Help... Cycling And Might Have Ich

[robert1979]

Hi,

I have a 20 gallon tank that I'm cycling with 6 danios ( didn't know about fishless cycling until I found this forum ) I have had the tank going for 1 week now. The aquarium is a used on I bought with a used bio wheel filter. Before I set it up I cleaned the tank twice, several days apart. I also cleaned the filter and bought a new biowheel and carbon filter for it. I also added fritz turbo starter #700 on friday to help the tank cycle a little faster, which did help, ammonia dropped and nitrites went up and nitrates are now showing up. Ammonia is about 0.5, nitrites around 0.5, nitrates are around 10.

Well, today I noticed that 2 of the danios have white spots on them, mostly their fins. Is this ich? I'm just not sure since it is just now showing up. Could it be something from the bacteria product that I added? The fish seem fine so far (active and and eating well). If it is ich, is there anything I can add that won't have a negative effect on the tank cycle?

I feel really bad for the fish and wish I had known about the fishless cycle before I started. I just want to do something for them that won't kill off the bacteria and end up making the cycle last longer.

Sorry for the long post but any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[*Fishkies*]

Well it seems like it could be ich. I personally would put the two danio's in a hospital tank and treat them with coppersafe. You will have to watch and see though if your other 4 fish get infected because if could be in your whole tank. I believe at the top of this forum there is a post on ich/whitespot. It is a pinned post. Check that out and see if that helps you some more with diagnosing your fish.

 

[fishkers]

It does sound like ich but because it is a new tank you never know. I prefer Coppersafe too... it is completely safe for your cycle in fact you don't even have to remove the carbon filter unless it is new. You can isolate the 2 danio's if you want or you can treat your whole tank. Coppersafe isn't harmful to anything in fact most people will treat new fish with Coppersafe just to make sure nothing is wrong with them.