Newbie Equipment Q's

[Flossie]

sadly my fish seem to be coming down with ich so i ran to walmart for a heater and aquarium salt. My aquarium stays 78/80 and the heater i got unfortunately keeps the aquarium at 72 I think lol so i'll be taking it back. While I was there I picked up some filters that were on sale. I have a 10 and a 55g and I want to add some extra filters for a couple reasons. Anywho... they had a 2-10 g whisper on sale for like 7 bucks so I got it for the ten and then they had a whisper 10-30g on sale for like 10 buck so I picked it up for the 55g. Is that okay? Did I do ok?? Also I should probably take the heater back I guess since it is not adjustable. Were the filters a good investment or should I take them back as well and get something better? My aquariums already have filters... I just wanted to add some extras

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Those pre-set heaters are not very useful IMO, I prefer the Aqueon Pro series of heaters. The filters should be fine, although my goto HOB filter is the Aqua Clear series of filters. As long as the 10-30g filter is just additional filtration and you already had adequate filtration in place, you'll have the most important element needed for an emergency QT setup. With a seeded filter, you can setup a QT in about 10 minutes if you have a spare heater and tank. Don't forget, the QT can be a clear plastic tub too.

 

[Flossie]

Those pre-set heaters are not very useful IMO, I prefer the Aqueon Pro series of heaters. The filters should be fine, although my goto HOB filter is the Aqua Clear series of filters. As long as the 10-30g filter is just additional filtration and you already had adequate filtration in place, you'll have the most important element needed for an emergency QT setup. With a seeded filter, you can setup a QT in about 10 minutes if you have a spare heater and tank. Don't forget, the QT can be a clear plastic tub too.

Awesome. I went ahead and threw the smaller filter in the ten gallon bc of the heavy bioload...Crap I forgot to rinse it though!!! I did take the carbon out. I am
Trying to treat ich. I think I will take the heater back. I got up and rinsed the free anyways should be ok since I took the carbon out. Grrr I'm never going to get the hang of this lol

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Awesome. I went ahead and threw the smaller filter in the ten gallon bc of the heavy bioload...Crap I forgot to rinse it though!!! I did take the carbon out. I am
Trying to treat ich. I think I will take the heater back. I got up and rinsed the free anyways should be ok since I took the carbon out. Grrr I'm never going to get the hang of this lol

You'll get it, just give it time and have faith in your abilities. With that said, the first rule of adding anything is rinse anything you add to a tank, or move from tank to tank. Any new fish should be QT when adding to a a stable tank.

How are you treating the ick, salt & heat?

 

[Flossie]

I bought salt and that heater to keep
My temp up but the heater obviously isn't what I needed so I'm leaving the light on to keep the tank warm bc it is around 78/80 now. I put six teaspoons of salt . I hope I don't loose any fish. I'm having the worst luck. Mouth fungus guppies then issues with betta now this ugh. Frustrating ... U have any other advice on ich ? I'm clueless

 

[Mr. Limpet]

I bought salt and that heater to keep
My temp up but the heater obviously isn't what I needed so I'm leaving the light on to keep the tank warm bc it is around 78/80 now. I put six teaspoons of salt . I hope I don't loose any fish. I'm having the worst luck. Mouth fungus guppies then issues with betta now this ugh. Frustrating ... U have any other advice on ich ? I'm clueless

Heat & salt seem to be the prefered cure here, I prefer using Quick Cure myself.

 

[Flossie]

Heat & salt seem to be the prefered cure here, I prefer using Quick Cure myself.

Well I just ran to walmart and grabbed some aquarium salt at like 11:30 lol I didn't wanna wait til pet stores opened... I wanted to catch it soon. I've never treated ich so really idk what I'm doing either way lol

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Well I just ran to walmart and grabbed some aquarium salt at like 11:30 lol I didn't wanna wait til pet stores opened... I wanted to catch it soon. I've never treated ich so really idk what I'm doing either way lol

Just remember, 1 rounded tablespoon for each 5g of water. If you have plants, you'll want to remove them at some point as the salt will do them in.

 

[Flossie]

Just remember, 1 rounded tablespoon for each 5g of water. If you have plants, you'll want to remove them at some point as the salt will do them in.

No plants ... Just the tetras a pleco. I'm hoping they all make it. I'm terrible at this!

 

[Mr. Limpet]

No plants ... Just the tetras a pleco. I'm hoping they all make it. I'm terrible at this!

Should be OK then. You're fine at this, just having a rough start and the benefit of that is once you're more experienced you'll have a lot of knowledge to pass along.

 

[jimenezlee]

Ehem... That's non-iodized salt you picked up at Walmart, right?

