High Levels In Tank Plus Ich

[trianglekitty]

Short background:

I rescued a neglected gourmai from work. He was in a small plastic tank w/ no heater and filthy black water for over a year. I moved him to a 5 gallon, then a ten gallon. On the advice of the wonderful people here, I established the new tanks with used filter medium that came from a 55 gallon tank.

I thought with the used filter I would be okay as far as the cycling goes, but...well, I was badly, badly wrong I think. I was using API test strips, which kept showing perfect water conditions, but the fish were clearly stressed and my live plants were developing brown spots. Again with the advice of this forum, I got the API master test kit and, as I suspected, my water is downright toxic.

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Tank size: 10 gallon
pH: 7
ammonia: 4.0 +
nitrite: 5.0
nitrate: 0
kHdon't remember, but normal for both KH and GH, or in normal range-this based on test strips, may not be correct)
gH:
tank temp: 78

I did a big water change today, but I'm looking for anything else I should be doing to get this situation under control fast. Right now the tank only has three fish- a dwarf gourami and two fancy guppies. One of the guppies has developed signs of ich. I'm not sure how to go about treating him when I'm also doing large daily water changes, since I'll be removing the medication.

I'm very new to fish- this is the first one I've ever worked with. I really wanted to give him a better home than he had, but I feel like I'm failing at that. Any advice would be wonderful, especially on the ich treatment. Also, I am conditioning the water before adding more, but it's just Stresscoat- not sure if I should be using something else.

Again, I'm new to this, and based on these numbers I'm not sure where I am in the cycle...the tank has been up for three weeks now, so I'm thinking even if the used medium didn't work, I should have some good bacteria growth. Before this point I was doing weekly water changes of 25%.

This is one hardy gourami, and I don't want want to be the one to finally kill him!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Ich can sometimes and is often reported to be resolved by just raising the water temp to above 29C, which kills the spores in the free roaming phase (when trying to find a new host). More aggitation of the water surface will be needed usually, as at this high temp the potential oxygen saturation os considerably lower than at a more typical temp of 25C, done by adding poerhead/airpump or lowering the water level so that the existing filter outlet still functions but has a bigger "splash effect."

 

[james_fish]

If you try to get hold of some existing filter sponge or media. This will sort your levels out.

As for treating the Ich, like NOTG stated, raising the temperature and air flow will be the best thing to do at the minute.

James.

 

[Rynofasho]

Also, double up on Seachem Prime and continue big water changes. Seachem Prime (amongst other water conditioners) detoxifies ammonia and nitrites in your water, so although they may be present, it will convert them into substances less harmful to your fish. It is also very concentrated -- you could change 100% of your tank water and to treat the new 10 gallons, you'd only need 2ml to treat the whole thing. You can however use up to 5 times the normal dose in emergencies. I would change almost all the water and use about an entire cap full of it.

When my tank was cycling with fish, I had to change at least 25% of the water daily to keep on top of it, which shouldn't be too rough in a 10 gallon tank. Honestly though, I'd be changing your water big time to bring ammonia and nitrites back down to non lethal levels, and then from there test daily and change water daily to keep everything safe.

I consistently had some amounts on ammonia and nitrites in my tank (mostly nitrites that went over 2.0ppm at times), however with daily water changes and double dosing Seachem (you can't OVER treat the water), my fish never even looked stressed.

PS if you end up using medication to treat the Ich, be sure to remove any carbon filtration you may have as it will remove the medicines from the water.

Again, it sounds like you are trying to do all the right things, so just keep the faith and things should work out.