Newish tank, Ich, and Inverts, Oh My!!!

[NBfarmboy]

Hello all
Came home on the 7th of March to find the wife bought me a fish tank
A 30 gallon tank which I was very happy with
So of course we set it up that night and went to bed
Woke up next morning and there were fish......
Mother in law bought me Tetras and golden barbs as a birthday present
So I figured at that point why not, I bought 3 ghost shrimp (one of which is VERY pregnant) and the wife fell in love with a mystery snail

I have had the tank for a couple weeks now, and have been trying to get it cycled
Battling high ammonia (1ppm or lower max) no nitrite or nitrate yet
Have been doing 50% water changes every other night
Today I noticed white spots on my tetras (facepalm)
Trying raising the temp to above 86 and aquarium salts
Can anyone throw me a little advice on removing the rich and getting my tank to cycle sometime this century????
Have a penguin 200 filter original filter
Ph 6.2, normal
Am 1ppm or less
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm
Normally 80 degrees

 

[ABee]

Hello,

Ich is no fun! I had to deal with an outbreak myself just last month. I could not give you any advice on the mystery snail, but my ghost shrimp did fine through the medication treatment! (I used API's super ick cure - only a half dose because there were neon tetras in the tank).

I also raised the temperature to 87 and added salt!

Hope that helps!

 

[Delapool]

The bb slow down below a ph of 6.5 and really slow down below 6. Baking soda (no additives) is a short term fix (you need very little) to increase kh which will increase ph. Longer term fixes are shells and cuttle bone (calcium carbonates basically).

Edit - can unfortunately take 4 to 6 weeks to cycle. Hang in there!