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Well I just ran to walmart and grabbed some aquarium salt at like 11:30 lol

Ehem... That's non-iodized salt you picked up at Walmart, right?

She got the right stuff.

 

[jimenezlee]

You're right, she did say aquarium salt, my bad.

 

[Flossie]

Should be OK then. You're fine at this, just having a rough start and the benefit of that is once you're more experienced you'll have a lot of knowledge to pass along.

That's true mr limpet. Lol hopefully I'll learn from this. I am learning. And thank u guys

 

[Flossie]

Ehem... That's non-iodized salt you picked up at Walmart, right?

Thanks for checking. I was told I could use table salt but I was scared to

 

[Flossie]

Im going to try and pick up a better heater today. You guys think I should pick up some sort of ich medication as well? Im nervous bc my ammo and nitrites are .25 but I'm waiting to to a PWC until I get a heater... I think that's why I stressed them. Everything has gone wrong! LOL Also How easy does ich spread bc. I use the same cups and buckets and test tubes for my 55 and I was going to move the neons and pleco to the 55 whenever it's ready but I sure don't want to spread ich. How do I rid my tank of it?

 

[jimenezlee]

It will spread if you share equipment. The std recommendation is to have a set for each tank. I don't follow it to the letter. When I had a fish with icht the salt and temp at 86 took care of it, when treating I keep in a small 10G hospital tank and that one has its own net, heater & filter. If the heat/salt doesn't work for you I wouldn't hesitate using medication (as per instructions).

Are you comfortable with how to do the salt & heat method?

 

[Flossie]

It will spread if you share equipment. The std recommendation is to have a set for each tank. I don't follow it to the letter. When I had a fish with icht the salt and temp at 86 took care of it, when treating I keep in a small 10G hospital tank and that one has its own net, heater & filter. If the heat/salt doesn't work for you I wouldn't hesitate using medication (as per instructions).

Are you comfortable with how to do the salt & heat method?

Then only thing really that I would have to share would be my buckets, cups and API test tubes... I have three nets and I've not use any of them since the white spots showed up. The affected aquarium is a 10g and I put 6 teaspoons of salt and I'm going to get a heater today. I need to do a PWC so i add a teaspoon with every gallon right? I see that API makes something for ich and it helps replace the slime coat... IDK if it's necessary but I could get some. would you recommend it? Said it cures the white spots in 24 hours usually... Can I use that with the salt and high temp? I'm a newbie to treating ich so I wanna make sure I get rid of this junk... LOL Also, I'm not sure how to get rid of the ich without loosing a cycle. Its so frustrating cause I know people who just throw fish in right away and are not having near the problems I am Sorry for all the questions...

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Then only thing really that I would have to share would be my buckets, cups and API test tubes... I have three nets and I've not use any of them since the white spots showed up. The affected aquarium is a 10g and I put 6 teaspoons of salt and I'm going to get a heater today. I need to do a PWC so i add a teaspoon with every gallon right? I see that API makes something for ich and it helps replace the slime coat... IDK if it's necessary but I could get some. would you recommend it? Said it cures the white spots in 24 hours usually... Can I use that with the salt and high temp? I'm a newbie to treating ich so I wanna make sure I get rid of this junk... LOL Also, I'm not sure how to get rid of the ich without loosing a cycle. Its so frustrating cause I know people who just throw fish in right away and are not having near the problems I am Sorry for all the questions...

Be careful about mixing cures.

Like I said earlier, I use Quick Cure by Aquarium Products and it's been 100% effective for both cases I've dealt with (ick from a new fish, a plant). I do the normal dosing for 10 days, do PWC when needed and the ick has not returned.

 

[jimenezlee]

Don't be sorry about the questions, that's the whole point of this website!

Well, like I said, with parasites if there is a share there is a way... that said I still haven't met somebody that keeps everything entirely separate. Minimize it if you can.

Yes, the recommendation on the amount of salt is 1 teaspoon per gallon, and if you replace water then just add the salt necessary for the water that is being replaced.

If you get the API treatment usually they will say something like no need to raise the aquarium temp, etc. I would recommend that you do one or the other, and if that doesn't work then switch. I have done the heat & salt in the past and its worked for me. I've signed up to the philosophy of using the least chemicals/meds as possible, but its not the only way to do it.

I don't think the heat&salt or the ich meds would affect the cycle, they're different types of organisms. Your cycle should continue its course, maybe sped up if you turn the temp up a bit, bacteria like it warmer. (dark, warm & moist is their favorite environment)

Problems do seem to compound sometimes, just follow the steps like youre doing, you'll power through it.