HELP! Made a HUGE OOPS!

[snwhawk]

Ok I am a total newbie to the tropical fish thing and I really OOPSED! I have been wanting a fish tank forever and I received one for christmas - well anxious to get my tank going and watch the pretty little fishies swimming around - I of course immediately went out on Sunday to purchase fish for my tank. I explained at the LFS that we had just gotten it - they said it needed to run for a minimum of 24 hours with no further explanation so we said we would like to put a few in the tank anyway - we ended up getting 2 neons and 3 painted glass (then found out a few days later how they get there coloring and was totally ticked that I actually supported the practice of it buy purchasing them- anyway another topic another time) So after a few days the fish were doing great and everything looked well I decided to purchase more fish - 2 silver hatchet, 2 guppies, and 1 cory- again telling all information to the salesperson at the LFS and she told me I should have no problem HEH! RIGHT! I went to another LFS yesterday to ask a few simple maintenance questions and he inquired about the tank - how long it had been running etc.. he said come with me and have a seat we will talk fish - well I was there for an hour getting alot of useful info - however still with a major problem. I do know however that I will be using him and ONLY him as my LFS. I noticed when getting home that one of my painted glass has ICH - GRRRRRR I called the LFS who told me to get the temp on the tank up and go there today to get meds - however I am reading alot of contradicting advise on all sites I go to - should I medicate the water and kill and bacteria that maybe forming in the tank since I havent cycled? - or let ich take its course on my fish so I can cycle? My main question here is will I have any of these fish left after this is all over or will I have to start new? Are there any who have managed to get through adding fish without cycling successfully?

 

[rachel21]

i made similar mistake. i lost 2 fish within a day but i still have my molly from then. we've had him since june and it's almost jan. considering he's moved house, survived a bout of dropsy he's good.

anyway, what i'm saying is i've had fish survive a cycle.

 

[hankey]

It's unfortunate that the fish store didn't help you get set up better. I have also seen a lot of conflicting information, a lot of the time it is all true though, it's just different things have worked for different people.

As far as medicating the fish, a good idea is to quarenteen just that fish to medicate it. It's cheaper if you can put that fish in a smaller tank, less meds per gallon and sometimes the meds are dilluted enough going through your filter system. They can also be hard on other healthy fish.

What size of tank do you have? That might help people give you better advice. Since this is your first set up you probably don't have extra tanks and supplies sitting around for hospital tanks and such.

 

[snwhawk]

ok are you ready for this? My tank is only 10 gallons - which was another downfall for the amount of fish I learned yesterday - I am seriously in trouble here I think. I was told that if one fish has it you can be sure that all fish have it. I noticed also that the spots are "falling off" therefore indicating (I assume) that the ich is in its second phase? I tell you what a hard and frustrating lesson I am learning here! And how does ich start anyway? Is it already existing in dormant stages in fish until they are in a stressful situation? And you are right hankey - for being a newbie I dont have any extra equipment such as hospital tanks and such.

 

[discus1990]

Ich is always in your tank, it is tiny tiny worms living in the gravel that attack stressed or unwell fish, the white spots you see are not the worms but holes were the worm has exited the fish. I would definatley treat the whole tank if you dont have a hospital tank because all of the fish will have it anyway. Also buy a test kit and monitor your water thoroughly and do water changes as necessary. Dont add anymore fish until your water params are stable and stay the same for at least a week. Good luck

 

[sharktale]

Do you know anyone else who has a tank? You could ask them nicely if you could have some of their filter media and put it in your filter, this will help the cycle alot.
What is your temp at? Have you removed the carbon from your filter as this will remove the meds you put in and they won't have any effect. I would do a big water change, remove carbon and then start treating, I don't think it does any good water changing whilst treating as you are removing the meds.
Good luck, hope it clears soon.

 

[snwhawk]

I do not know anyone who has a tank -maybe I can get something out of the LFS I went to (the one that was informative)- I dunno might be a long shot but worth a try I guess. His tanks are not on a central filtration system - so that is a plus(at least that is what he said....lol) Right now I have my tank up to 82 - I slowly brought it up last night and this morning - I have not taken the carbon out - so I guess I better do that. I have a box filter and a hanging filter - how do I remove the carbon out of the cartridge on the hanging filter? This is going to be a big mess huh? You guys are great though - and I am sure you all can talk me through this mess. I will keep you all updated.

 

[gale]

To remove the carbon on the cartridge of the hanging filter you can just cut the media (the fuzzy part) at the top and pour out the carbon. It's not easy though-you'll have to shake it good and maybe stick something in there to shake up the carbon and get it to come out. It seems to stick to everything when it's wet.

 

[Rodders]

I kinda did the same, lol.
Whack heat up to 30c, this will kill the white spot. Dont bother with treatment, you dont need it.
Check for finrot, i got this as well after the white spot, you'll have to treat that.
You ammonia levels will probably go up, if so(like mine) i added ammo lock so the fish didnt die.
Its just a case of keeping an eye on the tank, water changes and a bitta luck.

 

[snwhawk]

Great news! I went to the LFS and asked if I could have some of his filter media and he gave me enough of the filter media from one of his tanks to replace all of mine out of my box filter. Hopefully this will impregnate my tank with bacteria and I can grab hold of this situation. I also got some aquarisol to treat the ich with - he told me that with this kind of med I do not need to take out the carbon, also he told me that if I a water change right now I will be causing my tank to start to cycle again and that is the source of the problem right now??? Any feedback on this?

 

[corykitty516]

most bacteria doesnt live in the water but on the media and gravel. A partial water change ... 10-25% will help prevent ammonia, nitrate and nitrite from building up to toxic levels. This may cause cycling to take longer but will help to spare your fishies lives

edit: oh and make sure the new water is dechlorinated and the same temp as the tank before adding

 

[Rodders]

Not sure about not taking the carbon filter out.
They absorb the med.
Hmmmmm i'd be inclined to take it out to make sure!!!

Turn temp up to 30c, i never botherd with med for white spot. <(--- i was told to do this by one of the top breeders in the south. Worked for me.

 

[sharktale]

I agree, I would remove the carbon as carbon is designed to remove things from the water like meds, I also agree that the bacteria lives in your filter not the water so doing a change will not affect the cycle, providing the filter media is not left out of water for more than 20 mins as the bacteria will die. I would do a 25% at least, water change before adding meds.
Glad he gave you some media

 

[NickT]

Ich is always in your tank, it is tiny tiny worms living in the gravel that attack stressed or unwell fish, the white spots you see are not the worms but holes were the worm has exited the fish

so ICH has changed alot since i last looked?

your correct about it being in your tank all the time tho.......

 

[sylvia]

Hmm - lots of confusion concerning ick but I won't get into that. If your tank's been running for more than a few weeks the carbon is useless anyway. If not (I can't remember) I'd take it out. Medicating won't cause a re-cycle because ick's not bacteria but a parasite so the med is not anti-bacterial. Lots of water changes, even during the cycle will not prolongue the cycle so much as to make it pointless compared to the fish who's lives you might save. The old filter media should provide you with an instant cycle anyway. Make sure you always use de-chlorinated water in a water change and never completely remove or replace your filter media or wash it in water which contains chlorine.