bleeding Heart Tetra's had a bad case of Ich!!!!
It just popped up overnight! Didn't see that at all the day before. What happened? What causes Ich so fast? And why only the Tetra's and not the others?
Anyway, I rushed on line, read the article here on Ich and started my regime. I began to raise the temp on the tank two degrees (81). I don't have a QT tank. Today, when I get home, I will notch it up another 1-2 degrees. (82-83) I also added a nice teaspoon of salt, and depending on how my critter are when I get home, I'll go ahead and add another TSP (it's only 16 gal).
I also have Quick-Cure and added the requisite drops for Tetra's (1 drop for every 2 gallons).
Appetite's seemed normal this morning. Did look at if they were slightly off-balance however....just a tad.
A few questions:
I hear some meds can be poisonous to Ghost Shrimp, but Quick-Cure had no pre-cautions, nor did the site Aquarium.net warn against invertabrates when discussing Quick-Cure, so I hope I'm okay. I realize many here don't advocate meds, but I'm taking the gamble (don't hate me) based on many sites that praise Quick-Cure. Does anyone have insight on the Ghost Shrimp and Quick Cure?
Why only the Tetra's and no other fish? Why so fast?
I know that Ich is an infection, but how can it get introduced into the tank if everything seemed to be doing so well for weeks? Water was fine, I clean often enough, I don't over feed, I *try* to have a constant temperature. Really puzzled.